I was a boxer in college and also played soccer and did some running. Unfortunately, that is about all the impact my knees can take. I decided to switch to biking to preserve my joints and have been working hard on the stationary bike at my gym. My current bike is a mountain bike and I was wondering what the draw backs would be to riding this on the street.
The fit of this bike is good as I purchased it from my LBS a few years back and thanks to the conditions of our city streets id feel much more safe with the wider tires. At the same time, I would prefer to sacrifice as little efficiency/skill growth as possible.
Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
I've been riding a MTB for a while now. As my fitness grew I found that I was riding more on the roads with the need to travel further. I made a few mods to the bike to make the road riding more comfortable. I added bar ends (they are small bars that attach to the ends of the handlebars at 90 degrees. These give me a better hold on the bike when climbing) Clipless pedals and shoes. Both these give better cadence as you can use the full revolution of the pedal (pull up/push down). Tyres - I changed to full slicks as the traditional MTB tyres give more rolling resistance and this can be felt through the bike. The slicks are quieter, smoother and are a better fit for the road. All of these were fairly inexpensive changes and have made riding on the road better. The 2 main drawbacks to a MTB on the road - weight, and the seating of the bike (you are more upright than a road). Having said all that, I am in the process of trading to a road bike. Having not used one before it's a confusing, info overload task to understand all the specs of the road bike before making a serious purchase. In the meantime I will continue to ride my MTB on the road. Good Luck with your riding!
