Mountain to Road: Expected speed gain?

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I currently ride a Trek 830 mountain bike with road tires. The Trek
830 has a flat handle bar which is set about 2 inches lower than the
saddle. My current average speed over 2 hours is 14.4mph.

Question: If I switch to a road bike, what speed gain can I expect.
1mph? 1.5mph? or more?

And where is that gain coming from? Rolling resistance? Riding
position? I'm guessing that rolling resistance will be very mininal
(2%) and riding position will be more significant (5%). Together a 7%
improvement or 15.4mph (versus the current 14.4mph.)

Am I correct? I need advise and opinion from those who have tried this
before.

It would depend on more then that, there are several factors:

1) Rolling resistance would be very slight, probably around 1-2%,
2) riding position, well depends on how you ride the mountain bike, you
can lean on a MTB, it's just not as easy as with a drop bar bike.
3) Condition of the bike, if the road bike is new or been well
maintained, and the MTB is old and poorly maintained, it could be
significant, then again if you have an old poorly maintained road bike,
versus a newer well maintained MTB, then it could work against the other
factors considerably.
4) Gearing, MTBs tend to be lower geared, road bikes tend to be geared
higher, because they are oriented towards longer distances, on flat
surfaces.
5) Pricing, a very cheap road bike, heavy and poorly constructed, could
have lousy performance (and MTB style gearing).
6) Operator condition, if your in poor condition, and stay in a low gear
all the time, it might not make much difference....

This is one of those places, where there are no hard and fast rules, so
YMMV applies in droves.....

W

Quoted message said:

Question: If I switch to a road bike, what speed gain can I expect.
1mph? 1.5mph? or more?

I think the easiest way to figure this is to work out the gear
differences between the bikes, you'll have to pick a couple of gear
combinations, and apply the gain percentage to your average speed. Your
LBS should be able to run the calculations on any two comparable bikes
in their shop. Or you can google for sites that will perform the calcs.
You will need teeth counts...

Will

Someone said:

Quoted message said:

Question: If I switch to a road bike, what speed gain can I expect.
1mph? 1.5mph? or more?

That depends on how steep and rough the trail is. On the other hand,
on a flat paved road it could be as much as 20% faster. The
difference arises mainly from riding position with respect to the
pedals, the bars, and leg extension. If you compare knobby tires to
racing slicks, there is another significant gain in speed.

Climbing and descending on pavement is another area of improved speed.

Jobst Brandt

Quoted message said:

Someone said:

Quoted message said:

Question: If I switch to a road bike, what speed gain can I expect.
1mph? 1.5mph? or more?

That depends on how steep and rough the trail is. On the other hand,
on a flat paved road it could be as much as 20% faster. The
difference arises mainly from riding position with respect to the
pedals, the bars, and leg extension. If you compare knobby tires to
racing slicks, there is another significant gain in speed.

Climbing and descending on pavement is another area of improved speed.

Jobst Brandt

I think if you look at the OP, the mtn bike is already being used as a
road machine with slicks. So the question is driving at the efficiency
gains from switching. That is mostly gearing.

[email hidden] wrote:
On the other hand, on a flat paved road it could be as much as 20%
faster. The difference arises mainly from riding position with respect
to the pedals, the bars, and leg extension. If you compare knobby
tires to racing slicks, there is another significant gain in speed.
Climbing and descending on pavement is another area of improved speed.

Quoted message said:

Jobst Brandt

If there were two trains going 90 miles an hour and one was heading
east and one was heading west on a long journey of about 3,000 miles in
the year 1924 in the month of October, how long would it take for the
passengers to feel like they needed a vodka tonic?

Maggie

Maggie wrote:
:: [email hidden] wrote:
:: On the other hand, on a flat paved road it could be as much as 20%
:: faster. The difference arises mainly from riding position with
:: respect to the pedals, the bars, and leg extension. If you compare
:: knobby tires to racing slicks, there is another significant gain in
:: speed. Climbing and descending on pavement is another area of
:: improved speed.
:::
::: Jobst Brandt
::
:: If there were two trains going 90 miles an hour and one was heading
:: east and one was heading west on a long journey of about 3,000 miles
:: in the year 1924 in the month of October, how long would it take for
:: the passengers to feel like they needed a vodka tonic?

I need one after reading this....

Maggie said:

[email hidden] wrote:
On the other hand, on a flat paved road it could be as much as 20%
faster. The difference arises mainly from riding position with
respect to the pedals, the bars, and leg extension. If you compare
knobby tires to racing slicks, there is another significant gain in
speed. Climbing and descending on pavement is another area of
improved speed.

Quoted message said:

If there were two trains going 90 miles an hour and one was heading
east and one was heading west on a long journey of about 3,000 miles
in the year 1924 in the month of October, how long would it take for
the passengers to feel like they needed a vodka tonic?

There's hope for you yet, Maggie.

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I currently ride a Trek 830 mountain bike with road tires. The Trek
830 has a flat handle bar which is set about 2 inches lower than the
saddle. My current average speed over 2 hours is 14.4mph.

Question: If I switch to a road bike, what speed gain can I expect.
1mph? 1.5mph? or more?

Quoted message said:

And where is that gain coming from? Rolling resistance? Riding
position? I'm guessing that rolling resistance will be very mininal
(2%) and riding position will be more significant (5%). Together a 7%
improvement or 15.4mph (versus the current 14.4mph.)

Am I correct? I need advise and opinion from those who have tried this
before.

Sam,

A few things that make a road bike faster than a mountain bike are:
overall weight, riding position, gearing, and rolling resistance.

None of these, however, take into account the most important criterion -
you.

Generally, if the road bike ends up being lighter and you get in a
better riding position to reduce wind resistance, you should be able to
maintain your power output in a similar gear and increase your speed. I
couldn't tell you exactly how much, though. But I wouldn't expect more
than 1-2 MPH at best.

If you're really interested in going faster, I'd suggest building up
your fitness. Work on spinning a higher gear over progressively longer
periods of time. If done correctly, this will improve your aerobic
conditioning and build up your muscle endurance, allowing you to go
faster, longer.

Of course, if you want a new road bike, by all means get one. Bear in
mind that the term "road bike" is pretty generic. There are a lot of
different types, all designed with different goals. It will be up to
you to decide on an acceptable compromise between speed, comfort,
versatility, and price.

There'a a great in-depth book on this subject called "Bicycling
Science", available at many large booksellers, or online. The updated
3rd edition has received good reviews. If you're really curious about
what factors affect performance the most, check it out.

-Bill

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I currently ride a Trek 830 mountain bike with road tires. The Trek
830 has a flat handle bar which is set about 2 inches lower than the
saddle. My current average speed over 2 hours is 14.4mph.

Question: If I switch to a road bike, what speed gain can I expect.
1mph? 1.5mph? or more?

And where is that gain coming from? Rolling resistance? Riding
position? I'm guessing that rolling resistance will be very mininal
(2%) and riding position will be more significant (5%). Together a 7%
improvement or 15.4mph (versus the current 14.4mph.)

Am I correct? I need advise and opinion from those who have tried this
before.

As others have said, YMMW. However when I moved from a MTB with slick
tyres (although still MTB width 2.1"😉 to a road bike with 25mm tyres I
reckon I gained just under 2mph. If you already gave road tyres, I
guess you would expect the gain to be a bit lower.

Pete

Bill Sornson said:

Maggie wrote:>

Quoted message said:

If there were two trains going 90 miles an hour and one was heading
east and one was heading west on a long journey of about 3,000 miles
in the year 1924 in the month of October, how long would it take for
the passengers to feel like they needed a vodka tonic?

There's hope for you yet, Maggie.

Where there is life there is hope. Where there is vodka there is happy
hour. Where there is happy hour, there is hope. ;-) But you didn't
answer the train question.

Maggie

In article <[email hidden]>,

Roger Zoul said:

Maggie wrote:
:: [email hidden] wrote:
:: On the other hand, on a flat paved road it could be as much as 20%
:: faster. The difference arises mainly from riding position with
:: respect to the pedals, the bars, and leg extension. If you compare
:: knobby tires to racing slicks, there is another significant gain in
:: speed. Climbing and descending on pavement is another area of
:: improved speed.
:::
::: Jobst Brandt
::
:: If there were two trains going 90 miles an hour and one was heading
:: east and one was heading west on a long journey of about 3,000 miles
:: in the year 1924 in the month of October, how long would it take for
:: the passengers to feel like they needed a vodka tonic?

I need one after reading this....

Actual conversation this morning, on the sixth floor of my place of work:

Frustrated tech: I got to the second floor and realized I needed a
screwdriver.

Me: Hey, sometimes I need a screwdriver just to get going in the morning!

-RjC.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

"Maggie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

If there were two trains going 90 miles an hour and one was heading
east and one was heading west on a long journey of about 3,000 miles in
the year 1924 in the month of October, how long would it take for the
passengers to feel like they needed a vodka tonic?

FALSE. The other leg is both the same.

i've been riding my fisher mtb for 5 years and used it to commute. i
recently moved further way and riding my mtb took me longer to get
there. i would say i was going at 14-16mph on my 14 mile one way
commute to work. after a year of wavering the idea of a road bike, i
finally purchased my first road bike, a trek 1200. i have bumped my
speed to 20-22 mph. now that i can get to work alot faster, i take
longer routes... just because i have more time now.

also, i'm no longer passed by other roadies.

for me, i think the gain is from my riding position and the gearing.

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I currently ride a Trek 830 mountain bike with road tires. The Trek
830 has a flat handle bar which is set about 2 inches lower than the
saddle. My current average speed over 2 hours is 14.4mph.

Question: If I switch to a road bike, what speed gain can I expect.
1mph? 1.5mph? or more?

Once you are fit enough to push the wind in the big ring, you will gain
a lot more--8mph or more, on the flats. That will come with time. The
biggest difference is the gearing--the mountain bike likely has a
44-tooth big ring, whereas the road bike will have a 52- or 53-tooth big
ring, and that makes quite a difference.

The riding position will also make a difference--I personally find that
it's easier to ride hard and fast in the road bike position (with my
hands on the drops) than it is to ride hard and fast on a mountain bike
(upright). Each has its place--the mountain bike is a blast on
technical singletrack--particularly when it goes uphill.

--
Chris BeHanna
'03 Specialized Allez Elite 27
'04 Specialized Hardrock Pro Disc

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Thank you all for your response.