Mountain vs Road Biking

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

Quoted message said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of whether
to get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other. I
would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking trails
within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any
trailhead. For road bikes I can be on the road in 1 minute but I don't
know if riding bikes on florida's roadways is a good idea.

Thanks in Advance

George

Well, there's always the option of getting a hardtail mountain bike and
putting slick tires on it when you want to ride on the road...

--
Scott Ehardt
http://www.scehardt.com

"Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking trails
within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any
trailhead.

I have a mountain bike and a road bike. I have pretty much abandoned the
mountain bike since the nearest nice trails are a 30 minute drive away.
I can ride my road bike out the front door and find nice roads immediately.
Eliminating the 1 hour (round trip) commute gives me 1 hour of more fun.

Ken said:

"Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking
trails within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to
get to any trailhead.

I have a mountain bike and a road bike. I have pretty much abandoned
the mountain bike since the nearest nice trails are a 30 minute drive
away.
I can ride my road bike out the front door and find nice roads
immediately. Eliminating the 1 hour (round trip) commute gives me 1
hour of more fun.

More or different?

I don't enjoy road cycling (I live in London) I do enjoy mountain biking,
fortunately I'm within a few miles road cycle of good off road but to me 30
mins drive to good off road cycling would be no issue.

pk

Starting over from scratch a few months ago, I picked up a used mountain
bike, thinking that this would be all I wanted. A mountain bike still
makes a lot of sense in my neighborhood because the streets are
sometimes rough (pot holes, etc). When I rode years before, I had one
and used to go back and forth between paved roads and sidewalks so I
could avoid vehicular traffic and mostly keep moving always and the
mountain bike was a plus there.

Several of my friends had road bikes, or both types, so I was naturally
curious about the road side of riding. Eventually I sprang for an el
cheapo 25 yr old Fuji RB to see if I'd like it and I did. So recently I
bought another nice used road bike with better components than the Fuji.
Now I find myself riding the road bike most of the time.

I needed to get adjusted to the harder ride of a road bike, but it gets
up to speed faster and easier and goes faster than the MB. It took a
little getting used to riding down on the road bars, but that has a nice
tradeoff too, as my hands and palms don't get so tired as they did on
the mountain bike. I like having several hand positions on the road
bike vs. basically one on the mountain bike. I plan to keep the MB to
ride with family and when the weather is nasty, but the road bike is
going to be my preference.

My total investment between the two bikes is not 1,000 and I have about
twice as much in the road bike as the mountain bike. I am really glad I
figured out what I wanted before I got something good.

Chris said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of whether to
get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other. I
would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking trails
within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any
trailhead. For road bikes I can be on the road in 1 minute but I don't know
if riding bikes on florida's roadways is a good idea.

A couple thoughts...

There are plenty of good places to ride a road bike in Florida - but
it's such a big state, it's a bit like asking about "riding in the
US"...

Most of the "mountain biking" (a VERY relative term in Florida) tends
to be fairly non-technical, or at least most of the riding areas have
non-lethal trails. That would open up the option of having a single
cyclocross bike - plenty capable on the road for anything you're
likely to want to do (short of out and out racing, and even then
probably wouldn't be much of a detriment). It would also allow you to
carry panniers and use the bike to commute or run errands - kind of
the ultimate pizza combo.

I know if I could only have one bike (shudder...) it would be a
'cross.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

"pk" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have a mountain bike and a road bike. I have pretty much abandoned
the mountain bike since the nearest nice trails are a 30 minute drive
away. I can ride my road bike out the front door and find nice roads
immediately. Eliminating the 1 hour (round trip) commute gives me 1
hour of more fun.

More or different?

By not having to drive to and from the trailhead, I get 1 hour of *more* fun,
per ride. Driving to the trailhead is not much fun.

Chris said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of whether to
get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other. I
would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I have only a mountain bike, which I ride both on trails and on the
road. My typical road course is 22 miles, and the lack of multiple had
positions is very noticable, although I'm guessing bar ends would be a
big improvement. Also, the road bikers always passed me, but I'm
guessing I got a better workout.

I think off road is more fun, although on-road is probably better
exercise. Either is far better then watching TV.

I have numerous trails within 25 miles, but still ride on-road more
often due to the convenience of being able to ride right out of the garage.

Rich

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

Quoted message said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of whether

to

Quoted message said:

get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other. I
would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

You can always ride a mountain bike on any road, unless you want to ride
with a group that likes to ride fast, however you cannot ride a road bike
on any mountain bike trail regardless of the riding conditions.

My riding is about 75% off-road, 25% on road, I feel much safer when riding
on the mountain bike trails than in street traffic, plus in my opinion
off-road riding is just more fun.. But to each his own, there will many
that disagree with me.

Chris said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of

whether to

Quoted message said:

get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other.

I

Quoted message said:

would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking

trails

Quoted message said:

within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any

Quoted message said:

trailhead. For road bikes I can be on the road in 1 minute but I

don't know

Quoted message said:

if riding bikes on florida's roadways is a good idea.

Thanks in Advance

It may depend on where you are in Florida. I've ridden on-road there,
but never off-road. What are the off-road conditions like?

It seems to me that you'll have little use for the super-low gears of a
mountain bike, because (as I recall) the biggest hills are the freeway
overpasses, right? Unless you're using low gears to plow through sand,
which isn't any fun anyway.

IME, riding a mountain bike on the road is close to drudgery. Riding a
wider-tired road bike off-road is possible, except for crazy-extreme
terrain - and again, I thought Florida lacked such terrain.

My mountain bike hardly gets used, despite having a forest preserve
less than a mile from my house. So my preference would be either a
'cross bike, or perhaps a touring bike. I wouldn't want my cycling to
be limited to special occasions - as in, load it on the car first. And
I wouldn't want to ride a mountain bike much on the road.

But it occurs to me, you might want to talk with local cyclists,
perhaps at a bike shop. On one hand, they may point out lots of great
off-road that you don't know about; and on the other hand, they may
point out miles of pleasant back roads that you've yet to discover.

You might also want to check out places like
http://www.floridabicycle.org/ for info or advice.

Chris said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of whether to
get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other. I
would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking trails
within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any
trailhead. For road bikes I can be on the road in 1 minute but I don't know
if riding bikes on florida's roadways is a good idea.

Where are ya and what do the roads one minute away really look like? I'm within
10 miles of GREAT cycling roads, but getting to any of them means 5 - 10 miles
of the worst road to ride on you can imagine in the USA.

Have you done any off-road riding. You can't do that on a road bike. You can
ride a mountain bike on the roads. Mark's suggestion of a cross bike's worth
considering, especially since we don't have much in the way of rocky, gnarly
trails. It's a bit of a [censored] over some of the root and sand single track, but
you can fly on the double track.

Ron

I am a road biker always have been and always will be.

I have thought a bit about this

My son races cyclocross....10th at Nationals.

For me, road is all I know. I have nothing against MTB I just don't know.

the idea of a mountain bike with slicks, well that sucks

that is not a way to get on with things
-Bart

10 @14.3

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

Quoted message said:

Chris said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of whether
to
get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other. I
would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking trails
within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any
trailhead. For road bikes I can be on the road in 1 minute but I don't
know
if riding bikes on florida's roadways is a good idea.

Where are ya and what do the roads one minute away really look like? I'm
within
10 miles of GREAT cycling roads, but getting to any of them means 5 - 10
miles
of the worst road to ride on you can imagine in the USA.

Have you done any off-road riding. You can't do that on a road bike. You
can
ride a mountain bike on the roads. Mark's suggestion of a cross bike's
worth
considering, especially since we don't have much in the way of rocky,
gnarly
trails. It's a bit of a [censored] over some of the root and sand single track,
but
you can fly on the double track.

Ron

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 23:38:35 -0800, <[email hidden]>,

Bartow W. Riggs said:

For me, road is all I know. I have nothing against MTB I just don't know.

the idea of a mountain bike with slicks, well that sucks

that is not a way to get on with things

Me too. Fat tires were for kids bikes. Even skinny clinchers were
marginally acceptable. I got out of cycling in1986 while MTB were
making advances. In 2000, I bought a fat tire bike and ride it with
slicks. It's proved itself a useful, comfortable and reliable mount on
chuck-holed city streets and not much slower than my resurrected road
bikes.

Over 70 km in a day, the road bikes rule. Otherwise, excepting the 15
pounds, there's not that much difference besides comfort. Of course, I
still ride the heavy bike, light, because that's the way I learned.
--
zk

Ken said:

"Chris" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking trails
within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any
trailhead.

I have a mountain bike and a road bike. I have pretty much abandoned the
mountain bike since the nearest nice trails are a 30 minute drive away.
I can ride my road bike out the front door and find nice roads immediately.
Eliminating the 1 hour (round trip) commute gives me 1 hour of more fun.

If you have both enjoy both. If your looking to get a new bike try
looking into a cyclecross bike. Looks like a road bike (drops) but
built like a MTB. This is not a hybrid.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

di said:

You can always ride a mountain bike on any road, unless you want to ride
with a group that likes to ride fast,

This tends to be true but you can build up slicks and if you're strong
you can deal with it. The issue of lack of hand positions will come up
on long rides.

Quoted message said:

however you cannot ride a road bike
on any mountain bike trail regardless of the riding conditions.

Huh? You've never ridden with me. When I was growing up we didn't have
MTB (oh poor me ;-). We rode what we had, while road bikes don't
handle sand well I can ride them on most other terrain. I lead rides
where we don't get off the bike just because the road ends. :-) Though
falling down may be acceptable for getting off the bike. ;-)

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

Chris said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of

whether to

Quoted message said:

get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other.

I

Quoted message said:

would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking

trails

Quoted message said:

within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any

Quoted message said:

trailhead. For road bikes I can be on the road in 1 minute but I

don't know

Quoted message said:

if riding bikes on florida's roadways is a good idea.

Thanks in Advance

George

George, Chris, whatever your name is...

In the days when I was relegated to just one bike, my choice was to get
the best bike I could for off-roading which would still accomodate my
street riding. I bought a used full-suspension bike and a spare set of
wheels upon which I mounted slicks. I could switch between road mode
and off-road mode in less than ten minutes, although looking back, I
didn't make the switch very often. I still have that bike today, but it
spends more time in the shed than on the dirt.

Once I had space for a second bike, I rescued a late 70's / early 80's
baby-blue Schwinn road bike. Even after a full tear-down, repaint,
replace parts and rebuild, I spent less than $100 on this bike. It was
still a friction-shifting monster, but it handled commuting and weekend
road rides with aplomb.

For me, If I could only pick one again, I would get a touring bike (I'm
still aching to get a nice tourer) or, as Mark suggests, a cyclocross
bike. But the mountain bike with slicks was perfectly functional for
commuting duty for several years. Even now I ride a no-suspension MTB
with slicks and fenders on my commute when the weather is bad.

But the choice really depends on whether your primary goal is bombing
down the local trails or tearing up the roads. Many people find it much
easier to ride the roads since they lie just outside your door. Many
bikes will do both jobs with varying degrees of success. You will just
have to take an honest look at what you are willing to do to go for a
ride.

-Buck

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

Quoted message said:

This tends to be true but you can build up slicks and if you're strong
you can deal with it. The issue of lack of hand positions will come up
on long rides.

Huh? You've never ridden with me. When I was growing up we didn't have
MTB (oh poor me ;-). We rode what we had, while road bikes don't
handle sand well I can ride them on most other terrain. I lead rides
where we don't get off the bike just because the road ends. :-) Though
falling down may be acceptable for getting off the bike. ;-)

There are mountain bike tires that work almost as well as slicks on payment
and will also work quite well off road in most conditions, tires like
Hutchinson Pythons, Continental Traffic, and others with a tight thread
pattern or a center rib. My preference is the Hutchinson Pythons, although
they wear out quickly when used on pavement, Conti Traffic tires are very
heavy.

My reference to road bikes being used off-road was not intended to be dirt
roads, it was trails with sand, mud, roots, rocks, deep tracks, logs, and
all the other stuff you would expect to encounter on most mountain bike
trails. You may be able to get your road bike around the trail but it
doubtful if you would be considered riding it.

di said:

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

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Huh? You've never ridden with me. When I was growing up we didn't have
MTB (oh poor me ;-).

Quoted message said:

My reference to road bikes being used off-road was not intended to be dirt
roads, it was trails with sand, mud, roots, rocks, deep tracks, logs, and
all the other stuff you would expect to encounter on most mountain bike
trails. You may be able to get your road bike around the trail but it
doubtful if you would be considered riding it.

Actually as a kid we rode on some really nasty stuff and yes we rode
whatever we had. One of our favorites was the Schwinn Cruisers. You
get one of those and you had a tank and the tires were great for sand
and mud. Wasn't much good for climbing but they were fun. I only had
my 10 speed. Sand would almost bring me to a halt. The tall tires were
great in mud and some of the puddles we ran through. And we knew how
to cross logs on what we had. After a while the logs would be nothing
more than wood chips.

Today I'd opt for a cyclecross bike. I still have my Schwinn Paramount
hard tail but a bike that can do both would be very useful where I
live.

BTW, if you don't need to be hosed down after riding a MTB (or
cyclecross) it was a boring ride. :-)

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email hidden]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

Chris said:

I'd like to hear from those of you who had to make the choice of

whether to

Quoted message said:

get a road or mountain bike. I'm going to purchase one or the other.

I

Quoted message said:

would guess it would be a while before I could afford the other.

I live in Florida and there are a good number of mountain biking

trails

Quoted message said:

within an hours drive. But it's still at least 45 mins to get to any

Quoted message said:

trailhead. For road bikes I can be on the road in 1 minute but I

don't know

Quoted message said:

if riding bikes on florida's roadways is a good idea.

Thanks in Advance

George

George (or Chris) -- if you need to drive 45 mins to a trailhead,
consider how often you will have the opportunity to do that. I'd love
to mountain bike every day -- but I too live about 1 hour from the
closest real trail. Accordingly, my MTB hangs in the garage. Now, if
that was my only bike, I would happily ride it everywhere, but I happen
to be fortunate enough to also have a nice road bike -- which I ride
every day (pretty much). But, I'm also fortunate enough to live on a
rail-trail -- so I don't have to contend with the abject idiots that
clog Florida's roads.

So... if you live in an overly-elderly area, an overly-redneck area, or
an overly-developed area, I would say to be very careful on the road.

So... I guess the big question is -- where in Florida??

Neil Cherry said:

...
BTW, if you don't need to be hosed down after riding a MTB (or
cyclecross) it was a boring ride. :-)

I am going to tell Mikey V that you are causing soil erosion! He will
sic one of his trained mountain lions on you, and you will end up as cat
food!

In all seriousness, many MTB trails should not be ridden when wet, as
excessive damage to the trail often occurs. However, you are supposed to
donate some blood when you ride off-road, otherwise you are not trying
hard enough.

--
Tom Sherman - Earth