How do you ride your MTB?

zoolander

I was kind of wondering how you guys ride your MTB.Do most of you stay on streets?Do alot of you mainly use them to ride trails?
I am kind of between a rock and a hard place as weather to buy a road bike or a mountain bike.I completely understand the differences in the two,but for some reason a MTB seems more "practical",if that makes any sense.
A MTB you can be riding down the road and all of a sudden jump a curb and cut across somebodys yard whereas a roadie you are stuck to the pavement.Of course a roadie is alot lighter and faster.
I just wondered how many of you just use your MTB to mainly just get exercise and really not plan on running any trails or jumping off a mountain with it or anything like that.

reub2000

I have 700x28c tires on flatbar, and I can definitly ride accross grass. I've never tried to ride accross a curb.

threaded

I think you're starting from the wrong place. So I ask: where do you want to ride a bike?

As to jumping kerbs etc. that all comes down to technique, and a roadie can do that fine if you know how to do it. Sometimes I'll even ride down a set of stairs on a roadie, no problem, it's technique.

Suspension and whatnot on an MTB is for when you hit proper obstacles, otherwise it is just a load of extra weight you're carrying around for no other reason than it saves you picking out a decent track.

JM01

I use my MTB's for trails, hybrids for asphalt, however I keep a beater MTB as a winter commuter in snow

and both my wife and daughter have both types as well

If you have only one bike, best to get an MTB as it works on all terrain, you can always modify the drive train to suit the terrain you ride most often....A few years ago I had an MTB with a roadie chain ring for city use...hard work going uphill, but a very fast bike on the flats

zoolander

After reading my post i realized how dumb it sounded and didnt say what i wanted to say.
Im not sure which kind of bike i want. To me,the MTB would be more "useful" in a way because you can ride it anywhere whereas a roadie need only be on nice hard surfaces. I wouldnt buy a MTB with the intentions of going trail riding or jumping things or any of that....and i wondered how many of you guys that have bought MTB pretty much just ride them on the pavement?

JM01

I used to when MTB's first became popular, but found that hybrids were faster, required less work, and were much more comfortable

Just wondering...why would you consider a bike designed for XC for road use? The geometry, drive train, and fat tires are meant for climbs, stability, and slower speeds.

But again, if I was to have only one bike, it would be a MTB so that I could ride every kind of terrain

Both my wife and I have about 6 bikes...roadie, errand, hardtail, FS, beaters...here's a couple we ride at the cottage

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steve77uk

I had exactly the same query myself...

However i opted for a MTB because of the same thoughts you had... I am on the road during the week, but find shortcuts down dirt trails, lime loose stone paths (scary for a newbie)...

Loving it! I have also got some slicks with knobbles on to change - i cannot justify two bikes nor do I have the space!

threaded

Why not then look at a cyclo-cross bike? Much lighter weight, and if you feel the need for suspension to mount kerbs, then you'll be carrying the bike over real rough stuff anyway, and a cyclo cross is way easier to carry, even has design features to make it easier.

janiejones

I have an mtb, I ride it just for fun and as a commuter. To the shops, to works and along some basic trails.

I prefer the more upright position of the mtb when I'm in traffic, and I only have flat pedals on my mtb, not clipless, so I just jump on it any time. It's like a ute (pick-up), you can use it for anything, but when I want to cruise for an hour or more, relax or ride with the club, or friends it's my roadie I rely on, and it's my roadie I love.

garage sale GT

Whether you need an MTB for occasional shortcuts or trails depends on how loose the soil is. Here in Illinois I just took my roadie around a forest preserve trail which was mostly paved with crushed limestone. I had to go slower in the corners and wished I had a softer seat, but it was fine. If you commute longer distances, you really start to appreciate the speed of a road bike, and unless the soil is unusually sandy or often wet where you live, it's really not much of a hindrance off road. A real MTB would be faster on the same course, though.

Raleigh actually made MTBs with drop bars in the early '80s.

The type of MTB you buy will be important too. Even a front fork can soak up pedaling energy if you ride on rough surfaces. Also, some of the trail bikes are short and have very steep head tubes for fast steering, which I suppose may be tiring near the end of a long ride. They're twitchy. I can hardly ride mine with my hands off the bars, unlike road bikes and older hybrids.

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reub2000

A flat-bar offers the same riding position as a mountain bike. Or you can use a hybrid, which has an upright riding position.

garage sale GT

I got an MTB for street riding. It was fine, I guess.

It was great to get used to riding with more weight on the arms without going all the way to a road bike with drop bars. Also, I was not able to spin out the 44/11 top gear when starting out so the low mountain gearing was fine.

I prefer a road bike, although my old Schwinn is equipped with 27x1-1/4 tires which border on hybrid size and has strong, 36-spoke touring wheels.

There is an excellent reason touring bikes and hybrids sacrifice some of their offroad capability with narrower tires.

If you do ride an MTB on the street, you will probably want to go to a narrower tire with a smoother tread in order to reduce rolling resistance. Unless you ride short distances, you will truly hate riding on knobbies.

Then, except for slightly more wheel strength and rolling resistance, it won't be that different from a hybrid.

Fat tires at high pressure ( like my 2"/26"MTB IRC Metros @ max 85 psi ) roll almost as well as road tires but only on smooth concrete. They bounce clean over road roughness or gravel, taking a lot of energy. If you reduce pressure, then you increase rolling resistance over smooth ground.

Suspension forks do this too. when they compress, they take power out of your forward motion.

I don't trust the knobbies with a smooth strip in the middle. The knobs will still churn up a lot of air at 15+mph, and can cause a slide on a paved corner because you lean the bike onto the knobs where there is much less tread, and the knobs deflect from the weight of the bike, helping to start a slide. The amount of rubber on the sidewall also has a lot to do with how much energy is lost rolling across a smooth surface.

Besides, in most situations, most of the MTB gear such as 2.25" knobbies and suspension is not necessary; although it would make off roading more fun or give a racer a race winning edge.

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garage sale GT

Most all bikes except the cheapest ones, road, hybrid, and MTB, have sealed hubs and bb these days. The only wear-related reason to keep a road bike on dry pavement is the fact that the front rings are made of aluminum and won't withstand grit as well as steel MTB rings.

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sojourn

I have two MTB's so I can go where I want. Road bikes are limited to pavement; Mountain bikes go wherever you point them.
Drawbacks are weight and speed for an MTB. Pluses are comfort and a better workout in a shorter period of time. Also you don't have to wear those team jerseys with all of those wild colors and logos all over them. Have you actually tried to READ the logos?!? And the color mix, purple on yellow, with a swirl of green...LIME green....geeze.......and have you actually gotten a response to a "Good Morning" as the ten of them BLAZE by talking about...Tofu??? and how light their water bottle cage is because it's composite! Also, you have to be a LIBERAL Democrat to be a real roadie.........................sorry..........I didn't really mean anything after the better workout part........my fingers just started going crazy…..;-)