What type of bike...

[Donatello]

I am hoping to start commuting to work which is roughly 12.5 miles, all on road and having watched lots of the Olympic cycling and Tour De France, I fancy a road bike.

The trouble lies though, in the fact that I think I would prefer a MTB for weekends away with BIL and friends.

Is a 25 miles a day, 5 days a week, on a MTB going to be an issue? When it is purchase time, I reckon I will be looking between £800-£1k range, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

I did a 'What Bike' thread a while back but as this also includes another question, thought I'd ask.

Edited by Donatello on Wednesday 8th August 16:11

[daz3210]

What kind of terrain? I know you said on road, but hills or flat?

[Donatello]

I live in the flats of East Anglia. I think there is about 3 inclines worth mentioning on the commute, but nothing serious.

[daz3210]

Well I wouldn't particularly worry about doing 12 miles or so each way if there are no real big hills. Progress on a MTB from experience is a good bit slower.

If you say you are planning on riding with others at the weekend, could they lend you a bike for a week to try your commute before deciding?

[Electric Beaver]

Why not spend £500 on a road bike and £500 on a MTB?

[Donatello]

daz3210 said:

Well I wouldn't particularly worry about doing 12 miles or so each way if there are no real big hills. Progress on a MTB from experience is a good bit slower.

If you say you are planning on riding with others at the weekend, could they lend you a bike for a week to try your commute before deciding?

I could ask, but they don't live too close so it may be an issue (BIL lives 250 miles away and my mates usually need theirs).. I'll give it a bash though to see.

Electric Beaver said:

Why not spend £500 on a road bike and £500 on a MTB?

I had considered this, but decided that if I had the £1k to spend, I would be much happier with one, better quality bike.

[IroningMan]

£1k buys about as much hardtail MTB as anyone should ever need - and you'll get fitter faster pushing it along the roads, too.

N+1 applies, of course, so your next bike can be a road bike.

[Gren]

Hardtail MTB and a spare set of cheap wheels shod with slicks for the weekday commute.

[Donatello]

Gren said:

Hardtail MTB and a spare set of cheap wheels shod with slicks for the weekday commute.

Was just looking at wheels and slicker tyres on Evans. So I think that is me decided... now, any bikes people would care to throw into the mix?

[scrwright]

Cube Atention & a set of spare wheels would be well under your budget. I am running a Cube Analog with a spare set of wheel I picked up off the bay, plus a front fork of this years Attention which is the same colour as my '11 bike

[paulmon]

I have one of these and got a set of MTB tyres as part of the deal. Its flipping awesome at ripping up the road and the trail. Pound for pound you wont find better.

Edited by paulmon on Wednesday 8th August 17:45

[ED209]

paulmon said:

I have one of these and got a set of MTB tyres as part of the deal. Its flipping awesome at ripping up the road and the trail. Pound for pound you wont find better.

Edited by paulmon on Wednesday 8th August 17:45

that is what i was going to reccomed at the start of the thread.

[Use Psychology]

the bmxes from the olympics today looked pretty good.

[anonymous-user]

29er with rigid carbon forks. it will be super fast on the roads and really good fun on the trails.

as ever, mmy leftfield suggestions will be ignored but i wont give in!....

[anonymous-user]

MTB, even with slicks, will be a hard slog for 25 miles a day commute. Totally unsuitable!. How about £700 Boardman MTB & a £300 Carrera TDF for the road commute. That will be far better than a 1k MTB for the commute..

[Ponk]

I had this exact decision to make a few months back. In the end I went for a MTB as I prefer riding off road despite using a bike mostly for commuting.

The problem with commuting on a MTB being the massive knobly tyres. I've recently just bought a set 26" slicks and it's made a huge difference. Slicks on, forks locked out and other than the slight undergearing compared to a hybrid you wouldn't notice.



I would be concerned about chain and sprocket wear if using two sets of wheels. They are meant to wear together so if, like me, a set of off road wheels would be rarely used you might find either uneven wear or chain slip being an issue.

[Watchman]

M4FFU said:

pablo said:

29er with rigid carbon forks. it will be super fast on the roads and really good fun on the trails.

as ever, mmy leftfield suggestions will be ignored but i wont give in!....

OK, Mr Leftfield; why the 29 with rigid forks, over a 26 with suss forks? Are 29 wheels meant to absorb bumps better? Not being facetious - honestly don't know the advantage.

29s roll better than 26s.
Rigid forks convert more pedalling energy into forward momentum than sus forks (which "bob" when you pedal, absorbing some of the energy).

[nammynake]

Based on your requirements I would definitely go for a hardtail mountain bike, but make sure it has lock out forks. I wouldn't bother with a seperate set of wheels (extra expense). I would get a pair of semi slicks for commuting and then just put your knobblies back on for weekend MTB rides. Once you've had a few attempts a full tyre change should take 10 mins max. Folding tyres will make the process even quicker as they don't have a semi-rigid beaded rim.

My money would probably go on this. I think you'll struggle to find anything comparable for £800:

http://www.canyon.com/_uk/mountainbikes/bike.html?...

[Rolls]

Jimboka said:

MTB, even with slicks, will be a hard slog for 25 miles a day commute. Totally unsuitable!. How about £700 Boardman MTB & a £300 Carrera TDF for the road commute. That will be far better than a 1k MTB for the commute..

Wouldn't say that - I did it for a year, and it was fine.. Was able to lock out the forks though. Best bit was the disc brakes didnt have to be touched at all in that entire time.. (my commute is 13 miles each way)

[anonymous-user]

Watchman said:

M4FFU said:

pablo said:

29er with rigid carbon forks. it will be super fast on the roads and really good fun on the trails.

as ever, mmy leftfield suggestions will be ignored but i wont give in!....

OK, Mr Leftfield; why the 29 with rigid forks, over a 26 with suss forks? Are 29 wheels meant to absorb bumps better? Not being facetious - honestly don't know the advantage.

29s roll better than 26s.
Rigid forks convert more pedalling energy into forward momentum than sus forks (which "bob" when you pedal, absorbing some of the energy).

what he said!
because in all honesty, how often does the OP think he will be going "mountain biking"?.... for a lot of uk trail stuff, you dont need suspension forks, especially cheap ones which are worse than having rigid forks even when its steep and rocky. thus a fast rolling 29er with carbon forks (to take the sting out of the road vibration) will be comfier and faster but still more than capable off road.