MTB jack of all trades

[S10GTA]

Currently I have my nice road bike and my not so nice road bike (which I hate with every fiber of my being)

The nice bike is for nice stuff, the horrid one is for work and winter duties.

With a youngster on the way, I am considering getting rid of the one I hate and getting a mtb, but this mtb has to double up and do quite a few things. The number one thing it has to do is my 12 mile ride into, and then 12 miles home. Next, it has to be able to cope with winter club runs and reliability rides and thirdly it needs to be able to do dad duties when the baby arrives. This involves towing a trailer on gravel tracks, and eventually have a bike seat fitted to it.

I'm thinking a nice mountain bike with on road and off road tyres might fit the bill.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which bike might fit the above?

[Jimbo.]

Any MTB, with its lower gearing, smaller wheels and sail-like riding position will be awful on winter club runs.

I'd suggest a cyclocross bike: at least that'll give you half a chance! Genesis Croix de Fer? Kona Jake series? Planet X Uncle John?

[scottri]

Whats the budget? I think i'd be going for something like this http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtb/ht_teamr.html

or

http://www.boardmanbikes.com/hybrid/hybrid_race.ht...

[nammynake]

What don't you like about the road bike?

[Gren]

Difficult to pin it down to one but any XC oriented, lightweight hardtail with 100mm forks would be a good starting point. As you say either swap tyres over for different duties or even better/quicker swap wheels. A 29er will cover ground faster on the less technical stuff.

The exact bike will depend on budget.

[Justin S]

Jimbo. said:

Any MTB, with its lower gearing, smaller wheels and sail-like riding position will be awful on winter club runs.

I'd suggest a cyclocross bike: at least that'll give you half a chance! Genesis Croix de Fer? Kona Jake series? Planet X Uncle John?

Sounds the safest bet. 12 miles each way on an MTB with slicks is not as fun as it sounds.

[BadgerBenji]

Jimbo. said:

Any MTB, with its lower gearing, smaller wheels and sail-like riding position will be awful on winter club runs.

I'd suggest a cyclocross bike: at least that'll give you half a chance! Genesis Croix de Fer? Kona Jake series? Planet X Uncle John?

Good suggestion, lots of them come as well with provision to put mudguards on as they come with all the eyes and lugs, there is nothing worse than riding on a clubrun with someone without mudguards when it's foul weather.

[B1G GK]

Spec Rockhopper running the Spec Control tyre,
Will take the off road abuse, yet comfy enough to plod and commute on.

[Watchman]

scottri said:

Whats the budget? I think i'd be going for something like this http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtb/ht_teamr.html

I cannot believe that only Boardman offers something like this. It's such an obvious solution to the "everyday" bike in my eyes.

[Rolls]

Justin S said:

Sounds the safest bet. 12 miles each way on an MTB with slicks is not as fun as it sounds.

Don't understand quotes like this - its fine imo! A little slower, but not that much, and if you have discs you never have to worry about brake pads and such!

[Gizmoish]

Watchman said:

scottri said:

Whats the budget? I think i'd be going for something like this http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtb/ht_teamr.html

I cannot believe that only Boardman offers something like this. It's such an obvious solution to the "everyday" bike in my eyes.

I agree, they're so light too.
There are other fully rigid bikes but I don't know another MTB with a (strong) carbon fork - closest equivalent are the cheaper CXs.

[Justin S]

Rolls said:

Don't understand quotes like this - its fine imo! A little slower, but not that much, and if you have discs you never have to worry about brake pads and such!

I do, you run out of gears, you get better rolling on larger wheels unless you build a 29 er and its lighter having a cyclocross than an mtb. You dont need discs on the road , but some cyclocross bikes come with discs now. Coming from someone who commutes every day to work on a bike..........

[Rolls]

And I too commute everyday on a bike, and did so for 2 years on a hartail, with slicks - was fine, gearing not an issue at all imo..

[GBDG]

Cracking deal on Wiggle for this:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-filter-apex-2012/?r...

Looks like it fits the bill nicely.

[Gumstabber]

Buy a hybrid. Fast enough on roads, ok off roads. Mtb riding position. Easy to commute on.

[Gizmoish]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

If you're going to lock out the forks then you'll be carrying their weight around for no benefit...

[Rolls]

Some cheap carbon forks on an Mtb would keep the weight down, although sticking with the locked out theme would make it more Mtb-able if/ when you want to go off road