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Commute on MTB or get a cheap roadie?
I'm after some input/advice please.
After living in Crows Nest for 12months and loving the 12 minute ride to work (The Rocks), I'm moving back to Mona Vale.
Now I still want to ride to work a few days a week, but I'm not sure my Dually MTB is the best vehicle for this. (09 Trance X0)
What was previously about 7km a day is now going to be around 70km return (I was planning on hitting wakehurst parkway all the way from Narrabeen to Spit)
Should I
a) Tough it out on the Dually (running crossmark 2.1's) - worried about wear N tear on shiny XTR Drivetrain
b) Get a 2nd wheelset with roady tyres - hassle with changing over Cassette between rear wheels to keep wear the same as cranks/chain
c) Get a cheapo roadie? - dont really want to buy ANOTHER bike. And I like the option of doing a lap of the Dam on the way home occasionally.
Thanks
Mark
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I would get a roadie personally, lighter and quicker to commutte to work on.
For me personally......I ride my Dually, with traffic being (in my view) a significant danger on the road, I'd like to be able to hop the curb when needed or when I feel I am in danger from traffic being too close. Although in saying that....70km is a looooong round trip daily on mtb tyres.
See for me, the traffic is bad on Military Road and Spit Rd and is normally at a standstill so I find that for the vast majority I am overtaking cars. Personally I wouldnt want to ride the MTB that kind of distance.
I have always commuted on an MTB, with noblies. This is a deliberate poly to keep the effort factor up – the exact opposite to Logan. However I am only doing Curly to the City and my trip is only half your distance.
What about a 29er? I got an Avanti (cheap) early this year just for commuting. This keeps the robust factor (for the exact reasons tubsy mentioned). Plus gives you choice towards noblies (off road) or slicks plus that fabled benefits of the larger wheel. The further option here is you can get narrower cycle cross tyres, thereby keeping the effort factor higher, plus testing your skills off road! Worst of both worlds!
Yup, big factor for me too is the same as Charlie, keeping effort high to maximise ftness/weight loss/strength gain etc.
But again, your round trip distance is a major consideration here.
Think we spoke about this before and the general consensus is that you should ride a bike on the terrain it was designed for. Which basically means: unless you are commuting down firetrails get a road bike: 700c wheels and drop bars. Why I use that criteria...
I chose to get a Cyclocross bike over 3 years ago to commute on, working on the premise it would be more robust that most road bikes and came with knobbies so one could tinker with the crosser scene if one likes. While dabbling in cyclocross didn't really work out for me it was good to try, and the bike has performed flawlessly as a commuter. It now has thousands of kays on it and think have only had the rear wheel trued once despite the fact I ride up and down kerbs every day. You can also have a go at road riding on this kind of machine if your 'friends' are that way inclined
Some have said that riding a road (or cross) bike would be easier than an MTB but IMHO you shouldn't even consider that. If you find it too easy, just do more days a week. Let me know when you are commuting 350km a week so I know never to try and chase you round Manly Dam!
I was in a similar position just over a year ago and ended up with a Seek from Giant. It's a flat bar commuter bike but borrows much of it's gene pool from MTB so you can jump gutters etc + you get the efficiency of thinner tyres. Noice. I didn't want to 'go the roady' as I wanted to maintain an MTB feel to my riding. I commute 2-3 days per week and just love it. It's a great way to start / end the day and it sure is cool riding over the harbour bridge. Hope you can maintain your commuting passion from Mona Vale. It's a long way but the rewards will be worth it.
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-AU/bikes/model/...
Important point from the OP, "dont really want to buy ANOTHER bike"
whilst I don't really 'want' to (due to buying a bike last week) It appears a cheap flat-bar commuter might be the way to go. That distance a few times a week on a dually might start to get annoying.
Thanks for the input, giving me a lot to think about.
Keep it comin!
In support of a roadie, sure a flat bar bike might be more comfy for commuting but if you have a roadie you can go ride it for fun on weekends when the trails are too wet for the mtb. The extra speed and efficiency makes them suprisingly good fun (dare I say it). A commuter is limited to commuting so you're getting better value from a roadie
..... as I commute 5 days a week (although only 22km return) and I love it. If you are going to buy one then get a proper road bike rather than flat bar as the incremental riding positions are nice to have. Also, when it was raining for what seemed like May to July, I started enjoying the road rides on the weekend (which was new to me).
The flat bar is the way to go, I purchased one at the start of the year for fitness training when not able to get on the trails and it's brilliant you'll commute and not feel much difference in riding position from your MTB and if you really want you can do some road k's for training, I've done 70-80k road rides and not had any dramas.
AD
Everyone wants to buy a new bike...surely thats the case
..am only 5 kms from work but the good thing living near the M7 is I can go home the long way in the afternoon so a Hybrid is working for me with 26mm tyres instead of the 35mm it was a ebay bargain at $95.00 p/up from Mona Vale
Id definately get a road bike or a bike with the 700c size tires. I got one last year for commuting to work which has the shimano nexus gears that are perfect for the stop-start of traffic lights.
If you want to increase your fitness simply ride the road bike at faster speeds!
Hey Mark.
I was in a similar position. For various reasons, I could only have one bike and went for a Yeti 575. For commuting duties, I put on a set of Mavic Speedcity 700c wheels. I had a separate cassette on both sets of wheels and ran two chains ( which I swapped over when swapping wheels). Eventually I just kept the same chain on and checked it regularly for wear and it worked fine...
The downside to commuting on a dual suspension bike was that it tended to put a lot of miles into the suspension components which needed more regular servicing.
It was unconventional as a commuter but it meant that at the weekends, my offroad bike was not compromised...
Just recently, I was able to get a second bike specifically for commuting ( North Curl Curl to CBD). I thought about a road bike but ultimately I wanted something which felt similar to the 575. My reasoning was that I was going to do a lot more km's on the commuter than on the 575. What I didn't want was a situation where the 575 felt alien when I got on it ( I'm not exactly over endowed with natural talent when it comes to riding off road and I need all the familiarity I can get....) So..... I got a Yeti ARC hardtail with a rigid carbon fork, a 1x9 drivetrain and the same 700c wheels with Durano plus 25c tyres. Ergonomically it is set up very similarly to the 575 although it is 3kg lighter and a lot more efficient ( I might go to a bigger tyre when the Durano's wear out though...).
I find I don't need any encouragement to ride off road but when I'm tired and it's dark, cold, wet and windy outside, it's too easy to say stuff it and get the bus to work. The reason I get on the ARC instead is because I think it is a thing of beauty and I love the way it looks as well as the way it rides. I also know my psyche well enough to know that if my bike feels fast, I ride it harder. On the few occasions I have tried commuting with knobbly tyres,( for a training benefit...) I have just felt so slow that I don't put any effort in. Now if I want a better workout, I just choose a longer route to work.
Ultimately, the correct choice is the one that works for you personally. . . . isn't diversity a wonderful thing ?
Looking forward to hearing what you decide...
CB
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Firstly, that Yeti looks fantastic. Something about seeing those familiar colours and the brand on something that is not quite what is expected is very nice. I purchased a roadie, the motivation was commuting to the city but I also wanted something to ride when the tracks were wet and to rack up some training kms. I must say that it is nice to have something especially for the road and have my mtb all set up and ready to hit the tracks whenever I wish. Whether that be a roadie, hybrid, cyclocross or whatever I think it's a nice idea to have something for riding on-road (off-track?).
I personally find that it makes me work in different ways. Tackling bigger hills and longer distances has definitely helped my mtb, besides making me fitter, I just seem to have improved at spinning the pedals in the right gear at the right time.
Alot of people under estimate how good getting a roadie can be for your bike handling skills. Personally I do enjoy my road rides from the commutte to work to the 100km smashfest that I go on with Rob and the others, road riding brings something else to the table and you really get to push your endurance, if I want to get my HR rate and up and push myself, I just put it in the big dog and crank it out.
As Daveh has said, there is a lot to be said about maintaining a constant cadence as well.
Interesting info here guys.
I'm in a similar boat...
Though I have most of a road bike (not complete and needs some coin to get it going), I'm contemplating changing my route to ride the roady and stop wearing out my nice XTR gear on my dually also. Problem is, I really enjoy my little blast along the dirt around narrabeen lakes....
What a mixed bag of responses, however it’s clear what the answer is... we all need 5 or 6 bikes!
AM Bike
XC Bike
Road bike
Hard tail 29
Flat Bar Commuter
And one that’s just plain freaky.. like an AM bike with road wheels (Imagine the confusion as you set off for a ride; lycra or shorts, visor or no visor, shave or not...)
Oh and in response to the original question, I vote for the cheap road bike.
Unicycle!!!! Don't forget Unicycle!!!
and the cruiser.
Firstly Yes get a bike that is most appropriate for the type of terrain you are riding and the distance of the commute as well.
Even small things as flat bars vs drop bars make a big difference, if $$ is an issue make sure to guesstimate the wear and tear on the cost of the components. As much as I would love to commute on the Specialized Stumpy with XT components or the roadie with 105/ultegra type components (actually nice campagnolo stuff) I won't - It was just too expensive in medium term to long term maintenance.
Think about the average speed a bike can achieve for X amount of effort roadie > commuter > MTB XC
Personal experience and choice
So I ended up getting a SingleSpeed 700c with the bullhorn type handlebars (SE Lager) and its steel framed as well. Its a strong and slightly heavier bike, in fact I plan to get stronger wheels next time. It was $700 and I have only changed one set of brake pads and two sets of tyres.
Its a GREAT training bike, its inefficient when compared to other bikes but it really does get the strength up. I only have 13km commute from Lane Cove to Edgecliff so its not too far, any further I would get annoyed as I can't pedal fast enough on the flat (44/17 drivetrain) or get annoyed that the hills are too big.
@lorrie... good points, but...
Am not sure the wear caused by riding on the road is too expensive. As noted above, I commute on a crosser and also ended up using this on the weekends for 'proper' <cough>road riding</cough> too. This adds up - back in January I somehow calculated the bike had done 6,400Km and GC says have done almost 2,600Km on it since then - 9,000Km in total.
The bike has seen a tiny bit of off road too, one ride in particularly cr@ppy conditions where the same distance on the MTB near enough destroyed it's brake pads.
Anyhow, so what price 3 years commuting on and off?
Total parts: 1 set of tyres and 1 inner tube.
Total additional labour: Zero (I've haven't even adjusted the dérailleurs - brilliant bottom-of-the-range Campy!)
Basically - I'm not sure wear comes into it on the road... not unless you're commuting 350Km a week