General Cycling Discussion - Equally fast on mountain or road bike...why?

This has been pretty odd, but for distance I do the same times on a road bike that I do a MTB. BUT....I am faster on sprints on a MTB than i am a roadbike. I ride almost identical gears on both...it's kinda weird. Could this be a fit issue, or do i have to develop form for the roadbike, etc?

for what it's worth, I've been riding roadbikes for only a couple months, but have rode MTBS since the begging of the year, and have put over 10x the miles on MTBs than I have roadies...so could it just be having to get used to roadbikes?

I had the same problem:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=67274

Turns out it was a combination of me being more comfortable on the mtb and therefore being able to mash a lot more comfortably and crank up hills faster, traffic lights, and being comfortable enough to approach intersections at a faster speed in a higher gear and getting back up to speed again.

This has been pretty odd, but for distance I do the same times on a road bike that I do a MTB. BUT....I am faster on sprints on a MTB than i am a roadbike. I ride almost identical gears on both...it's kinda weird. Could this be a fit issue, or do i have to develop form for the roadbike, etc?

for what it's worth, I've been riding roadbikes for only a couple months, but have rode MTBS since the begging of the year, and have put over 10x the miles on MTBs than I have roadies...so could it just be having to get used to roadbikes?


How heavy a road bike? Seems to me that the reduced weight and the ability to get to speed faster should yield a better speed. Of course you are not conditioned for the road bike, so that indeed may make a difference. You should be able to hold a higher cadence on the road bike just due to higher tire pressures and lower rolling resistance. You should have much narrower tires too to reduce the rolling resistance and allow for higher pedaling gears.

ok, that's definately good to know. I'll admit my Talus fits me like a glove, it just tripped me out. My max sprint on my roadie on the same gearing is about 10mph slower than on my mtb...same computer used to figure speed (it was designed to be switched from biek to bike, and it saves the wheelsize, etc for each bike), top sprint roadie 22mph, mtb 32mph.....it's just bizarre. Maybe my roadie still isnt properly fitted to me, I dunno.

This has been pretty odd, but for distance I do the same times on a road bike that I do a MTB. BUT....I am faster on sprints on a MTB than i am a roadbike. I ride almost identical gears on both...it's kinda weird. Could this be a fit issue, or do i have to develop form for the roadbike, etc?

for what it's worth, I've been riding roadbikes for only a couple months, but have rode MTBS since the begging of the year, and have put over 10x the miles on MTBs than I have roadies...so could it just be having to get used to roadbikes?

believe me, you'll get faster on the road bike. i wasn't comfortable either when i switched from mtn bikes, but once i learned how adapt my body to the road bike it wasn't even close. for me, the challenge was to get enough upper body leverage with the drop bars, it felt unnatural at first and thus i couldn't throw my body weight around enough.

BTW here's the bikes and weight

Me, 25yo male, 5ft 8in, 220lbs, can spin to heaven and back

MTB, 2004 Raleigh Talus, 28lbs with my gear on it

Roadie 1989 Trek 1100, I think about 24lbs, it's far lighter than the talus that's for sure.

but I noticed i cant spin well on the roadie either....I've been able to hit obscene (and possibly dangerous) cadences on my MTB, but not on the roadie, it's just weird. Could my BB be trashed or something?

BTW the mtn bike has 2.1 WTB Weirwolf Race tires on it...those are pretty much the smoothest rolling knobbies I have ever seen...you only start hearing tread noise once you hit about 28-29mph on pavement or doing hard cornering, that's about it. For all practical reasons, they are pretty close in funciton to slicks on road.

believe me, you'll get faster on the road bike. i wasn't comfortable either when i switched from mtn bikes, but once i learned how adapt my body to the road bike it wasn't even close. for me, the challenge was to get enough upper body leverage with the drop bars, it felt unnatural at first and thus i couldn't throw my body weight around enough.


Hmm, this pretty much makes sense, my upper body strength is craptacular to say the least. So what exercises did you do to get into shape, or is there a trick to geting more leverage I don't know about?

Hmm, this pretty much makes sense, my upper body strength is craptacular to say the least. So what exercises did you do to get into shape, or is there a trick to geting more leverage I don't know about?

i pretty much just spent more time out of the saddle, working on moving the bike left to right as i pedaled. the natural motion is to pull on the right side of the bars while you're pushing on the left pedal and vice versa. this back and forth motion should start to come naturally after a while.

i would start by grabbing the brake hoods and trying some sprints from there - it's also a good way to climb as well. then try to get in the drops and sprint - that should feel more akward (because you are so far forward, as opposed to the mtn bike), but it's the ideal position for short bursts of speed. again, the trick is to feel comfortable throwing the bike from side to side under you.

Tim, as soon as I get my knee back into shape you better believe I'll be throwing my bike back and forth through my whole commute. :)

Basically, just throw your entire body weight down on 1 leg, you will naturally compensate for this shift by throwing your bike the opposite direction. Look at the TDF videos, it's pretty much what their riders do cept they do it with a lot more grace and they pull themselves a lot further forward and out of the saddle than I do.

believe me, you'll get faster on the road bike. i wasn't comfortable either when i switched from mtn bikes, but once i learned how adapt my body to the road bike it wasn't even close. for me, the challenge was to get enough upper body leverage with the drop bars, it felt unnatural at first and thus i couldn't throw my body weight around enough.

I was riding a mountain bike a few days ago and I cant believe how fast my body adapted to road bikes that riding on mnt bikes feels so sluggish and awkward...i felt like i was riding a kids bike.

you can only sprint to 22 mph on your road bike? I cruise that fast...

I think you need to get your computer adjusted.

I'm pretty sure it's accurate, Sometime I'll try to find an off-duty cop and try to have him speed-gun me a few times just to make sure.

I can't believe there is such a large difference in max speed. I think the computer is not set up right -if you are using the tire circumference from a the chart, that can be wrong.

If you ride the exact same route on each bike, does the distance measured match? That would be a good check, so at least you are comparing apples to apples.

22mph on a roadbike should be easy. 32mph on a mtb is hard - assuming for both flat ground and no wind.

When I went from mtb w/semi-slick to roadbike I had about a 1-2mph average speed improvement and 4mph max speed (but I haven't even tried for max speed on roadbike yet)

Al

I am sure that on a smooth indoor track, a typical rider could ride 2 mph or 4 mph faster on a good, light road bike, compared with a good, light mountain bike.

I live in the inner city where the streets look like Berlin in 1946. Large craters, cracks, separations, and potholes. Sometimes traffic makes it wiser to detour to a sidewalk, parking lot, or bike trail. Stop lights, stop signs, and lots of cars and trucks.

So, gettting from A to B is not an issue of "top speed", it is an issue of a speed that is confortable and safe for both the rider and the bike. The big fat tires and suspension of my MTB allow cruising at a steady speed on a straight line on a block where I would be carefully going between potholes and cracks and hunting for rideable pavement on a road bike. Some obstacles I just plow over on my MTB, where I would have to go around it, or dismount on a road bike.

So, in my neighborhood, it would be silly to ride a road bike in hopes of getting to the movies sooner. Not going to be saving much time. I ride a road bike, because I enjoy the feel and handling, and I even kinda enjoy weaving in and around the wreckage that my mayor likes to pretend are streets.

I get what your saying, but it just doesn't make sense in regard to the 10mph difference. The original poster said a 10mph difference (better on mtb) in top sprint speed. It is possible, but I doubt that this sprint was done on a rough course better suited for mtb use. If someone is claiming a top sprint difference they should be comparing on a somewhat decent surface.
Al

"It's not about the bike"

Something is wrong with the computer there is way to large of a gap for it to be the bike or riding position or rough roads.(good old physics and math tells me so)

Either the sensor/magnet is not set right, (loose, wide gap, or alignment) allowing it to miss whenever the wheel or fork flexes a bit or the computer's wheel sizes are messed up. Maybe you are useing the road tire setting when on the mtb and the mtb setting on the road bike, its an easy mixup the comp just says wheel one or wheel two and they could have been programed opposite of what you thought.

Both should be set useing a weighted rollout. Do this with a tape measure and a marker, mark the tire and the ground then sit on the bike and roll forward untill the tire mark has made it all the way back to ground level and mark the ground at the mark. measure the distance beween marks, thats it. I usually roll forward two revolutions then divide the distance by two, for a touch more accuracy but thats just me, weight or no weight on my bike made just over a 1% difference. The comp basis everything on wheel revolutions times the distance you enter.... and of course time.

However I like that idea of riding the same route on both bikes to compair distance, try it with your normal wheel settings then, if the distance doesn't match within 2% or 3%, try it again but with the computer set to the oposite bike. If it still doesn't match it means you should just re-measure and re-set both wheel settings then confirm that all is well with another compairison ride around the block. If that doesn't fix it take the the comp back for a new one.

Well I got my max speed up a bit on my roadbike...I found out it was my gut.

my bloated beer belly got int e way of my legs, so i ended up pedaling goofy legged, knees out..that killed my power.

Now that I got it, I can hit and hold 21-22mph easily...I feel in a month or so I'll be comfortable enough with it to sprint hard...I have to work on upper body strength thoughsince it seems i do put in quite a bit of steering input while hammering down.

I wouldnt be surprised if I could hit close to 30 if I was to really push it right now...so all is well now that I can move fast enough to annoy traffic again..."oh hes a bike i have plenty of..*BEEP BEEP*...what the f....bike's arent supposed to be that fast!" :D

oof. Beer belly problems. That sucks.. hehe Keep it up, that beer belly will be gone before long :)

posted this a couple of months ago...

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I tried using my xc mtb on one of my routes (roadbike routes -- highway), just a few minutes ago.

The experience was cool.. here's what I have found out.

Total Distance: 26km
Road: Very smooth asphalt road (highway)
Traffic: light, high speed; 100kmh speed limit(cars)
Weather: slight headwind, cloudy, cool (about 28 deg C).

Roadbike
Gearing: 52T-42T. 12T-23TCassette; didn't have the chance to use the big ring.
Wheels/Tires: 700c, 700x23C Maxxis
weight: 18.5lbs
Top speed: 46kmh
Ave speed: 32kmh
Fun Level: Excellent


MTB (hardtail)
Gearing:44-32-22T. 11-32TCassette
Wheels/Tires: 26", 26x2.1 WTB NanoRaptor
Weight: 26lbs
Top speed: 35kmh
Ave speed: 23kmh
Fun Level: Good workout; won't be taking this route again on this bike...

Anyway, this numbers seem to be correct..

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