kflagg 

Anyone ride a mountain bike or similar for organized rides such as a metric or century. My riding has declined greatly due to arthritis in my neck and hands etc. And riding the road bike just is not enjoyable any more and I miss organized rides with other riders.

On the plus side I can ride pretty comfortably on the mountain bike. I have tried to make the road bike work with multiple adjustments and parts changes along with acupuncture and it just isn't happening anymore.

KF

MetinUz

There was a Japanese rider riding an S-Works mountain bike with a rigid fork (and semi-slick MTB tires) in last year's Gold Rush 1200. He told me many people in Japan ride similar bikes in brevets.

kflagg 

I ordered a set of schwable marathon supreme's 2.0 looking foward to giving it a go!

EdgewaterDude

It's absolutely possible. I have been on two centuries where mountain bikes were being ridden. Heck, I rode 135 miles with a girl who was on a city bike​.

twinTI

I've ridden a couple of centuries on a mountain bike. I did use slicks. Gearing is what kept my top end speed down. I still ride this set-up on group rides. It is so much more comfortable that a road bike.

unterhausen

there is a mountain bike category at Paris-Brest-Paris, 750 miles in 4 days. So, yeah, I think it can work.

mprelaw

You'll probably enjoy it more with slicks. Sometime down the road, if you think you want to do more distance riding than the occasional organized century, you might want to think about investing in a flat bar hybrid. Lighter road frame, road wheels, 25mm or 28mm tires, and flat bars with trigger shifters.

jefft72

I ride a MTB primarily and find that lacking alternative hand positions would be my biggest complaint with my current setup. Bar ends are an inexpensive option, but I haven't made the commitment yet.

Petsamo

Either get healthy again or get unhealthy. Who cares what you do your century on. Here's a guy who did a century on a unicycle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKEbGxOCJog

awfulwaffle 

I did my first century o a franken mountain bike with slicks and platform pedals. Definitely doable.

devianb

I use a mountain bike, but it has 700c wheels, 25/28 slicks, 48T instead of 42T Chainring, and aero bars.

bikemig 

Trekking bars would be a nice addition to an mtb for long distance riding as you get some really useful extra hand positions. It is also a low cost "upgrade" as your existing brake levers and shifters will work with them. This is mine mtb set up with slicks; I use it for gravel road riding. I've since added an xtra H2O cage and clipless pedals:

Roadrash3

Sure, i do it on my salsa fargo with marathon supreme slicks. The salsa fargo is a 29er mountain bike with drop bars, but it is elevated higher so its more comfortable

Barrettscv 

I'm in Italy enjoying some great riding on a Trek rigid mountain bike. It's a very good climber and a capable century bike.

Machka 

I rode my first 200K randonnee with a heavy mtn bike.

I was planning to use a road bicycle, but about 3 weeks before the event, I had a clothing accident and tore the rotator cuff in my left shoulder. I couldn't put much weight on my left arm, so the geometry of a road bicycle was out. The mtn bike had a more upright geometry and I was able to ride it without much pain.


Since then, I've ridden numerous centuries (and metric centuries) with that mtn bike ... mostly in the winter.

contango 

The first time I rode 100 miles in a day it was on a mountain bike and large parts of it were along canal towpaths rather than tarmac. My wife has ridden her mountain bike for two metric centuries and a few rides of 40-50 miles (~65-80km)

If you can lock out the suspension, put smooth tyres on it, bullhorns on the handlebars so you've got more than one hand position, chances are you can do it.

TheZip

I ride an old Cannondale M900 rigid with slicks. It's almost as light as some road bikes.

Gnosis

I don’t ride any organized rides, but I do ride centuries and double centuries solo via my portly (36, 35, & 32 pound) mountain bikes with 29” x 2.1 and 26” x 2.0 street tires. I only rode my first two centuries via my lightweight (21.4 pound) Trek 2.1 road bike with 700 x 28 tires, then tried my 35 pound Trek Wahoo 29er hardtail on the same hilly century and found that I enjoyed the century ride much more per its greater ride comfort and its lower gearing was far better for my longer steeper ascents. I next rode the same hilly century via my upgraded 32 pound 1995 Giant Rincon rigid steel frame mountain bike and also enjoyed it much more than riding my lightweight road bike. I’ve been riding my longer distances via my portly mountain bikes ever since.

In early July I have a 250-mile ride planned (“to and from” my dad’s house in the mountains) and I’ll be riding my 35 pound Trek Wahoo 29er hardtail. It currently has 29” x 2.1 Continental street tires which provide an incredibly smooth ride and are absolutely fantastic at descent speeds of nearly 50 MPH, so even though I purchased a lighter set of tires for that ride (700 x 32’s) to reduce overall energy expenditure, I just may stick with the 29” x 2.1’s, as I intend to breach 50 MPH down one or more of the route 125 mountains and quite possibly the route 501 mountain.

Incidentally, I’m 58 years old and have been commuting everywhere via my portly mountain bikes for the last 3 years now. I only ride my lightweight Trek 2.1 road bike as an occasional treat (usually on 50 mile rides or less, as I don’t find any of the hand positions on drop bars comfortable).

jeffpoulin

In 1999, I did Seattle to Portland in one day on a Specialized Stumpjumper, so yeah, it's doable. I'd get a good pair of bar ends, though, if you don't already have them.