TRAINING WHEEL

I know you cant always ride your mountain bike. So when the conditions for mountainbiking are sub par do you ride your mountain bike on the road or do most of you have roadie bikes too? If you do, what road bike do you have?

rekmeyata

Of course! Sometimes I take my heaviest mountain bike, a 87 Giant Rincon that weighs 35 pounds for a 50 mile road ride just for the work out of pushing a heavy bike. My Kona Lava Dome is about 10 pounds lighter with far lighter rims too and occasionally I ride that on the road too. Typically though I don't like riding the MTB's long distances because of the limited area for hand placement my hands will get tired and sore, so I prefer riding the road bikes for road use due to having a lot more places to put my hands.

ed 

MTB'ing on the road is tons of fun:

Padi

Last summer I cycled a bit under 200km to our summer cottage, other than that I cycle to school, shops, tennis, actually anywhere with my MTB, mostly on road but I do take the forest trail if there is one.

Stealthammer

Both. I have a couple of road bikes too (a Salsa Campion, and a Pake fixie), but I also have a Serotta T-Max mountain bike that was built specifically to be ridden primarily on-road, and a Fisher Opie that is generally setup for Freeride/Urban Assaults where I do on-road miles between the areas where I "play". Sometimes I choose to take the Opie out instead of a road bike just because I like the freedom to be able to ride "off the grid".

Over the years I've done several centuries on a mountain bike, and my longest on-road only ride on a mountain bike was just shy of 300 miles in just over 24 hours. These days however most often I do on-road/off-road rides that start with road miles to a meet-up location and then a group off-road cross country/trail ride, and then end with road miles on the way home. For me, mountain bikes are just so adaptable that limiting their use to the dirt misses some great opportunities.

mechBgon

Around here, "sub par" conditions that would prevent off-roading means snow and ice, so then it's the commuter mountain bike with studded tires. It's heavy and slow and noisy, but hey I'm riding outdoors at least.

Since I don't drive if I can help it, I also ride the road to my group rides and XC races, of course. Once in a while I'll show up for a road group ride with my XC bike, although it's undergeared for our 35mph sign sprints

Anyway yeah, I do have a road-sport bike too. Nice thing to have.

igotfatlaces

..

marley mission

vintage road bikes on the road

Underground

I have a fixie for simple commutes because it is a bit more robust. I have a roadie for most of my long rides. My Hardrock Sport has 35's on it now and is for training. It is nice riding a heavier bike on the road. After a while I hop on the road bike and it feels like I am flying (I actually am because I have gotten faster).

For the most part, the HiFi is strictly offroad. Mainly because I have so many on road options.

pablosnazzy

if i am going to ride on the road for a significant distance, i will ride my ibis silk road bike. if the weather is crappy, i will ride my surly pugsley. i will ride a mountainbike on the road occasionally, but mostly to get somewhere to ride my mountainbike.

that is what i do, because it works for me. whatever works for you is the best way to do it.

DX-MAN

I can only afford/justify one bike (since I insist it meet a certain standard, not cheap to do), and it is a MTB. I'd rather have one "just right" bike than 2-3 that "come close".

4-1/2 years on the present frame/fork, somewhere between 15K-16K miles on it, pretty much all surfaces. Don't do dirt jumps, big air, or centuries. I think I do pretty well to do a couple 50-milers a year on the beastie.... Otherwise, it's a daily rider.

Hou-Tex

Yea.

petrolhead

I ride my MTB on the road to get to the trails, but if I'm going to solely road ride then I take my Scott CR1 Pro road bike

Easy Peasy

My MTB + slicks and full fenders is my bad weather commuter.

rekmeyata

Of course, why not? Their more dependable then modern rides.

roccobike

I ride mountain bikes for riding on mountain and dirt/sand trails.
I ride road bikes on the road.

I don't ride hybrids cause I haven't found a "Hybrid" trail or road.

Zephyr11

I used to do semi-long road rides (30-50 miles) on an XC hardtail before I bought a road bike. Just used my regular knobby tires because it was still primarily my mountain bike. Then for a while, I used it as a commuter to get to work (~14 miles roundtrip). Still used knobbies because I was trying to sell it at the time, and had a road bike by that point. After I sold that, I didn't have a mountain bike that was really that great for road riding, though for super short commutes (>3 miles or so), I have my 24", which I use to take advantage of little ledges and stairs along the way.

SlimRider

It should be fairly common to see hardtails on daily commutes and half-centuries. I'd find it difficult to wrap my mind around a fully suspended MTB doing the daily commute or half century, on primarily flat road surfaces.

Just Say'N...

- Slim

Zephyr11

I'd be willing to bet that my FS would be faster and better than my old XC hardtail for road riding. It's a lot lighter, and ProPedal is pretty darn effective. I just...don't like using it on the road. I have a road bike for longer rides, and I'm not going to use it for commuting since that would involve locking it up outside somewhere. So I guess "not that great for road riding" isn't quite the most accurate terminology...just "not appropriate for my purposes."

Daspydyr 

I ride my Scott Spark on the road a lot. It gets me to the trails. Around here if the weather is bad there are railroad side roads and trails around golf courses that I like to ride. I always hope to pick up a few Titleist or Bridgestone GBs around the golf courses. Most of em are mine anyway.

lubes17319

Only when pedaling to/connecting trails.............tires are way too $$ for me to replace.

3speed

I ride my upgraded Miyata 914(80s road bike) with bullhorns for leisurely nice day road rides, the 80s road bike converted to 3 speed IGH for riding on road with friends or often to work in decent weather, or the fat tire cruiser for trips to the store or to grab coffee or something. The MTB basically stays on the trails. I'll take it out to mess around on some stairs or ditches once in a while if the trails are too wet to ride and I need a MTB fix. I do have a 94 Giant MTB set up as a winter commuter with fenders and studded tires, but I wouldn't really consider that riding my MTB on the road.

gonathan85

Sometimes, but tires for bikes are $$$$ man!

gbg

I live in the city so I don't have much choice. I do have a Trek Madone, but
I still prefer the MTB's because of the crappy roads. I will take a few less MPH
over fixing flats any day. And you can get some pretty sweet deals on knobbies
on Ebay. I always rode knobbies on the street but just got some semi slick's last
summer and they bring the speed differential down a bit as well.

TacomaSailor

A lot - Frequently when I am living on my boat I don't have a car. My MTB (Specialized Stumpjumper MX) gets a rack and panniers and wheels with road tires. The MTB then does the grocery shopping, boat part shopping, and bar hopping. When it is time to go dirt riding I remove the road stuff, put on wheels with good dirt tires and am off to the hills.

I also have a nice CF road bike but it can't get the groceries for me.