Originally Posted by
Eyedrop
Snipped
The only thing the MTB is good for is the particularly rough stuff. They suck at everything else!
You wouldn't be saying that if you rode my route today.
Paved roads with patches of pavement missing that the MTB tires went over with no problem. My bike today was a rigid MTB with 2.125" x 26" tires with knobs. Decided to take a shortcut through the park and discovered that the creek had risen and flooded many sections of the trail. That water had frozen and again the MTB tires without studs had no problems handling those icy sections even though the pressure ijn the tires was about 50psi.
When I tour in Norther Ontario, Canada I often use my MTB with dropbar. I can take wide knobby tires (2.125") and use them on the fire./logging/mining roads that can be quite rough, steep in sections and/or sandy in others. If my tour consists of a lot of miles on pavement I can switch the tires to 1.5" slicks. Let's see, 2.125" = @50.5mm and 1.5" = @37mm. That's quite a variation of tire sizes on one frame.
In winter when I'm commuting on the MTB I don't have to worry if it snows a few inches during the day. Oh, I nearly forgot; Wide MTB tires are far less likely to get caught in a storm grate or railway/streetcar/trolley track.
In short, again, MTBs are very versatile and that's why so many people like them for commuting. Unless you're a real fitness rider on a dropbar bike an MTB is not that much slower over the average commuting distances of MOST people.
Ride what you like but don't tell people their choice of bike is wrong.
Cheers