Originally Posted by
Skipjacks
What will hold you back on an 8 mile ride is the tires the mountain bike will come with. They will be knobby tires that just aren't made for pavement.
What also might hold you back depending on the mountain bike is gearing. Mountain bikes are not built for speed on pavement. They are build for ease of pedaling up hills.
The hybrids will make a good 'nasty paved road' bike.
Mountain bikes make a good 'this is not a road' bike.
Road bikes turn a nasty paved road into a 'the nurses at the hospital were great' bike.
That helps a lot, thanks. I am concerned about the tires and gearing on the mountain bike, and if I swap those out I basically end up with a hybrid anyway.
Originally Posted by
rumrunn6
8 miles? doesn't matter what you ride, so ride what you want to be on. I've used a MTB for commuting, they fine, but you don't need a suspension fork, just nice big fat slicks. but try to find a lightweight tire option. for "commuting" I prefer a drop bar road bike, myself
I have a drop bar road bike that I use for long "fitness" rides, but today I just started looking at drop bar bikes that can take a bigger tire. So something in the gravel or touring category. But you're right, it doesn't matter what I ride for the intended purpose of this bike. This is the first time though that I've really put any thought into the purchase. It's hard to walk into the bike shop and see all the shiny new bikes and forget what you really needed in a bike.