Originally Posted by
beng1
In reality there is
no real functional difference between a road and mountain-bike except for the tires each has to suit the road surface.
That Marin "mountain bike", with its rigid frame and fork, is essentially a road bike, but with fat tires and flat bars, so of course it's going to perform much as that low end yellow "road" bike does.
Modern mountain bikes have very little in common with that old Marin.