Originally Posted by
climbhoser
Denver is vastly different from NH. In New Hampshire and the rest of the Northeast cyclocross is a much bigger sport than it is here. Folks there are more likely to have 'cross bikes. In Denver the typical stable includes a road bike and mountain bike, so it would make sense to use the MTB for winter commuting and not buy an extra bike!
I think the question begs nit-picking. For most commutes the difference between a 'cross bike and a mountain bike in the winter is small. There are plenty of people, however, the virtually live on their bikes. It's an interesting selection of bikes they ride: commonly Surly LHTs and CCs, Kogswells, Trek 520s, Xtracycles, etc...
But, the rest of us, while we commute MOST days, still own a car (even if it's a beater that barely gets used) and we pedal what we've got, which tends to be either a roadie or an MTB.
Ah, I kinda assumed everywhere it snowed enough to get roadies off their road bikes and mtb ppl away from trails would have cross races/trails.
It is true that the difference between a mtb and cross bike for a normal bad weather commute would be pretty small. Though everytime I swap from my mtb to my cross bike it feels like flying. Even with just regular knobbies on my cross bike. My mtb seems to float over snow where my cross bike seems to dig better. It's probably all in my bike setup though.