Originally Posted by
acroy
well, not really..... Replace those heavy tires with skinnies, and a few other things, and the weight comes down real quick. my personal ride cost about $1500 built from parts (the expensive way) and is about 25lb. Another few hundred for a lighter frame, wheels, & convert to rigid fork, and it would be at 20lb.
Premium low-20's hardtails are very available at around $1500 and might break the 20 barrier with slicks & carbon fork.
anywayze, just sayin, mtb's have a rep for being heavy & clunky, but they don't have to be.
cheers
I paid $900 for a 2005 Felt F65 brand new. It weighed about 18lbs equipped with Ultegra 10spd (except for the brakes and crankset). It had crappy wheels but a set of Open Pro/Ultegra wheels can be had for about $200 from Performance.
I'd say that's a fair bit cheaper than your 25lb $1500 mtb.
I just prefer the responsive ride of a nice road bike. I don't have to worry about rain soaked roads, snow, or locking my bike up when I get to work (it stays inside right next to my desk) so I commute on a quality lightweight road bike. Again, it's much faster than a mtb and I enjoy that.
There is no advantage whatsoever for me to ride a mtb but there are a number of disadvantages. I tried commuting on a mtb when I owned one and hated it, I even went so far as to replace the tires with slicks but it still didn't come close to the road bike. The fork soaked up a lot of energy and it was noticeably slower than the same commute on my road bike.
So, the road bike wins!!!
