Originally Posted by
tjspiel
That was tongue in cheek. Imagine MTB shifters on road bike style drop bars. Might be great shifters, but wrong for a road bike. Same for the brake levers, -weird for a road bike.
My point is that by the time you've spent serious money on a light MTB and made the changes you've suggested, you've basically got a beefy road bike with a straight bar instead of drops. Rather than spend a fortune on a really light mountain bike and modify it to make it more road worth, my point is that you're better off just get a decent road bike or an XC bike.
I used to commute year round on an MTB. It's a decent bike for its vintage, - double-butted chromoly so the frame isn't all THAT heavy. It works fine. I still use it in the winter. It's just slower. Sure I could put slicks on it, and that would help. But the riding position is not very aero and it's geared lower for offroad use, not for moving quickly on a flat surface. I could change some or all of those things but to me it makes more sense to leave the mountain bike set up for its intended purpose (offroad or really bad road conditons) and use a road bike for its intended purpose.
Fair enough, from YOUR perspective/tastes/needs; the problem is not with that, but with the tendency to draw unwarranted, generally applicable 'rules' from what are, after all, just one's particular preferences. I could do the same thing: e.g. 'why ANYONE would choose/spend the money etc. to ride a road or cross bike for commuting is beyond me; the relatively weak braking, awkward-in-traffic restricted visibility aero position; the relatively weak rims/tires; uselessly high gearing which reduces acceleration 'snap' at intersections etc. etc.; road and cross bikes should be reserved for their original intended functions: riding/racing on the open road or racing 'cross' -- that kind of thing
