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.
Unless, of course, all you have is a MTB. In which case you can convert a MTB into a commuter cheaper than buying a new roadbike.
I have a friend who had a hardtail with Fr. suspension. He had full XT on it and didn't want to spend extra on a new bike. He got Ritchey Tom Slicks for $15 a piece (on sale) a rack for ~$20 (I think it was Blackburn...not great, but it worked) and put a rigid fork on for ~$50 then added fenders he found for $30. Zammo he know has a commuter, too, that he spend $130 on. Show me a commuter bike with XT level components and disc brakes. The only thing he really spent money on that you wouldn't spend money on with converting a road or 'cross bike is the rigid fork! FWIW this guy commutes 25 mi. RT on this setup. Yeah, he works in a corporate monkey-show where he doesn't have to worry about thievery, but he spent more freakin' money on his commuting clothing than he did on his bike upgrade!
What's better? They all have their virtues. Nice thing about my friend's MTB is when things get super snowy he can throw on 2.1 fatties with or without studs. I can't on my road bike, so I have to take my MTB anyways. Yes I could have bought a single 'cross bike to begin with, but I didn't. And would a 'cross bike have been better anyways? I think it would do well enough in the snow for me, and well enough on the road, but I love my MTB in the snow and I love my road bike on the road!
And I don't care what you naysayers say about snow...I'd rather have fatties. Most of the time the snow in CO is packed on the roadway and thin tires don't cut through it at all...they just slip slide around on it. I can get some WTB Velociraptors with soft tread and pump 'em low and feel like I'm riding on pavement with 'em! In slush it can get squirrely, I'll grant that, but more often than not I'm dealing with ice and packed snow where I'd rather have fat, soft tires and/or studs.