Originally Posted by badger1

"My roadbike is sooooo much faster than a mtb". Is that so, 'Lance'? Maybe slightly better elapsed time/distance on a long commute over open roads (and/or into a headwind), but otherwise not likely: laws of physics etc. are rather against this one. (We're not talking group rides/paceline here -- those are different conditions). All depends on the rider, and on prevailing conditions on one's commute. I know, beyond doubt, that my blue-pig atb is in fact slightly quicker over my route than my roadie; if my route were different (more 'open'), the converse might well be true -- it all depends. In either case, for MOST OF US, there's not a h_ll of a lot in it.
QUOTE]

Yeah, I am going to have to agree with this one. I am almost solely a road/cross bike commuter. My friend commutes on his mid 1990's raleigh mtb with slicks and fenders. We rode 13 miles home together the other day at 25 mph and he had no problem whatsoever keeping up. I think the key to making an mtb fast is to drop the handlebar relative to the seat and put some good slicks on there. Presta......a fast mtb commuter.

In another instance, we like to consider ourselves some hard core roadies but we rode the last 100 miles of a 200 mile day (Seattle to Portland 2006) at 21-23 mph with a GIRL on a gary fischer MTB with slicks. She did not hang on the front very much but neither did most of the folks in our group. She was incredibly strong, but that gave me a new respect for the versatility of the mtb chasis a foundation for all kinds of possibilities.

For me, I simply prefer the drop bars and I like the bigger wheels. My cross bike can do just about anything as well. Heck, for that matter, my 23 mm road tires actually perform pretty well off road as long as I maintain reasonable expectations about their traction in turns.