Originally Posted by
Wogsterca
There are a couple of issues, and they are not at all obvious, except to someone who has ridden a distance on an MTB.
1) Straight bars, keep your hands in an unnatural position for an extended period of time, this tends to result in hand/wrist pain and numbness. Road bars have more positions, tops. hoods, curve, drops, so you can move your hands around into different positions, to prevent problems.
This mistakes personal taste for a universal rule - probably more people hate drops than hate flats. And the few people who think that straights are inherently uncomfortable generally those who haven't found a flat bar that fits them. Usually the bar is too wide, and they haven't realized they can can cut it down with a few minutes work with a hacksaw or pipe cutter...
Another point to consider re drops is that you usually ride on the hoods on drops. This is a lousy position for hard braking. Most roadies never realize this because they never learn to brake hard.
2) Weight, most MTB's are over 30lbs, most modern road bikes run in the 20-25lb range, while 5-10lbs doesn't seem like much, it's more then you really want the bike to weigh.
Again: you're talking about 230lb total weight compared to 225lb total weight. Doesn't sound much of a difference now, does it? It hardly matters in a climb, and not at all on the flat.
3) Most of the MTBs have disc brakes, the mounting positions for the brake callipers, puts them in the way of attaching racks and fenders, unless you buy a very expensive set of racks. Full Fenders may be out.
So don't buy an MTB with this problem. Otoh, a lot of road racing bikes not only can't take fenders unless fitted with 23mm knife blade tyres, they also have frames so short that the front wheel can eat the riders foot if he pedals and turns hard at the same time.
4) Gearing is quite low, and is weighted toward the lower end.
Which doesn't suit road racing, but can be ideal for commuting. And anyway, the shop can change it for you in a few minutes.
While it is possible to swap out parts to make an MTB more like a road bike, it's not cheap (you need to swap the bars, brake levers, shifters, FD, crank, cassette, fork)
This would make an MTB have more parts in common with a road racer, but it wouldn't do anything to address the OP's needs - which are an upright bike with cushioning. (Your scheme also wouldn't be an effective way of speeding up the MTB; slicks, a longer stem set lower, and different chain rings would do better there.)
and the bike is still not going to handle well ( the geometry is wrong) on the road.
This is bigger nonsense. A drop handled racer actually handles really poorly at real commute speeds and tasks - emergency stops, good rider vision, turning at 15mph. Which isn't surprising because racing bikes aren't designed to do any of these things. Rigid trail bikes are.
And I can't even guess how any of what you wrote relates to the needs of a rider who needs lots of cushioning and an upright position - talking him into riding a bike with a stretched out flat position and thin tyres because that's the sort fo bike you like is bizarre. If you want him on a drop handle you could have at least explained how to find one that can run wide tyres, and how to size one so that the drops can go higher than usual to get the riding position he needs.