Originally Posted by
rumrunn6
The road bike is an old '70s era Schwinn with steel wheels. The MB is much newer but also an old beater. But I believe it's wheels are aluminum. I should compare their weights. I guess the best way to do that is stand on a scale while holding the bike? Then subtract my body weight?
Old Schwinns can be real tanks. Weight on the wheels makes more difference than probably anyplace else on the bike. You most likely have got 1.25" tires on there which may not be much narrower than the tires on your MTB. The steel wheels definitely hurt you.
Even in terms of geometry the Schwinn may offer no advantage. I'm suspecting this bike is more recreationally oriented than performance oriented given the steel wheels.
You also have to consider the relative condition of the bikes and the quality of the components. If the Schwinn has low end hubs that haven't seen new grease in 30 years, it's going to be that much harder to get it up to speed and keep it there.
Yes, the Schwinn has larger diameter wheels but that doesn't necessarily make the bike faster. High end Triathlon bikes often have smaller wheels than typical road bikes.
FWIW, I have a decent but not high end road bike from 80's and a slightly better quality MTB from the 90's. The road bike was intended to be a low end competition bike so it has an aggressive geometry.
I get to work on that bike in 25 to 30 minutes vs. 30 to 40 minutes on the MTB. The MTB time suffers worse when there's a headwind. Thirty minutes is a REALLY good time for me on the MTB while I can get home on the old road bike under 30 minutes pretty consistently.
I have a newer road bike now and that is a couple minutes faster than the old one.