Originally Posted by
heckler
the people saying that a mtb will help you lose weight faster due to it being inefficient are not going fast enough on their road bikes
sticking with the mtb is fine... get some slicks if you are mostly on the road
I ride plenty fast enough and far enough on my road bike. A mountain bike takes more energy to push through the air...weight and aerodynamics work against you on an upright mountain bike.
The point of weight loss is to use more energy than you take in. Bicycles are incredibly efficient users of energy. Nothing else on the planet touches it in terms of miles per calorie. A mountain bike is less efficient than a road bike in all aspects. A 25 mile ride on a mountain bike (even with slicks) takes much more effort...and burns more calories
...than a road bike does. Keep the knobbies on and you'll burn even more energy. Take the knobbies out on dirt (up hill and down) and you'll burn even more.