Are there any mountain bikes that are also well suited for commuting ?
Be it they come equipped with fenders , racks , and lighting , or something else in the design ;ie. tires , geometry .type of fork , etc.

Any bike could be used as a commuter. People commute on road bikes, mountain bikes, hybrids, fixies, fatties, and ebikes. It depends on the conditions and distance you are commuting. Personally, if it was a short distance I have no problem with a MTB. However, as the distance increases I would like something that allows me to go a tad faster with less effort.

All of these have been used for commuting just as you see them. Almost all of the pictures were taken while commuting.

Dean, summer.

DSCN0167 by Stuart Black, on FlickrUntitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Dean Winter

DSCN0387 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Dean winter with snow

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Moots YBB, summer.

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Same in winter. The YBB gets studded tires in the winter.

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Winter but less winterery



A Specialized S Works Epic actually at work.

DSCN0387 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

IMG_1248 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

These last two (and the Dean) are “my granpappy’s axe”. The 2003 Stumpjumper Pro started life as 1998 Stumpjumper M2 Pro (orange). It broke. When this picture was taken, the only original part was the front hub.

93590004 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

I got tired of the white color and found a red Rockhopper (2011). The original hub was gone but it has some of the same parts from the 2003 Stumpy.

DSCN0167 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Then I found the Dean. Some of the same parts still remain.

I used these for many years on many different commutes. I left the knobbies on and found single track possibilities for my commute. It keeps the ride fresh. Commutes were 10 miles one way.

I actually have two mountain bike commuters atm, one is set up with slicks and the other is running knobbies.
Nice to be able to go back and forth.

Thanks for the inspiration .

I see many mountain bikes but none purpose built for commuting ; ie. racks , fenders , lights , appropriate tires , etc .
Well , you could say there are Hybrids , or Dual Sport models .

What do you expect pakeboi ! They're mountain bikes , they're made for mountain biking !

The best purpose built MTB for commuting with have the tires changed to thinner street tires, and either had a rigid front fork (80's and 90's MTB's), or a fork with a lockout. The MTB with the rigid fork is preferred if it will be solely for street commuting. You will have to add lights and fenders like any bike.

I used my 1998 Schwinn Moab to commute at first, but found that with the geometry of a road touring bike is much more suitable. I think this is mostly due to the high bottom bracket of MTB's, and that I am tall. YMMV, of course.

The hybrid thing has been tried. “Hybrid” were introduced in the early 90s with a “they can do it all!” approach. They couldn’t do it all or even most. They were too light duty for off-road use and too heavy for on-road. They may have “done it all” but they didn’t do any of it well.

Additionally, having a bicycle that is purpose built isn’t all that appealing to most people. The choices made by a product manager in a foreign country may not met the needs for everyone...kind of like the “hybrid”. Their choice of racks, fenders, and especially lights may not fit my...or your...needs. If I have to start changing things to fit my needs, I would rather not pay for the parts twice.

Look at my bikes above. I run lights sometimes but I don’t carry them around all the time. I use battery powered lights because I have a fleet of bikes at my house and generator lights would require constant wheel changes or multiple generator wheels. Neither of those options are optimal. For my purpose, battery lights that are easily swappable from bike to bike is the most flexible option. That’s just one issue I see for “purpose built bikes”.

Buy a bike you like and you want to ride. Put the accessories on it that are useful to you and go ride.

I live on a "main drag" for bike commuting, and my office looks out over the street, so I see lots of bikes during the commuting hours. Most bikes look like "whatever was in the garage" when they started commuting. Many are mountain bikes. An old hardtail MTB with pavement tires is just a bike. It has wheels, pedals, etc. Attach a rack and fenders if needed, and off you go. The good news is that there are lots of things like tires and accessories that fit those bikes.

Rear suspension might require a bit more finagling to attach a rack.

The MTB rose in popularity for two reasons. One was actual off-road biking per se. The other was that a MTB looked rugged and easy to ride compared to the ill-fated "ten speeds" of the bike boom. For everybody who bought a MTB for the second reason, the "hybrid" was of the same ilk, but a little bit lighter (or heavier, take your pick) with narrower tires and maybe a more upright riding posture. It was a hybrid between a MTB and something, we just don't what.

But the bottom line is, virtually any bike can serve commuting duty.

For off-the-rack bikes, there’s a sweet spot where a bike is good enough for enthusiast trail use but also has commuter friendly features. A Trek Roscoe is a better commuter or your-only-bike than a Stache, because it will take standard accessories like a rack or kid seat. But the Stache has a better build. Some brands are better at doing this; Salsa and Surly models have a lot more mounting holes and more versatile frames that allow a variety of builds. See for example the Bridge Club that is sold as both hybrid and MTB.

There’s my Merida that replaced the Bruce Gordon as my DD