Rain commuter: MTB or fixie?
 

Hey guys,

Don't like to post topics that have been discussed before, so I apologize if this has already been debated into the ground, but I searched and have lurked on the forums for awhile and haven't yet been able to completely answer this question for myself yet.

I'm preparing my rain gear/bike for the upcoming winter, and I'm not sure which way to go, MTB or fixie?

Some background first - I'm located in the SF Bay Area, so our rainstorms are generally not too extreme. I'm never going to be riding in any snow or flooding or anything of the sort, generally light to moderate showers at the worst, with occasional thunderstorms.

I was pretty set on a hardtail MTB with lockout fork at first, Gary Fisher and Jamis have some offerings in my price range, around $500-600. Something like this would be great, since I do like to do occasional trail riding and my old mountain bike has long been handed down to my brother, as my current commuter is a road bike.

With the popularity of the fixies though, some co-workers have got me thinking that might be a better rain commuter. Less parts to clean/lube and pretty good traction due to the tighter chain etc... They tend to be cheaper as well, as I was looking at bikesdirect and their offerings by Motobecane and Windsor are pretty nice. Specifically, I was looking at the Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno, which offers clearance for wider tires, also seemingly a plus on a rain commuter.

I'll save myself a little by picking up the fixie, but not enough to sway my decision completely. The novelty of the fixie does intrigue me a bit, and I don't hit many hills on my 14 mi round-trip commute. The MTB will be nice for those weekend rides, but I have friends from whom I can borrow a MTB for those occasions.

Are there any other pros and cons that I should be considering? What have you all decided as you look ahead to the rainy season?

Thanks for your input!

- Matt

sounds like a cyclocross would be a better choice for you, with one you can tackle off road trails(not rock climbing, but off mup) put fenders on, you can get nice wide tires and you still have the drop down handle bars for strong headwinds or when you wanna go fast. they are a bit heavier than road bikes and fixes but alot lighter than any mtb in your price range.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ntom_cross.htm
has a carbon fork, good compoents tigra/105 mix, eyelets for fenders/painers, decent rims (better than stock alex rims).

only thing i'd upgrade would be the brakes, get the kool stop salmon, they are made for rain conditions and have really great stoping power year round.

Hmmm, mountain bike or fixie. . . two popular commuting options that I think make mediocre transportation bikes.

I would chime in for a cyclocross or touring bike instead, but if I had to choose, I'd go with a mountain bike with no suspension anything and road slicks installed. I think that's way more versatile than the fixie and at least then you have a decent mountain bike for trails.

(I'll admit I'm a bit of a curmudgeon about fixed gear outside of velodromes!)

Do you mean a fixed gear bike, or a singlespeed?

My idea of a great all-weather commuter would be a singlespeed with drop bars and disc brakes. That combination is just about impossible to find off-the-shelf, though; I'd settle for only a front disc since I haven't heard of a disc-compatible singlespeed hub.

I ordered a fixed gear Cross Check for my 46km round trip commute. I'm from Toronto, so ease of maintenance during the winter is very important to me.

I lived in SF briefly this year. Since you already have a road bike for occasions in which you have to tackle hills, I suggest a fixed gear for the reliability and the training.

Thanks for all the replies thus far.

weavers and bikinpolitico: I did briefly consider a cyclocross bike, but I think I will end up with both a MTB and a fixed gear bike at some point in time, so I don't really need a bike that does both. I'm just wondering which would suit me as a rain commuter best. Whichever I choose will be bought first, the other will have to wait until I save enough spending money from my budget to purchase another bike.

BarracksSi: I'm actually open to either a fixed gear or a single speed. Thanks for the input, I hadn't considered that configuration.

Yan: Definitely - the ease of maintenance is the only thing that is starting to sway me toward the fixie/ss route. Reliability will be key in the inclimate weather.

Lots of SS MTB's out there. Would be easy to swap the riser for a trekking bar,or build up a frame with a drop bar. Surly makes a SS disc hub that's available at any shop that carries QBP stuff. Several other companies as well.


mwu: I'd say go with the MTB if you also want to do trail work. Rain is not a big deal for drivetrains to deal with. Salt is the big killer.

Thanks for this input - this may be the thing that does sway me. If it's really not going to be a big deal for me to maintain a MTB in the rain, then this may prove the best bike to purchase first.

Thanks for all the helpful responses, everyone.

This is what I have, and it's sweet. I built up an old mtn bike frame with disc brakes front and rear, used the magic gear calculator to find a ratio that I was happy with, built a road wheelset up and threw on a cheap drop bar. The mtn bike frame has tons of clearance for fenders, so you can run 28C slicks or bigger with no rubbing. The only tricky part might be the fork, but I threw on a Winwood model with disc tabs and have had no issues at all.

I think you answered your own question. Get the mountain bike.

Mountain bikes are undervalued right now, so you'll get a lot of bike for your miney. I'm riding a Haro MTB right now, and I like it better than other MTBs I've owned--and I've owned bikes made by most of the major manufacturers.

It amuses me how freaked out Californians get about rain. Try riding in six inches of fresh snow and you'll wish it was raining! :D

:D

Believe me, I am thankful I don't have to contend with anything near what you guys are dealing with!

I just operate on a budget, and like to carefully consider my purchases, as it'll probably awhile until the next one comes along!

Cool, I hadn't seen that. They also have the "Singleator"... hmm, DBX plus Singleator...

Also, Cap Hill Bikes might still have a Gary Fisher Rig in my size, and I even have a spare drop bar at the moment -- but I don't know if I want a suspension fork for this bike, and I also don't know how narrow I could go on tires without getting a second set of wheels.

I've also been riding occasionally using a single gear combo to see what I could get away with for a singlespeed. I haven't ridden everywhere yet, but an equivalent of 46x17 or 46x18 has worked well so far.

Riding with one ratio reminds me of my grade school days.. :D

I really enjoy my single speed. Tried the fixed angle but after a couple of tries a few years apart just came to the conclusion that my brain is hardwired to the "coast" setting.

Mwu, you mention "novelty" in your first posting. And really that's what this is all about to a large extent. The "sensible" option would be a cyclocross or touring bike, no question about that at all. But why does every choice need to be the sensible one? What ever happened to FUN as part of the equation?

Riding a mountain bike with road slicks can add a lot of fun to the ride since with the right tire option you can ride through spots where a road or cyclocross bike may not go. Like down stairs or through that loose park trail to get to where you need to. Or even offer up some jumping off low barriers or whatever. Similarly a fixie has it's own intrest.

But if you're looking for a part time trail bike then I'd have to say that the mountain bike sounds like the way to go at this point. With some careful quick change mods you can set it up to go from a fender and rack commuter to a trail bike in a few minutes and then back again. A second wheelset with knobbies would speed this up as well. And if you go this route I'd definetly recomend discs. Having had both I'm partial to hydraulics with dual piston calipers. They are less fussy to set than the single moving pad mechanical or cheaper hydraulic types and really do feel nicer and more crisp. Rumours of more maintanence are just that. They require DIFFERENT skills but once learned they don't need as much or frequent attention as mechanical setups.

It is a tough call but my vote would be for the mountain bike. I would also consider a used hardtail mountain bike. As previously mentioned newer ones are undervalued particularly used.
My reasoning is your concern is reliability. The issue with geared bikes in the rain is that everything just gets all gummed up (not including salt in this). Brake cables stick, derailleurs get stuck, ect. On a mountain bike these things can be fixed with tugging and hitting. And if it stays stuck you just have a single speed for a while:)

if you want a mountain bike for trail riding, by all means get it, but theres no particular reason to use one in the rain. the only difference between a bike for the dry road and a bike for rain is fenders, which i prefer anyway for a commuter because they keep a portion of road grit out of the drivetrain.

Get a 29er SS with disk brakes. This will work: http://store.somafab.com/somajuice.html

Tange Prestige heat-treated CrMo front triangle; butted CrMo rear end

• Geometry designed to accomadate a 80mm travel fork

• Bent top tube adds standover clearance lost with the larger wheels

• Int'l disc brake tabs and canti bosses

• Laser cut horizontal dropouts w/ derailleur hanger

• S-bend seatstays and chainstays

• Headtube gusset

• Dropout spacing of 132.5mm will accomodate MTB (135mm) or road hubs (130mm), in case you want to throw a set of road/cross wheels on.

• IRD Rigid CrMo 29er fork available as an option

• 1-1/8" size headtube

• 27.2mm post size

• 73mm bottom bracket shell

• Colors: Spice Red or Midnight Silver • Wt: 5.05 lbs. (16")

• Sizes: M(16"), L(18"), XL(20") (Center to top)

I just bought a Kona Paddywagon. Flip-flop hub so you can try riding fixie or SS, fender mounts (and clearance), and ~$600. I plan to use this as my rain bike this winter. So far, totally happy with it.

A note on SS: I've got some hills (mostly small rollers, 15 miles each way) on the way out to work and I've been surprised how much the SS works my legs just making it up these hills! Be prepared when you start riding it to have some leg fatigue. I'm alternating between the SS and my road bike to give my quads some rest while my legs adapt.

Very good point. Any bike made can take the rain--as long as you don't have steel rims, which are slippery when wet. The only bike part I've had ruined by rain was a computer, and that was replaced free under warranty.

Tires are the big variable. Knobbies can be slippery on wet pavement, so take it a little slower if that's what you've got. Slick tires don't have that problem (much), whether they're 26" or 700c.

A 100 mile MTB race was held at Tahoe recently. An acquaintance I skied with last year completed the race on less than 8 hours on a single speed!

http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=72262

Michael

I thought about mentioning SS MTBs, but I thought that would make the OP's decision even harder. ;)

I thought about mentioning SS cyclocross bikes, but I thought it make the OP's decision harder still.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18...o/treksscx.jpg

I gotta say, I hopped on my Gary Fisher Kai Tai this weekend for a little neighborhood ride. After riding my Soma as a commuter it was a slog. OMG I cannot believe I commuted on it (yes, it does have slicks). But once I got to the park and some trails, it was completely at home and a different beast altogether. So you may have to think about that too. My husband's Marin MTB is a better commuter though, having borrowed it a couple times...but not as good as my Soma.

I too used to ride a mountain bike with slicks in the city, and recently switched to a road bike, and I totally agree! A roadbike is a lot more fun to ride on the road, goes faster, and accelerates much quicker, so you feel any effort you put in much more than on a mountain bike. Now I think of reasons to ride somewhere instead of driving there.

The Motobecane the OP linked to is a single-speed cyclocross bike. I think there is a thread about it on the singlespeed/fixed forum.

Any mountainbike at a similar price point will be heavy and have crappy components.

IRO Rob Roy. Cross bike Fixed/free or both. Takes fenders and a rack. Plus it rides really smooth.