Indeed. Think about where and how you will do most of your riding.

I guess the whole mountain bike thing skipped over me completely. I gave up riding a bike through woods when I was about 12. Or maybe 10, it's was a while ago.

The thing is, depending on where you live there are probably more roads than trails. If you live in a place where gravel trails, dirt roads, and "single track" trails (made originally by boots and expanded by the wheels of other mountain bikes) are plentiful then that's your bike. For most of us living around here (New England) roads abound. Going somewhere under your own power is a really cool thing to do. For me that means doing it on a road because roads go to so many places.

A road bike is easier to pedal at higher speeds and over long distances. The tires won't do well on gravel though, so that's the downside of a road bike in a nutshell.

Whenever I am asked, as cycling “expert” what bike to buy, my first suggestion is as above: What do you want to use it for? I’m also a New England rider, and mountain biking is popular around here. I have a fine carbon fiber road bike and a nice mountain bike, but I only ride paved roads because the roads do go so many places and I want to get there.

The carbon fiber is a dream to ride, and I commute on it as much as possible. My mountain bike is a beater road bike for bad weather to keep the CF bike pristine, and it allows for studded tire for winter cycling. I even lock the suspension for the paved roads. The CF is put away from December to April until no more salt on the roads, and the studded tires are then mounted on the MB for that duration.

If I were to buy an "N+1" bike, where N = the number of bikes currently owned, I would buy a folding bike (as bike #3 ).

What??? Only road bikes? :rolleyes: