I'm still on the lookout for the perfect commuter bike. As I told the salesperson at my LBS, I have my old road bike, a Schwinn, which is great for riding on mostly level ground. Trouble is that this is a very hilly area, and that bike's high gearing makes hills seem almost deadly. So, I bought a nice Haro MTB at the LBS and equipped it with skinnier tires. It's great for hills cause its gears are so low, but on level ground it's easy to get into top gear and start running out of resistance. Seems like that problem will only get worse as I get into better shape.

A comfort bike's not the answer, and a hybrid is unnecessary cause the bike will only be on pavement. Don't want any suspension forks or seats for that kind of riding.

The person at the LBS recommended a flat-bar road bike like a Fuji Absolute 2.0, one of which they had in stock. Looks like a decent choice. The one they had was a 21", which could be a good size for me at 6' tall with a roughly 30" inseam. He said its gearing system has all of what's good about mountain and road bikes. The tires are thin, and the posture's road-oriented without being aggressive. The bike also has all the fittings for installing racks.

Guess my questions are as follows:
1) Is this a good bike?
2) If I wanted something similar only with drop bars, what would be a good choice? Drop bars seem to be more versatile.

Thank you,
-Bill

I'm 6'1 with a 32 inseam. I ride a 19.5 inch mtb. Not sure about the roadies in inches but I think it would be too big/long for me if it's measured anything like the mtb's. MY roadies are 57 cm and 58 cm.

I personally like drop bars. More hand positions than just one!

What I think is strange that you run out of gear on an mtb. I 've ridden mine on the flats and held 24 for quite some time . I spin more than mash but no way was I running out of gears. And if you are, why not change the rear cassette or the front chainrings to something bigger? Prolly much cheaper than a new bike.

If you are happy with the bike you have, except for the gearing, it seems like tinkering with its gearing is worth considering. Making the big ring bigger is sometimes a snap. With luck it will not require a new front Derailleur. You might be able to get a cassette with a few less teeth on the small cog. But maybe not.

Also, it won't help much, but you might consider putting bigger slicks on it. I put Schwalbe Big Apples on a bike that had previously had 1.25 slicks on it and the difference in effective gearing was noticeable.

jim

" So, I bought a nice Haro MTB at the LBS and equipped it with skinnier tires. It's great for hills cause its gears are so low, but on level ground it's easy to get into top gear and start running out of resistance."
What are the chain ring and cog sizes?
Chances are you can make some inexpensive (relatively) gearing changes.
When cruising along, you really don't want a lot of resistance.
When spinning out, time yourself for a minute and count the revolutions. Unless you are past 90....

I am 6'1"/205 and own a 21" Fuji Sagres, one step down from the Absolute, I think. The bike fits perfectly, and I've never had a problem with it. I use Forte SpeedTrac 700x35 tires, with no noticeable loss of speed.

The reason I haven't already changed the gearing is because I'm trying to keep the bike MTB capable. I haven't had the running out of resistance problem I mentioned too often, but it has happened a couple of times. Just made me wonder if I was trying to get my MTB to do something it's really not designed to do.

A couple times is nothing. It's much simpler to just put up with it and learn to enjoy it.
I was doing the same and felt I needed to gear up. Turns out those few times were when I had a decent tail wind. I just learned to enjoy it, like "hey, I'm going fast and don't have to bust my butt".
Otherwise, I'd have a cog that seldom got used

When you gear up, you lose something on the other end. Sometimes that loss is worse than whatever you gain on the top end.
I'm a "gear head" and make up different cog sets that fit my riding conditions. This has taught me that sometimes the grass just seems greener on the other side. I only ride flat land, so I was able to gear with a lot of closely spaced, smaller cogs. If I have an unexpected steep hill, I'm screwed.
My cogs work great for me, but like I say, it only works well for the flats.

Now an option would be to pick up a complete spare rear wheel with a different (same NUMBER of cogs) gear set off of Craigslist or similar. You can usually find one if you're patient. Then you could just swap wheels.

The Fuji Absolute's small chain ring has 30 teeth and the largest rear cog has 26 teeth, which means for a triple its lowest gear isn't as low as on some touring bikes, like the Fuji touring bike, the Surly Long Haul Trucker complete, or the Trek 520, so if it's really hilly, and you intend to carry some heavy loads, it may not be quite low enough. However if you travel light you may not notice a problem. It'll certainly be geared lower than your Schwinn, if that just has two chain rings, and the high end should be fine.