Hi. I have always been "that guy" who buys MTB even though I rarly ride anything to be considered off road. My current MTB is more expensive to repair than it is to buy a new bike (I bought it dirt cheap).

Since I mainly use the bike to comute from my home to the gym (2,5 mile commute), and would use the bike for shorter distances, mainly sprints, I was wondering if an entrylevel road bike would be advisable.

In the pricerange I`m looking at (sub 500$) I have entrylevel options in Hybrids, MTB and a road bike model. The MTB and Hybrid comes with disc breaks, but they are considrably heavier @ 33.7 lbs. The roadbike weighs in at 23.5 lbs and comes with Traktro R317 breaks and mainly entrylvl shimano components.

One of the concerns I have with the road bike is the skinny tires. I believe it comes with 700*25c tires, So it might be able to fit 28mm tires. I`ve heard a lot about roadbikes not liking gravel, so this is a concern.

I mainly ride on paved roads, on and off sidewalks, and rarely on small gravel sections. Would a roadbike be inadvisable for what I`m going to use it for?

Thanks!

I would just buy a hybrid off of Craigs List for $90 or a 90's Mountain bike for $90 and put hybrid tires on it. Road bike are rather useless when not ridden on paved roads.

Yeah, the thought have crossed my mind several times. I always return to wanting a new one though. This is mainly because I have tried to "fix" my current bike 2 times, making it worse each time. All my other bikes have been used cheap bikes, so I am fairly set on a new one.

I really like the look of the road bike and the weight, just wondering if it is as one dimensional as some say it is. I know cyclocross is considered by many as a good all-round bike, but that is to expensive for me where I live.

get an entry level cross bike that you can do both with change of tires. cross does road and gravel better than a hybrid i think

What is this road bike you can get for $500?

The cheapest cross bike I can where I live (Norway) is is 970$ new and 550$ used on the craigslist equivalent, and that is quite a bit over the budget I had in mind

What is this road bike you can get for $500?

It is this beauty: VENTO 1.0 | Kross | Road | ROAD

I honestly don't know. They don't say much about the frame other than aluminum. As for components, I thought entry level for road bikes was Shimano 8 speed Claris, but this bike has 7 speed brifters and derailleurs that are a step below Claris. Formula hubs are decent enough for the price. It looks nice, but will it hold up to years and thousands of km of wear and tear? And that I cannot say.

I usually advise folks looking to get a road bike to go with at least 8 Speed Claris or better yet, 9 speed Sora, and that usually goes for $700 to $900.

2.5 mile trips I would get a walmart bike.

Thanks for the input. I can tell you that ther is not going to be thousands of km

Do you think it would be good for shorter type sprint training?

Not sure what you mean by sprint training. Are you looking to compete on a Velodrome?

I should clarify. This is strictly as a cardio tool and for commuting, not in any way competitive or professional

Why I mention sprints is because I want to activate more fast twitched muscle fibres and use the bike as a tool to do HIIT training. And sprints, like chosing a heavy gear and slight uphill would do the trick.

I have zero ecperience with a roadbike, and not sure if it would be more difficult to get on and off sidewalks, like I have used my MTB

Hmm. It would seem to me how you propose to use this bike is potentially much rougher on the components than would be long steady rides, which is how most people use road bikes. So no, I wouldn't think an entry level road bike is well suited for that. How about going with a fixed gear? Or, for that matter, why use a bike for HIIT training at all? Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to run up some stairs, or just run really fast?

It would be much easier to just do sprint runs, yes. I do get nasty shin splints just from jogging, so I thought I would combine replacing the old broken bike with a new one for commuting and be able to do the sprint training with a bike as well. I had not condisdered the point you made about the durability of the components when used primarely for this type of riding. Do you think this applies to all entry level bikes or primarily the skinny tires of a road bike?

Pretty much all entry level bikes. If you really plan to push big gears hard or shift under load, be prepared to replace chains, chainrings, cassettes or free wheels, bottom brackets and cranks on an accelerated schedule.

I see. How much do you think I would have to increase the budget? I want as low maintenance as possible to a stil reasonable price.

I made my suggestion. Fixed gear or single speed. It has the virtue of simplicity, and these kinds of bikes are more durable and cheaper than geared road bikes. I suggest you post in the single speed and fixed gear forum.

Give your location and we can point out some good cheap options for you on your local craigslist.

550 used with decent components will be a lot better than 500 on some **** low end thing. If you somehow broke a mountain bike then you already know you are hard on components.

problem with a hybrid is that they are not a good mtn bike and not a good road bike.

Probably the best bet running here.

Thanks for all the suggestions Cheers