Comments on: Which bike is better for commuting: road or mountain?

By: CraigCreekRider

CraigCreekRider — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:43:27 +0000

I think converting an old mountain bike to a commuter bike is a great way to keep from (God forbid) having to get rid of an old bike. My GF turned her 1990 vintage non-suspension Barricuda into a pretty sweet greenway cruiser with just a new set of skinny tires. If you were buying something new, there are probably better options (hybrid,etc.).

By: steve32300

steve32300 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:09:15 +0000

I say mountian bike’s are better for commuting for the same reason’s trek7k listed above and a few more and here they are:
one morning I was riding to work on a bike path and it was pretty early,the sun was barely up and there was minimal light but just enough to make thing’s out but not enough to see deffinitively what was in the shadow’s.In the case of this bike path,the drainage pipe’s from the street’s go right through the concrete bike path so that the path had to be raised for each drain pipe so it kinda make’s a woopty doo wherever there is a drain crossing through the bike path.The kid’s that live in this area get pretty board I guess and they like to leave stuff on the path to block it and obstruct it just so they can get a laugh when somone come’s across this stuff and it get’s in there way,or a biker come’s by and has to slam on the brake’s or run’s into it.Well,one morning they dragged a whole section of chain link fence and layed it across the bike path just on the other side of one of those drainage woopty doo’s so you couldnt see it till the last second and they laid it catty wampus so you couldnt ride into it squarely.All I can say is,I’m glad I was on my mountain bike and I know how to bunny hop pretty damn good because there was no time to stop or avoid it,I just had to launch out of a bunny hop to avoid it or else I would of went down hard on the cement.Thank god for mountain bike’s,I dont think I could bunny hop on a road bike like that at the very last second.
The other reason is so that you can hit all the little single tracks that pop up out of nowhere in the crazyest of places along side of the road’s and wherever or you can ride whatever technical obstacles that might be cool to hit if you were on your mountain bike.

By: trek7k

trek7k — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:04:52 +0000

Ehem - The question was which is better for commuting - road or mountain bike

If we were to throw in town bikes or hybrids I suppose those might come out on top. But this is a MTB site after all…

By: BonkedAgain

BonkedAgain — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:55:29 +0000

I agree with ckdake. Unless you are commuting a long way just get a town bike. They are more comfy, have a chain guard (no mangled slacks!), have lots of places for baskets/panniers so that you can load up with groceries, etc., often have a builtin locking mechanism, have a good gear selection for typical streets, and might not be as tempting to thieves as a $2000 mtb or road bike.

On the other hand, if you don’t want to build a stable for all your bikes (kaching!), for the reasons Jeff mentioned I would probably go with a mountain bike.

By: trek7k

trek7k — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:01:39 +0000

Hehe, I was wondering if anyone else would notice the poor lock job in the photo… Guess so

By: ckdake

ckdake — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:57:32 +0000

Of course then there are “commuter”, “urba”, “city” etc bikes that get the best of both worlds! I’ve commuted on a fixie, a road bike, and a singlespeed mountain bike with 1″ tires on it, and all work just fine. As long as one doesn’t lock up like the bike in the photo above! Free bike anyone?