A mountain bike is just plain frustrating to ride on the road. I race mountain bikes and use my road bike for training (ride the road bike MUCH more than the MTBs). Even with slicks, the mtb is not nearly as efficient as the road bike. It weighs 26lbs compared to 18lb road bike, the crank is huge (long) for torque compared to the 170mm crank on the road bike. The seating position sucks for windy days and efficient pedaling on the road....AND THE TIRES are heavy and WAY too inefficient. If you are a recreational (out of shape) rider and just want to break a sweat, the mtb will suffice. If you want to get serious and cover some miles, spend some time in the saddle, and turn your body into a machine, get a nice road bike and RIDE IT
been there, done that... on a Schwinn Paramount with no toeclip clearance when the crank's at 2:00 to 4:00 and a frame too tight to fit brakes on. used to ride it around town back in Kali, but that was a small town of about 25,000 or so, with mild traffic. NOT what i'd want for city traffic.
I have looked at Paul's brakes and will probably get the touring canti's one day, but so far mine work ok.
can you hear it? We're all coming out of the woodworks chanting "steel is for real!" I might drag the Colnago out of the shed this afternoon and shoot a pic or two. I've already posted a million pics of my Bridgestones. Damn thing is so smooth it feels like a hovercraft. Kickass Torelli wheelset on it, too. My go-to bike for rehab is gonna be my FS MTB, though....I'll be in granny gear for a while.
I hear the sound of every steel bottom bracket I've ever had creaking like hell under my 60 RPM grind. I've coveted an aluminum bike for so damn long I don't think I could seriously consider steel for my next bike. Maybe the one after that, but I'm 90% certain the next one is gonna be Al.
I had a chainring bolt get loose one day. Damn near went INSANE...creak CREAK creak CREAK creak CREAK...coast......CREAK creak CREAK...coast... Sounded like bottom bracket but not quite. I thought I had torqued them all but apparently not. Ever pedalled funny to minimize creak? I've got a Marin Tiburon that's my century and Monday-night-ride bike. Not too harsh, not particularly efficient (long chainstays) but one of those ride-and-forget low-maintenance everyday bikes. I'm gonna rehab on my FS bike but I'm gonna try to move to that one pretty quickly. I've got a shot of me getting my ass rained on during the Bridge-to-Bridge up Grandfather mountain. That bike was great. My favorite bike has been, oddly enough, my muttbike singlespeed, an old Schwinn Mesa GS that's been turned into a grocery-getter and all-around beater. When me and SWMBO have those discussions about "which bike would you grab if the house was on fire?" (yes, we do have those kind of discussions) the Schwingle tends to find its way to the top of the list.
flat bar conversion on one of my old Bridgestones. downtube shifters Had useable workable gears due to alignment issues and really crappy chainrings. Rode my first century on it.
Like I said I already have a Klein MTN bike, when you say stif rear hub do you mean fixd?? BTW - THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE, I'm gonna get thiN/hybrid tires for my MTN bike for now, and in a few weeks consider a road racer (geared of course), but stay away from a TT bike (too expensive anyways, and I won't be wearing any spandex, at least without a baggy over short... )
I guess it's steel, since my Klein's an AL I had a Bianchi roady when I was younger, really sweet bike, and it was steel....(then they were actually made in Italy too), how are they now?/?
Um, Perry, he's right. My weakness is singlespeeds. Steel frame fixies. They look GREAT. Like the Bianchi you posted. I'd kill myseklf on one but I'd look good doing it. I saw this critter when I was out and about a while ago:
That's hot, no matter which way I go I'll opt for those style handlebars. That's why I was looking at TT bikes.
