UKC

I've recently had my Trek hybrid bike that I'd had for 14 years stolen, and I am toying with either buying the same again (Trek 7.6 or similar) or perhaps a mountain bike as a quite fancy having a dabble on some dirt. I have never had a mountain bike before, and I was wondering if it will be an absolute pain for commuting, compared to a fast hybrid? I realise I can put slicks on for commuting, I'm guessing these make a big difference?

Any recommendations on bikes? I'm thinking of getting a £1000 spec, but second hand (so probably around £500/ £600)

Cheers,

Jus

What's your commute? I use a mountain bike in London and it's much preferable to my road bike because you can jump around and go up kerbs and islands (occasionally...) and stop quicker. I would say that a tougher steel bike you can jump about on is best. I use an On One Inbred which works well - a 456 would also be good.

If your commute involves lots of darting around in heavy traffic a mountain bike is better than a road bike. If it's all country roads a road bike is better. If it's a mixture of the two, go with a mountain bike.

In reply to JessClmbr:

I swap between a winter hack that I have (specialised Allez) and my Cube LTD Pro for commuting depending on what the weather is doing. It's about 6 miles each way and to be honest it's not a huge issue if I use the MTB. It's a bit slower and heavier but it doesn't add a significant amount of time to the commute, at most 5 minutes depending on whether I go via the steep hill or not! I regularly see a chap going to work on his Orange full susser!

In reply to jhw:

it's darting through London traffic.

currently a 20 min commute, but may get longer

In reply to JessClmbr: I've got a Trek hybrid and a mountain bike. The hybrid's my commuter workhorse type bike and the MTB is my toy for playing on at weekends. Now and then I've used the MTB for work commute, and frankly it annoyed the hell out of me!!! It felt so slow, not sure if it was about the gears or the fat knobbly tyres (not completely dismissing possibility that there may have been some kind of rider error too!) but the journey just felt frustrating compared to the hybrid. Having said that, if it's just a 20 minute commute I reckon that sounds short enough a ride for it maybe not to irritate so much with the sluggishness and you do get a toy to play on at weekends! I do love both of my bikes for their different strengths.

In reply to AlisonSmiles:

With slicks it'll be fine.... I've just changed over from using my lovely road bike to using my 16 yr old MTB on slicks as bikes keep going missing from work and I don't want to loose my road bike... it's hardly added anything to the commute (19 mile round trip), but has made the pot holes much nicer!

In reply to JessClmbr: Just bought what I could consider to be a high spec hybrid for intensive commuting at £600. If your budget is £1000 I would have thought you could easily afford to buy both especially if you only intend to dabble in the dirt! I certainly wouldn't bother commuting on a mountain bike if you have been used to a hybrid though. It will feel exceedingly clunky by comparison.

In reply to JessClmbr: I use my mountain bike for commuting 18 miles each way on my nightshifts twice a week and its fine... I did put on Shwalbe City Jet slicks about a year ago and it does make a big difference - about 10 minutes each way! you can get up to speed quicker and it requires less effort when cruising along. Forks you can lock out are helpful too

In reply to EeeByGum:

My budget is not £1000, it's more like £500. I was hoping to get a £1000 spec bike secondhand for £500/ £6000...

Lots of different opinions here!

In reply to fireman_al:

cool, but what do you "mean forks you can lock out"?

I use Maxxis High Rollers and they work well for me - low rolling resistance on roads, and obviously very (very) good for mountain biking.

I wouldn't commute on a full suspension bike (commuting in all weather wears your bike down and on a FS with the shock and pivots, that's significant) but a hardtail is fine.

In reply to JessClmbr:

20 min commute - either type of bike would be fine.

In reply to JessClmbr:
Go for a hardtail MTB

Over 20 minutes you won't notice much diference, and you'll have a more versatile bike for other times.

You could go for slicks, but then you'd have the pain of changing the tyres if you want to go and play in the dirt

In reply to JessClmbr:

Many suspension forks come with a mechanism that you can use to lock them so they act as rigid forks. Very useful on roads.

ALC

In reply to Chris the Tall:

something like this?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/6500-2011-mountain-bike-ec023918

What tyres would you recommend?

In reply to JessClmbr:


Ha ha! Just don't ask which bike you should get. You will get a hundred different responses.

In reply to JessClmbr:

Most forks have the option to flick a dial which allows you to change from bouncy to stiff, on the grounds that excessive bouncing equals lost energy. So you would have them locked for a commute and open for trail riding.

Makes more of a difference on a full-suss, and some people with lock out both shocks for a climb. I tend not to bother, as I have a tendency to forget to unlock when I get onto the downhill !

In reply to JessClmbr:
Unless you're short I'd suggest a 29er

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/trek/cobia-2012-mountain-bike-ec030315

But you may have difficulty getting a second hand one

Have a look on BikeRadar for any demo days in the SE - usually quite a few this time of year. That would help you decide how much you enjoy MTBing, which may affect your budget (and very soon you'll have one full-suss, one hardtail, and one spare/commute !)

Go with whatever tyres the bike comes with to start, then change according to you needs. Both the Trek MTBs I've bought came with tyres more suited to commuting than MTBing in the Peak !

In reply to Chris the Tall:

I'm 6'1, aarrgh it's such a mindfield.

Where on BikeRadar do you get wind of the demo days?

In reply to JessClmbr:
Suddenly I can't seem to find them on there !

Try here
http://www.demodaze.co.uk/

In reply to JessClmbr:

have you considered a Velomobile?

In reply to JessClmbr: Due to yesterday's miniature Siberian winter when I came to cycle in, I took the mountain bike (a Kona hardtail), and was thankful for it when sploshing through slush.

When it came to return home and things had mostly dried out, I discovered just what a difference the roadie makes. The mtb felt sluggish and uncomfortable for the return journey, and took me considerably longer than my commute usually does.

It rather made me think, apocalyptic road conditions excepted, I'd rather not use the mtb away from proper off-road terrain, and if I had to go for a single bike for most purposes it wouldn't be a mtb - I like it for occasional singletrack blasts, but elsewhere it just feels a chore.

Personally if I had to have just one bike I'd probably go for something like a Genesis CDF, and get a cheap second set of wheels with slicks on for any entirely road based excursions