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[Cycling] how big a difference between a road bike and mountain bike?

R

ranger

Guest
People obviously recommend road bikes for commuting, however a road bike to test suitability of the commute isn't readily available. What I do have is "Giant Boulder" mountain bike , that i brought off a freiend , I had a go at riding to uni with , the rider was a bit of a hard slog taking about 30mins to get there

t how much of an improvement could I expect from investing in a road bike (maybe in the 800-1000 dollar range)?
 
I prefer a hardtail mountain bike over a road bike for commuting any day of the week. It's just more robust and offers more traction over stuff like wet tram tracks. It also opens up a wider range of lines to get where I need to go, (jumping up onto the footpath or over medium strips etc.....)

All you need is slick tires that are rated up to 65psi and you can rocket along.
I'd definitely get yourself some slicks and pump them up rock hard and see how you go.

A road bike will be faster when it's easy going and offer a gear range far more suitable for commuting. You probably won't use about 70% of the gears available on a mountain bike for commuting.

but at the end of your day it all comes down to your fitness level , a road bike wont make it any easier
 
I don't think the road bike will make it much less of a slog - you're just unfit. You'll still be just as unfit on a road bike, no amount of new equipment will solve this. If you are locking your bike up outside at uni then stick with the cheap mountain bike. At the most I would suggest upgrading to some slick tires like others have already suggested.

When the ride stops being hard and you want to improve or ride greater distances, then start thinking about upgrading. You may also have a better understanding of what you want having rode for a while.
 
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