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Road Biking with Mountain Bikes

hammer

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My son and I have basic hard tail mountain bikes that we plan on taking on some road trips (he's a boy scout working on his Cycling merit badge). Ideally I'd like to have some decent road bikes, but I just can't see spending at least $1000 when we currently have 2 functional bikes.

Does anyone here use their mountain bikes for road riding? If so, is there any advice on making the bikes more road-friendly? I do intend to put more road-suitable tires on the bikes.
 

Grassi21

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My son and I have basic hard tail mountain bikes that we plan on taking on some road trips (he's a boy scout working on his Cycling merit badge). Ideally I'd like to have some decent road bikes, but I just can't see spending at least $1000 when we currently have 2 functional bikes.

Does anyone here use their mountain bikes for road riding? If so, is there any advice on making the bikes more road-friendly? I do intend to put more road-suitable tires on the bikes.

If you swap the tires back for MTB and road you might drive yourself nuts. Maybe have a road and MTB wheel set? I'm not sure what the cost of that would be, but the convenience factor and possible weight difference might be nice.
 

bvibert

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I'd just switch the tires on your existing wheels, unless you plan on switching back and forth a lot. Pump the pressure up as high as is allowed and have fun!
 

gorgonzola

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I do 30ish mile road/rail trail rides all the time on the mtb. since my routes are usually half canal path/rail trail and half road i just keep the knobbies on - panny fire xc pros are cheap and seem to wear and roll well. i did put the reflectors back on with some additional reflective tape... play around with the seat height and upgrade your grips if you get the numbies, i like the oury lock ons.
 

RootDKJ

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I'd like to do some road rides out in the country this summer. I've been thinking about picking up a road wheelset. It already helps that my front suspension has a lock-out feature.
 
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