Advice on what Bike

Mc Love

Getting a bike on the cycle to work scheme - so hopefully will get a good few sunny days this summer where I might actually cycle to work, but also want to do some MTB - so if anyone can please suggest something that would be good for both, that would be great.

Lumen

There isn't anything that would be good for both.

A road bike will be unusable for MTBing; a MTB will be slow on the road.

So get a MTB.

Mc Love

Yeah I was thinking of a getting a MTB anyway, but looking for one that would be alright for road use too. The BTWS is 1000 euro so have the bones of that to get one. Any suggestions?

Lemag

Mc Love wrote: »

Yeah I was thinking of a getting a MTB anyway, but looking for one that would be alright for road use too. The BTWS is 1000 euro so have the bones of that to get one. Any suggestions?

Unless you can conjure up a new type of bike then, as Lumen said, different bikes are fit for different purposes. Any MTB can be used on the road but they will be slow and you'll find it a lot harder to climb hills. No road bike, hybrid or cyclocross bike will be suitable for mountain bike trails. A mountain bike will be.

If you're looking to spend the full whack you'll find a good road bike option and a good mountain bike option at this site.

Lumen

For road use get a hardtail with front suspension lockout.

Mc Love

Will have a look for that, Thanks Lumen. Seeing as I have to use the Bike Shop in O'Connell St (limerick) I hope Joe doesnt sell me a fruit

smacl

If you're going for a MTB, and will be on the road during the week for commutes and in the mountains at the weekend, consider buying an extra set of slick tires for road use. Not expensive, and will speed up your MTB commutes.

Mc Love

Is there much of a difference in speed, what kind of speed would mtb tyres have on roads?

Lemag

Mc Love wrote: »

Seeing as I have to use the Bike Shop in O'Connell St (limerick) I hope Joe doesnt sell me a fruit

He won't have any of the bikes from the site which I linked earlier. There are occasions (like when one is restricted to a particular shop for the BTW scheme) that it'd be advisable to bite the bullet and forego the scheme as much better value can be got elsewhere. Having said that, I have no idea of what they have in the Bike Shop on O'Connell street.

smacl

Mc Love wrote: »

Is there much of a difference in speed, what kind of speed would mtb tyres have on roads?

Difficult to quantify, but certainly significant in my experience. I've an old crock of an MTB that I use for short commutes and found it much faster and easier when I changed 38mm knobbly tires for 28mm slicks. I loaned the slicks to my brother in law a couple of weeks back as he was taking his MTB on a long road spin, and he also commented on the improvement.

Mc Love

Interesting POV there smacl

macnab

Speed difference: I did a speed/time analysis on my cheap mountain bike against my €780 roadbike when I started cycling last September. Same course of 10.5km on each bike.

MTB= 33 minutes
Roadbike= 24 minutes

I tried to maintain a similar effort on each ride, but to be fair the roadbike felt so much better that I probably pushed it a bit harder.

Noffles

I'm also doing the cycle to work scheme and have looked at 2 types of bikes... Cyclocross and Road Cruiser... there may be the odd occasion that I may take it off road but it would not be anything dramatic and just probably mud... most of it would be road and maybe down to beaches on hills and some sand... can I get some advice, I have looked at Giant Bikes if that helps.

smacl

Noffles wrote: »

... maybe down to beaches on hills and some sand... can I get some advice.

My advice, stay off the sandy beaches. Sand and salt water are the two things that will murder a bike.

Noffles

Ended up ordering a Cube Acid 11... should fit the bill.

studiorat

Tyre pressure is key for getting a MTB moving on the road. Good and hard, 40psi.