# Road Biking with Mountain Bikes



## hammer (Mar 18, 2010)

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.


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## Grassi21 (Mar 18, 2010)

hammer said:


> 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.


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## bvibert (Mar 18, 2010)

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!


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## gorgonzola (Mar 18, 2010)

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.


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## RootDKJ (Mar 18, 2010)

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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