I want to get into the sport of cycling but I don't know very much about it. I want to be able to ride in trails and rugged terrain but I think that I might also want to get into some long distance riding on paved roads. Is it possible to buy a mountain bike and just put hard road wheels on it if I want to do street riding? As a broke college student I don't have a whole lot of money to spend. Any suggestions....
2007-06-20 11:28:19 · 10 answers · asked by sjwarren1278 1 in Sports ➔ Cycling
Mountain bike tires filled up all the way don't have that much resistance. And if you take time to regrease and adjust your bearings just right so they spin freely, but not sloppily, it doesn't take barely anything to pedal. I have a little 20inch bmx bike that I have mountain bike tires and a suspension fork, and I can ride that thing off road, or on the bike path all day.
Sure, slicks or even street tires are going to have less rolling resistance, but at the same time you have to worry more about getting flats or wiping out. For me, being able to ride over broken glass and junk 20 miles from home without getting flat, or in the rain and gravel without losing traction is worth it.
Otherwise, go to Goodwill or eBay and find a second set of rims to put your mountain bike tires on. These will end up taking some abuse, so don't splurge and spend any more than necessary to get some halfway decent wheels. They will get knocked around and need readjusting.
2007-06-20 22:18:40 · answer #1 · answered by timbabeu2005 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As a student, I don't have alot of money to throw around either so I can understand your dilemma! I bought a mountain bike and I use it to get to school and to work every day. But I wanted to use it for trail riding too... What I did was I invested in an extra set of (cheap) rims that I outfitted with slick tires for road use. Most bike stores carry slick tires that will fit standard (26") mountain bike rims. When the weekend rolls around, I just swap the the new wheels for the original ones with knobby tires on it, and I'm off to the backcountry. Keep in mind this solution implies an extra cassette (the cogs on the rear wheel), and they tend to be pretty pricey. Check with your vendor first to make sure you buy the right one for your bike. A more cost-effective (but more time consuming) way to achieve the same result is to simply buy a set of slicks and swap the tires when you want to ride off-road. Again, check with a vendor at your bike store to be sure you are buying the proper size rims and/or tires first!
Happy trails!
2007-06-20 21:02:09 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can certainly change the tyres for slicks, I've done that on a few of my cycles, and one of my current bikes has 26 inch wheels with road tyres. Changing the wheels would cause other problems, you need to check frame clearance, and if you have rim brakes, you'll need to get them to lime up with the larger diameter rims. Just changing the tyres will give you a huge benefit, but you may find that then the gearing is too low, and it'll still not be as fast as a road bike. Most tyre manufacturers do slicks in 26 inches. EDIT: Almost forgot, if you have suspension, see if you can lock it out, because that will absorb a lot of your energy on the road.
2016-04-01 08:34:43 · answer #3 · answered by Julie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am afraid that you can not put road bike wheels on a mountain bike. You best bet is to buy a mountain bike with a lock out fork and put what are called slicks on it. this way you and ride over the rough terrain with the knobby tires and the suspension active and then put slicks on and lock out your fork for the long distance road rides
2007-06-20 19:48:09 · answer #4 · answered by mtbracer801 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can buy a standard mountain bike, and then buy some tires for the road. There are some tires that work fine for road and are like 20 bucks each. I don't know how that affects to your budget. But you could use the standard tires for off road and when you have a long distance road trip, you can replace the tires.
2007-06-20 12:26:19 · answer #5 · answered by Roberto 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You don't even have to buy different wheels. Semi-slicks or even slicks on your mtb rims would do it. You'll still have a bit of a weight/rolling resistance/aerodynamic/gearing disadvantage vs. a road bike, but it'll get the job done as long as you're not racing or trying to hang with the roadies on the Tuesday night ride.
I put a slick on the rear of one of my mtb's for use on a trainer in the winter. $10 at performancebike.com when they have a sale.
2007-06-20 12:29:44 · answer #6 · answered by silverbullet 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
that will be not wise because the road wheels will go flat from the bike weight and the bike will not be balanced and it will be hard to ride
2007-06-20 20:36:06 · answer #7 · answered by G-T Rider 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i put road wheels on my mountain bike an had to put road brakes on it to macth up with thedifferent size rims. this will cost you some money if you don't have a bunch of crap linging around to switch stuff around to do this to a bike
2007-06-20 13:45:57 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Best bet is to get a hybrid. It can great on paved roads as well as trails and some off-road....
2007-06-20 12:10:30 · answer #9 · answered by natedawg77 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You can get tires that work well on both street and off road.
2007-06-20 11:37:12 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋