Road or Mountain?

[Laser Jock]

This thread got me thinking. Do people here prefer road bikes or mountain bike. Or maybe you like something different like a recumbent. Maybe you just hate all bikes.

I have always been partial to road bikes. I love their speed. I would be interested in a recumbent, for the same reason. I worry about their visibility though. Cars don't see me enough as it is.

My current ride. \/

[Thumper]

This is mine. Unfortunately I don't make near enough time to ride it though.

I was finally able to vote. Although I picked road, I have had some fun off roading with friends.

[Demigrog]

I like Water Bikes. Way more fun!

I've done a fair amount of mountain biking too; It isn't my favorite activity, as to go down the mountain requires first going up. I've nearly killed myself a couple of times mountain biking, which also tends to sour me on it. :-?

Edit: found a link to a water bike similar to the one I've ridden:
http://www.water-bike.com/ (not in english)

[ToSeek]

Definitely a touring biker here.

[Ut]

Give me a mountain bike any day. I don't like going up hills, but a road bike simply won't go through the woods, and that's the best place of all to bike.

[Humphrey]

I enjoy a mountain bike. Its got some decent speed, and i dont race with it, so i really dont care about goping very fast. Plus i can easily cut across campus on it or go throught woods (rare that i do that, but its happened.) .

[daver]

Road bike. There aren't many trails around here to bike on, and IMO it's silly to drive to a place to ride my bike (if I'm going to drive somewhere to enjoy the scenery, I'd just as soon walk when I get there). I can get out of the city and into cow country in maybe half an hour on a road bike. Plus, it makes me feel good when I pass someone half my age riding a mountain bike.

[Candy]

I was such a tomboy growing up in the 80's. I had a Webco. It was white aluminum with gold rims and handle bars. What a beauty. I only have a misplaced polaroid of it.

I was the fastest in the neighborhood. I could do jumps of all kinds, too. It was a nasty accident after a bunny hop that led me to retire the baby. I still have a tiny pebble from the cement concrete lodged in my eye.

I sold it to Shannon Hoon (now deceased). Anyone remember Shannon Hoon? :wink:

Here's the weird thing. I met a man in a Lafayette bar. We were talking about bikes, and he told me he bought his son's bike from Shannon Hoon. His son now has my bike. I literally live in coincidenceville.

[Maksutov]

My son, who became a champion mountain bike racer, had getting Dad off his touring bike and onto a mountain bike as a project for a number of years. I got attached to the touring bike mainly from using it in biathlons and triathlons. But, once on a mountain bike, there was no turning back. 8)

In other news, c. 1995, another OD'd rocker. Too bad nothing could have been done about that melon's eyesight.

[Candy]

My son, who became a champion mountain bike racer, had getting Dad off his touring bike and onto a mountain bike as a project for a number of years. I got attached to the touring bike mainly from using it in biathlons and triathlons. But, once on a mountain bike, there was no turning back. 8)

Any photos that you care to share? 8-[

I thought about getting a road bike for the 'burbs. I have been thinking about trekking to morning classes on nice days.

[Maksutov]

My son, who became a champion mountain bike racer, had getting Dad off his touring bike and onto a mountain bike as a project for a number of years. I got attached to the touring bike mainly from using it in biathlons and triathlons. But, once on a mountain bike, there was no turning back. 8)

Any photos that you care to share? 8-[

I thought about getting a road bike for the 'burbs. I have been thinking about trekking to morning classes on nice days.

Here are three.



Here he's winning a race at Mt. Snow VT in 1989. It was the NORBA NE Regional Championships. He won his age category in all three races, including a 35 mile cross country race through the Green Mountains. Red was his color back then.

He's still racing, having come in third a few months ago in a SE regional. He races as part of team sponsored by an Italian company.



He's also into BMX, as shown here. The race course he's on he built himself, using heavy earthmoving equipment donated by local businesses.



Finally, in addition to managing a bike shop, he also builds bikes from scratch. This was just a pile of metal tubes, etc., before he got out his TIG welder, etc., and went to work. The finished product weighs just over 13 pounds.

He's a good kid and I'm kind of proud of him.


[edit/urls]

[Candy]

He's a good kid and I'm kind of proud of him.

You're a good dad, and I'm proud of you. =D>

[mid]

Mountain bike for me, because the only time I tend to do any biking is in areas unsuitable for a road bike (i.e. uneven tracks around Centre Parcs and otherwise on holiday).

If I'm on a road, I tend to be lazy and use the car, sorry.

[Wally]

What?!?!? No choice for us hybrid bikers??? Or, do you lump them in with touring bikes?

[enginelessjohn]

Hybrids!!! Nearly as quick as a street bike away from the lights, and will survive potholes and light off roading. No suspension, so any bumps and you are up on the pedals, but that's no real hardship.

Also I had a go of a downhill mountain bike recently, not a cheap one either, and wasn't hugely impressed. Hub brakes were good, but as soon as you stood on the pedals to zip up hills the suspension would bounce around.....

Cheers
John

[Bawheid]

Has to be a road bike. A good frame and wheels can cope with bad roads and most tracks, suspension is just heavy and unnecessary.

My good bike is a steel Colnago Master x-light, Shimano kit and handbuilt wheels.

Mrs B has a much more exotic titanium and carbon Litespeed Siena., which is fine if you are 165cm and 65 kilos.

Exotic materials are fine if you are the size and weight of a pro but they don't scale up to larger sizes without losing a lot of the benefits.

Edit: Nice bikes LaserJock and Thumper.

[Thumper]

Edit: Nice bikes LaserJock and Thumper.

Thanks, that Col has to be pretty sweet as well. How about that picture of the road bike that Maksutov's son built. Whooa!

[Laser Jock]

OOOOUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

I don't think a mountian bike would have helped me yesterday. I took a nice little ride up the hills just north of the USAFA on a pleasent Sunday afternoon. On the way back I was coming down the hill at ~30 mph in the shoulder. Suddenly, the shoulder turned into a fine gravel path. It was about 200 yards long. I stayed upright for about 50 ft.

POOF!!!

I have a small scrape on the right side of my knee, and my hip is bruised and scrapped up. My whole back has some road rash but the worst is right about my shoulder blades with the left shoulder blade missing about 3X4 inches of skin. Also, my head hit the ground hard and I broke my helmet. The moral of this story is:

WEAR YOUR HELMET!!!

Mine probably saved my life. I had a dull headache last night a few hours after the accident, but that was it! If I hadn't had a helmet, well, if I were still alive, I would probably still be unconscious.

This is the first situation I think that I have ever been in where I think my colorblindness endangered my health. Of course I was coming rather fast, but I couldn't see (from a distance) much of a difference between the shoulder I was traveling in and the reddish gravel path. The white strip on the side of the road to mark the shoulder merged into a white cement curb that from a distance looked to be seemless. I didn't realize that the path in front of me was not asphalt until I was riding in gravel.

So to repeat:

WEAR YOUR HELMET!!!

[Thumper]

Ouch, hope you heal up soon and the bike can be repaired. Good testimonial for a helmet. I did a spinning pirouette thingy on the back of my head. I was probably only going about 25 when I lost it in the gravel shoulder. A little knee, elbow, hip, and shoulder rash. But after I shook it off and saw that the bike wasn't damaged I was able to contiue and complete my 50 miler. No helmet: I'd probably have taken a ride to the hospital in the truck with the flashing lights and sirens.

Wear your helmet.

[Stregone]

Mountain biking is so fun. Plus you can just grab another set of rims with street tires and tear up the road. This is what I've got. But its the 700 not the 500, and its white and black,not blue and black. Awesome bike. Awesome looking too, mountain bikes these days are ugly as hell They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Full suspension is required if you do any real mountain biking. Some friends and I finaly got to do some of that last weekend. We thought we were getting pretty good, but we went to this new place and got our asses kicked by the trail. It was hella fun though. My one friend with a hardtail was having a tough time with some of it though :\ While going down rough hills his rear tire was bouncing way off the ground, making its brake useless, and since he was tilted forward from the rear tire being in the air, it was even more tricky to use the front brake.

Its great exercise, plus you get to go through the wilderness instead of battling cars on the street or pedestrians on the sidewalk. Plus the popular multi-use paved trails in my area while fun are way too crowded on the weekends. We went to that one mountain bike trail on sunday, and we had no problem with other people(it helps alot that the trail is one way though), and the really hardcore riders that we talked to were really friendly and helpful

[Brady Yoon]

I really like mountain bikes, but that might be because that's the only kind of bike I have.