700C rims for the MTB....or a Road Bike proper?

[rider_roo]

My daily commute is 24km each way over tarmc/paved cycle path (and very scenic for those that don't know the swan river in western australia). I do not want to wear-out my high-end road bike with the daily grind and am looking at options.

The dilemma is whether to invest in 700C road rims for the mtb (eg mavic speed citys with 23mm tyres) - mtb is xc high spec (xt, juicy 5's, 853 frameset etc) - but a little more robust that the road bike. Alternative is to buy a low spec road bike (eg Giant OCR/SCR 3) for the daily commute.

Wondering if anyone has experience of running road rims/tyres on an mtb....specifically whether the efficiency gains approach that of riding a road bike proper?

Rider-roo

 

[Dondare]

My daily commute is 24km each way over tarmc/paved cycle path (and very scenic for those that don't know the swan river in western australia). I do not want to wear-out my high-end road bike with the daily grind and am looking at options.

The dilemma is whether to invest in 700C road rims for the mtb (eg mavic speed citys with 23mm tyres) - mtb is xc high spec (xt, juicy 5's, 853 frameset etc) - but a little more robust that the road bike. Alternative is to buy a low spec road bike (eg Giant OCR/SCR 3) for the daily commute.

Wondering if anyone has experience of running road rims/tyres on an mtb....specifically whether the efficiency gains approach that of riding a road bike proper?

Rider-roo

Why not replace just the tyres on your MTB with narrow, slick 26"?

 

[rider_roo]

That is what I currently do when using the mtb to commute (which I do now for wet weather/winter riding). Works ok (better than knobblies obviously)......but even with 1.2 inch slicks, in comparison the road bike is still pretty tempting.

 

[Retro Grouch]

I say "Go for it." The operative word is "FUN"!

The REAL trick with a beater bike is to be able to come up with some engineering logic for doing whatever it is that you wanted to do anyway.

 

[Dondare]

That is what I currently do when using the mtb to commute (which I do now for wet weather/winter riding). Works ok (better than knobblies obviously)......but even with 1.2 inch slicks, in comparison the road bike is still pretty tempting.

If the bike has disc brakes then changing the wheel size can be straightforward; if it has rim brakes then you will probably find that they cannot be ajusted to work with the larger wheel.

 

[gclark8]

I do not want to wear-out my high-end road bike with the daily grind and am looking at options.

The dilemma is whether to invest in 700C road rims for the mtb (eg mavic speed citys with 23mm tyres) - mtb is xc high spec (xt, juicy 5's, 853 frameset etc) - but a little more robust that the road bike. Alternative is to buy a low spec road bike (eg Giant OCR/SCR 3) for the daily commute.

Rider-roo

For the price of the Mavic wheels you can get a Giant CRX4, the ideal commuter bike.