Looking for a bike for road riding and touring (possible conversion from a hardtail cross country mo



scienceguy288

New Member
Aug 29, 2012
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Your level of experience with cycling:

I have been cross country mountain biking for about 4 or 5 years now. I have been commuting and going on some longish (10-40 miles) rides on my mountain bike (Cannondale M1000)
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What's your price range, and have you considered second hand?

I am certainly considering second hand. In fact, I rather expect that I will be buying through ebay or Craigslist. I have a hard upper limit of 500 and would really prefer the bike to be under 400 dollars

What's your intention with the bike - commuting, fitness, touring, sport, etc? How far will you be riding, and how often?

I am hoping to expand my fleet so that I can have a bike for each of my needs. For commuting, I am just looking to get an old beater from Craigslist so that I can put studded tires on it for winter and not worry about it getting exposed to salt etc.

I hope to also get into road cycling as part of my regular fitness routine and do some short bike touring (2 or 3 day trips at first). Eventually, I am hoping to do a long tour (either Continental US E-W or (and I know this is a pipe dream) Africa N-S). Riding conditions: roads, pavement, trails, single-track, off-road? Flat or hilly? Traffic and weather. Primarily paved road and some off-road. I definitely plan on riding through hilly terrain. I am no fair weather cyclist; especially when I will be touring. Your location (even approximate) can help other locals familiar with your conditions, too.

I was considering one other option. My current mountain bike is a hard tail and a bit too big for me. I didn't know too much about bikes when I bought it and it is still a great deal. The main issue is that when I hit steep bumps etc, the top tube sometimes comes too close to comfort to certain parts of the male anatomy. This is both because it a size too big and the top tube is horizontal, rather than slightly angled downward (like this).

At any rate, I was thinking about taking the frame from my mountain bike (see picture by clicking on the link) and putting on a road bike fork, wheels, and butterfly or dropdown handlebars. I would then take the money I would be spending on the road/touring bike on a new mountain bike that would fit me better. However, I don't know whether the frame geometry of my current mountain bike would not be conducive to road riding or touring. Also, I don't know whether this conversion would even be feasible.

I don't have any particular bikes that I am looking at now, as I am still saving money for this purchase. However, is there anything I should be particularly looking for in my new bike? For my desire to do road cycling and touring, is there any particular type of bike I should be looking at? And, is the conversion from my current mountain bike to a road bike possible/advised?

Thanks.
 

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