Best Mountain bike for work commute

[obiwonkeyblokey]

As some toerag nicked my Haro mountain bike from outside my office yesterday where it was locaked up, I now need to replace it.

I am looking for something good to commute on but which also could be used for some beginners level mountain biking at the weekends. Budget about £300. any recomendations? with links if poss? lightweight would be good.

Thanks Pedallists!

[Kermit power]

Hi,

I don't wish to be too pessimistic, but unless your commute itself is largely off-road, I would suggest you get a cheap second hand road bike for the commute, then save up the amount you would usually spend on petrol or public transport until you can afford a mountain bike.

At £300, you can get a road bike that won't weight a ton, and the quality of the chainset is arguably less critical, as you're not needing it to carry on working whilst full of mud and bits of forest. If you try to commute on a £300 mountain bike, I fear you will find it to be very heavy going, especially if you're riding with offroad tyres - Think Landrover Defender on tarmac!

Of course, if your commute to work is only a couple of miles, then ignore me and take a look at a last year's model Specialized Hardrock or similar, but to give you an example, my commute is 13 miles each way. When I take the road bike, it takes me around 50-52 minutes of actual pedal time. The one time I took the mountain bike, it added 35 minutes to the journey!

[pdV6]

Are you saying it took you nearly an hour and a half to cycle 13 miles on an MTB, on tarmac?
Is it, like, a 1 in 4 hill all the way to work?

[Kermit power]

pdV6 said:

Are you saying it took you nearly an hour and a half to cycle 13 miles on an MTB, on tarmac?
Is it, like, a 1 in 4 hill all the way to work?

It's pretty flat, but it winds its way through backroads and cycle paths, so there's not much of it where you can maintain a sustained pace. My sustained cruising speed on the flat on the road bike is 18-20 mph, whereas on the moutain bike it is probably 14-16 mph. The big difference comes in how much longer it takes to get back up to speed on a comparatively much heavier mountain bike.

Also, as I'm comparing me on a road bike to me on a mountain bike, it removes the (admittedly questionable) level of fitness from the equation.

[obiwonkeyblokey]

Thanks, I take on board what you are saying. Its about 2.5 miles downhill to work which takes about 7 mins through traffic and about 20 mins all the way back uphill home again. I work in central Bristol and live next to the suspension bridge in Leigh Woods, which also has some of the best mountain bike tracks in the area ( so Im led to believe) The £300 isnt set in stone. I ahve now secured bike storage and could spend a little more if required, however as I am no expert I didnt want to be " al the gear no idea" !

[Neil_Bolton]

pdV6 said:

Are you saying it took you nearly an hour and a half to cycle 13 miles on an MTB, on tarmac?
Is it, like, a 1 in 4 hill all the way to work?

Innit.

Like.

[Neil_Bolton]

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Thanks, I take on board what you are saying. Its about 2.5 miles downhill to work which takes about 7 mins through traffic and about 20 mins all the way back uphill home again. I work in central Bristol and live next to the suspension bridge in Leigh Woods, which also has some of the best mountain bike tracks in the area ( so Im led to believe) The £300 isnt set in stone. I ahve now secured bike storage and could spend a little more if required, however as I am no expert I didnt want to be " al the gear no idea" !

Then you need to be getting a set of lights and coming out on the Pistonheads Bristolians Beer and Bimbles

[obiwonkeyblokey]

Just seen a specialised rockhooper reduced from 550 to 450 on the evans website. thoughts anyone?

[obiwonkeyblokey]

Neil_Bolton said:

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Thanks, I take on board what you are saying. Its about 2.5 miles downhill to work which takes about 7 mins through traffic and about 20 mins all the way back uphill home again. I work in central Bristol and live next to the suspension bridge in Leigh Woods, which also has some of the best mountain bike tracks in the area ( so Im led to believe) The £300 isnt set in stone. I ahve now secured bike storage and could spend a little more if required, however as I am no expert I didnt want to be " al the gear no idea" !

Then you need to be getting a set of lights and coming out on the Pistonheads Bristolians Beer and Bimbles

do you cycle like you drive?

[pdV6]

Neil_Bolton said:

pdV6 said:

Are you saying it took you nearly an hour and a half to cycle 13 miles on an MTB, on tarmac?
Is it, like, a 1 in 4 hill all the way to work?

Innit.

Like.

What.ever

[pdV6]

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Neil_Bolton said:

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Thanks, I take on board what you are saying. Its about 2.5 miles downhill to work which takes about 7 mins through traffic and about 20 mins all the way back uphill home again. I work in central Bristol and live next to the suspension bridge in Leigh Woods, which also has some of the best mountain bike tracks in the area ( so Im led to believe) The £300 isnt set in stone. I ahve now secured bike storage and could spend a little more if required, however as I am no expert I didnt want to be " al the gear no idea" !

Then you need to be getting a set of lights and coming out on the Pistonheads Bristolians Beer and Bimbles

do you cycle like you drive?

Don't ask! :shudder:

Personally, I'd be tempted to make the commute in & out a little longer and go via Leigh Woods if I lived where you do. Just for fun (like )

[pdV6]

Kermit power said:

It's pretty flat, but it winds its way through backroads and cycle paths, so there's not much of it where you can maintain a sustained pace. My sustained cruising speed on the flat on the road bike is 18-20 mph, whereas on the moutain bike it is probably 14-16 mph. The big difference comes in how much longer it takes to get back up to speed on a comparatively much heavier mountain bike.

I commute on an MTB and the biggest difference I've found is tyres.
I've swapped the knobblies for some fat slicks and my average cruising speed on the flat has gone up by 3-4mph.

[Pappa Lurve]

If you are not worried about suspension the ridgemabk cyclone seems good for this kind of thing as your ide sounds pretty similar to mine. £270ish or I happen to know a 6 month old one for sale for a lot less!

Pitch aside, it seems like a pretty tough bike, looks cool, has road tyres so I could get top speeds of cracking on for 30 on a halfway decent hill and bout 18 on a flat cruis without much of a problem, its comfortable (I routinly ride it for 20 miles without an issue) and components seem decent for the price. But I am a total novice at these things having only been riding for 6 months so could be wrong, but I really like mine.

[Neil_Bolton]

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Neil_Bolton said:

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Thanks, I take on board what you are saying. Its about 2.5 miles downhill to work which takes about 7 mins through traffic and about 20 mins all the way back uphill home again. I work in central Bristol and live next to the suspension bridge in Leigh Woods, which also has some of the best mountain bike tracks in the area ( so Im led to believe) The £300 isnt set in stone. I ahve now secured bike storage and could spend a little more if required, however as I am no expert I didnt want to be " al the gear no idea" !

Then you need to be getting a set of lights and coming out on the Pistonheads Bristolians Beer and Bimbles

do you cycle like you drive?

I try

I also have an two out of date, old school bikes that still give their newer brothers a real run for its money

Must buy some sandals sometime to go with my beard

Edited by Neil_Bolton on Wednesday 9th May 10:04

[mat205125]

Your last bike was nicked, so what's gonna stop this one being nicked as well?

[obiwonkeyblokey]

I have just secured some storage space in the building we work in. The bike was stolen from a bike rack in the street.

[obiwonkeyblokey]

Off to Mud Dock now - watch this space

[pdV6]

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Off to Mud Dock now - watch this space

I can do better than that - I can watch out the window!

[Neil_Bolton]

pdV6 said:

obiwonkeyblokey said:

Off to Mud Dock now - watch this space

I can do better than that - I can watch out the window!

You'll see me later

I'm off to drop my Trek in - picked up the Commencal yesterday after they did an excellent job on the brakes and hoses (also tweaked my chain device too)...

[obiwonkeyblokey]

Got delayed and leaving now - sounds like you two are going to have to show me the routes through Leigh Woods ( easy ones first please! if there are any!)

I know im going to end up spending too much.