Convert Mountain Bike
martinfirstbrook
Posts: 1
in General Chat
you will have gathered from the title that I'm a complete novice and I have yet to do my first triathlon. However, I've started my preparations and I now need to start getting my equipment sorted. I don't have much money to throw around and I wondered whether it was possible to put road wheels/tyres on my mountain bike until I can afford a road bike? Also, can anyone tell me the difference between a normal road bike and a triathlon bike?
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You can get some road tyres for your exsisting wheels on your mountain bike, ie just replacing the knobbly tyres for smoother ones. But as far as i know you cant put road bike wheels on a mountain bike. This will help greatly as a starting point before upgrading to a ride bike...hope this answers the first bit for you.
Now for the differences between road and tri bikes.....
You will notice the main differences just by looking at them both..
1) Tri bikes have aero/tri bars with gear levers on the ends of the tri bars, this is so you dont disrupt the aero position the tri bikes put you in when using the tri bars to change gear.. road bikes have the curly handlebars, and the gear levers are integrated into the brake levers.
2) The seat post angle is steeper on a tri bike and the top tube is generally shorter. This gives you a more aggressive riding position to get you as Aero as poss and deliver power and efficiency to the pedal stroke whilst in the 'Aero'.
3) Tri bike frames are alot of the time shaped and curved slightly different than road bikes. This is to improve Aerodynamics etc
At the moment i cant think of much else but im sure someone else could go into it alot deeper than i have...
The MOST IMPORTANT thing to consider when buying a road or tri bike is the fit... Any bike shop should give you a fitting session when buying a bike and just make sure it is comfortable. Most shops even let you take them for a quick spin after they set it up for you.
Avoid buying from Ebay unless you know what you are looking for exactly.
Sizes Differ between Manufacturers so one might say a 54cm will fit and another might say a 56 or even 58cm will fit so always get fitted.
Hope this helps
[8D]
Four things you can do on your mountain bike to make into a triathlon busting machine! )
1) Wheels/tires - as hussler said, the easiest thing would just to whack some slick tires onto your exsisting wheels - but here some other things to think about:
- Get inner tube with PRESTA valve - this lets you pump up much greater pressure i.e. 100psi than the normal MTB valve - this reduces your rolling resistance.
- Tire width - You want to get as narrow a tire as posible to limit rolling resistance - road bike tires are 20mm wide ish - MTB tires are about 30mm wide - +50% more difficult!
- Wheels - Obviously if you get narrower rims - you can put a narrower tires on it.
2) Pedals - ON the cheap use cages so you can pull up as well as down with your or better still invest in some clip in pedals and shoes - good candance (all round stroke power) winn the race!
3) Aerobar - No reason why you can whack some tri bars on your MTB so you can be more aero
4) Gearing - MTB's ar eset up mainly for going up hills - putt some bigger cogs on!
£100 later with all the above and it will be scary (for all of us that have paid £1000's on road bikes) how well you will keep up!
Good luck
Barneeee
Treefrog has a point I think. It might be best for you to decide how much you are willing to spend. Even an inexpensive new bike (or a better second hand one) will be easier to push along in terms of weight and rolling resistance. Work out how much you would spend on a 'conversion' then see what kind of bike that would buy you. You won't regret having a lighter machine, (especially when you've started the run!), but it also depends how serious you are. Lots of people at the London Tri use mountain bikes, but your times will be slower.
I am in much the same situation over upgrading or buying new. I got a hybrid (half road/half mountain) bike last winter with a plan to using it for training in the off season, then getting a road bike later. Due to injury I had to miss the entire season, so have stuck with the hybrid for the time being and will use it as a winter training bike working on the theory that after lugging all that weight around, when i jump on a road bike i will feel the difference.
I stuck aero bars on the bike to get used to riding in the position, and it does help, but if you intend to get your moneys worth, then save up and buy a road bike. You can always keep the mountain bike for winter training.
David.
Of course, I came to my senses last year and bought a tri-bike, so now the Sirrus is a lean, mean commuting machine (with no more tri-bars on it).