Road vs Mountain Bikes

This cluster discusses comparisons between road bikes, mountain bikes, touring bikes, and others, focusing on performance factors like weight, tire width, acceleration, efficiency, and suitability for roads versus trails.

📉 Falling 0.2x Hardware
3,968
Comments
19
Years Active
5
Top Authors
#6844
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2008
6
2009
22
2010
43
2011
32
2012
68
2013
112
2014
69
2015
107
2016
219
2017
127
2018
250
2019
216
2020
280
2021
628
2022
702
2023
335
2024
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2025
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2026
10

Keywords

USED CF NBD V8 IS youtube.com nautil.us MTB github.io TT bike bikes road weight mountain riding tires bicycle wheels cf

Sample Comments

ciupicri May 16, 2024 View on HN

I'm in the mountain / touring category. My tires are more than 2.1" wide. Anyway, acceleration was faster and they kept on rolling when I stopped pedaling (because a traffic light was coming next).

vladvasiliu Jun 15, 2021 View on HN

Weren't those new bikes heavier?My own road bike is nothing particularly fancy, but it's very light. Just because those bikes may be made to take more of a beating than a road-bike, they may be heavier. I'm thinking in particular tougher wheels and front work, possibly the whole frame.

BrtByte May 13, 2025 View on HN

Not every bike needs to bomb downhill at 40mph

wink Sep 20, 2022 View on HN

I'm not here to advocate for expensive equipment but my cross country hardtail MTB (even with the wide tires on the roads, non-carbon) feels like half the effort to pedal than my old crummy commuter trekking bike with narrower tires, so I guess your 600€ bike might already have one of the biggest optimizations packed in ;)

jessaustin Oct 5, 2019 View on HN

This might be a situation that calls for fat tires on a mountain bike rather than skinny tires on a road bike.

dsfyu404ed Dec 5, 2018 View on HN

Those bikes are heavy and under-powered. They're not worth using exclusively.

wishinghand May 3, 2017 View on HN

What's the reasoning on riding a mountain bike in your point number 4?

moneywoes Oct 14, 2021 View on HN

Is there a reason this technology is not used on bikes which weigh a lot less?

colbyh Jul 29, 2014 View on HN

A wheel like this on a road bike is going to cause hell with my Strava rankings :-(

Empact Feb 15, 2025 View on HN

Bikes produce far less tire and brake wear due to weight etc.