Riding My Mountain Bike on the Road

I’ve been injured a lot this year which means I haven’t been able to ride any mountain bike trails for most of the year.  This limited most of my bike riding to either my wife’s Concept 2 Bike Erg stationary bike or riding on the road.  I don’t actually own a road bike so I’ve been riding my hardtail mountain bike on the road instead.  It’s been a lot of fun riding around town and I did some very simple things to get my mountain bike set up for the road.  So in this blog post I’m going to let you know how I set up my mountain bike for road use and what I liked and disliked about using a mountain bike on the road. This is a minimalist set up and it allows me to set up my mountain bike for the road in just a couple minutes.  

The bike I’ve been using for riding on the road is my Spot Rocker hardtail mountain bike.  This bike has a carbon frame and in its current configuration weighs about 25lbs.  I don’t swap wheelsets or tires for riding on the road since I don't run super aggressive tires on this bike. Currently, I’m running 2.2 Kenda Regolith in front and a 2.2 Kenda booster in the rear.  This is basically my crosscountry tire setup for this bike, and it’s fine on the road.  It’s not like I’ll be hitting any KOMs on Strava on a mountain bike anyway.  If I had an extra wheelset then I could have one with a trail setup and the other with a road setup, but I don’t have that luxury right now.   

To get set up for the road the first thing I did was I bought a Garmin Varia which is a tail light with built in radar.  Garmin has a Varia app for your smartphone which works great for vehicle detection.  I bought a sturdy phone mount off Amazon and mounted it to my handle bars, which I’ll link here.  The app is super simple and the phone display is large so you can easily see the cars represented on the screen.  It also has an audible bell to alert you if a car is approaching.  There is a second warning bell if the Varia detects that a car is heading directly towards you. Once all the cars have passed another bell lets you know you’re all clear.  The Youtuber Clint Gibbs has a great review on the Varia if you want to know more.The Varia is an absolute game changer in terms of safety on the road.  I literally will not ride on a road anymore without one.  In addition to the Varia I also put a small bar end mirror to see traffic approaching from behind.  I don’t have a bike computer, I just use my Garmin Vivoactive smart watch for that function.  That’s the basic setup for the road.  What I like about this is that in about 2-3 minutes I can take all those items off or put them back on, so it is super simple to switch back and forth.  I think this is also a great setup if you ride your mountain bike to the trail.  One could easily fit the Varia and mirror in a frame bag or hip pack when you get to the trail. 

One of the other reasons I like about riding my mountain bike on the road is that it’s cool to be different.  It’s a lot of fun to see some of the roadies' reactions when I pull up next to them at a stop light.  These guys are decked out in matching spandex uniforms and here I am rolling up on a mountain bike wearing a flannel shirt, baggy shorts, and Vans.  Most of these guys are very cool and nice, but I always get a few looks like I’m from out space.  It’s also fun to see their reaction when I see them going the opposite way for the second time because we’re riding the same loop.  I’m never going to keep up with these guys, they just have too many advantages for speed on the road, but it’s a good challenge to try and pace them for a segment along the road way.  

Lastly, as I mentioned before I’ve been injured a lot this year which is what has forced me to ride my mountain bike on the road in the first place.  One of the things I decided was to try to turn lemons into lemonade and work on some skills that would make me be a better mountain biker once I got back on the trail.    I also spend this time trying to improve my mountain bike skills as best I can.  For example, along my route there is a series of paved ditches and sidewalks with concrete embankments, which I use as an opportunity to practice riding berms and wall rides.   Some sidewalks have really tight turns, so those spots are great for practicing cornering for singletrack.  The other advantage to riding your mountain bike on the road is you can get some garbage miles in to keep up your cardiovascular fitness.  I try to push my pace and go one gear higher or a little faster cadence than last time.  I’ll weave through neighborhoods and on sidewalks and practice turning as if I was on a singletrack trail. Also, what’s nice riding a mountain bike is I’m not limited to riding just on the smooth surfaces like I would be on a road bike.  I frequently cut across fields, easements, and ditches.  I can take routes on gravel or rough roads.  And if a car is coming too close to me I can always just move off the road onto the grass.  It’s not a big deal on a mountain bike.

I don't really think there are many disadvantages to riding a mountain bike on the road, as long as it’s not an enduro bike or downhill bike.  However, I guess in the interest of impartiality I suppose I’ll come up with a couple.  The first disadvantage of using a mountain bike on the road is I’m slower than a road bike, so it will take longer to go the same distance.  That actually just translates to more time on the bike, so I guess that’s a disadvantage?  I’ll never be a local Strava hero on my local road segments, but if you’re riding your mountain bike on the road you probably don’t care about speed anyway.  The other disadvantage is that on a really long ride you may want some different hand positions.  I don’t come from a road background, so I prefer flat bars to drop bars.  Since my rides are usually about 20 miles I don’t ever get to the point where my hands are super fatigued or uncomfortable from being in the same position.  If I were to ride longer rides such as 50 miles or so, then I’d probably put on some Ergon GP series grips which give a couple of different hand positions.  Other than that I can’t really think of anything negative about riding my mountain bike on the road.  It’s pretty awesome actually.  I think the flexibility a mountain bike gives you to go off road, cut across open spaces, or ride on gravel roads makes for a more fun experience.  However, I’m a mountain biker so I’m looking at it from that perspective.  I guess I could see someone with a road cycling background thinking it was a miserable experience.  However, some them may just prefer riding a riding on pavement over riding a mountain bike on a trail as well. Anyway, I hope this article was interesting, entertaining, and maybe even helpful in giving you some ideas about a minimalist road setup for a mountain bike.  Thanks for reading.