If you had to pick between the two bikes above,which would you go for and why?

Road. Less mud, more speed.

Mtb

more fun IMO and more versatile.

If you had to pick between the two bikes…

I’d burst into tears.

Wot sdb said

CX

You can have both. Why waste brain cells on pointless theoretical debate. I choose cake.

Why post then and waste your time ,bet you ride a girls bike lol

Road, because I’m a hard man.

wot real man said and worse would probably end up with a CX bike …the shame

mtb.. because I’m not a soulless automaton..

Cx-best of both.

Road for men
MTB for boys
Lol

mtb for me. you can go almost anywhere on one.completely get away from it all.plus the terrain is never the same.even with the hassles of rain mud it’s ingrained in my soul!would hate to never ride an mtb again.

only TWO bikes ?? 😯

MTB, because it’s enjoyable, and road isn’t. And CX is the worst of both worlds, rather than the best.

True facts.

Tough call, but road…

True very true about mtb

For me my CX bike is purely a training / commuting tool.

I have more fun (by that I mean I can do a larger variety of things in more comfort) on my MTB. So it’ll have to be that one.

Would hate to see my CX disappear though.

FIGHT!

Lol fight all in handbags ready

MTB cos you can put slick tyres on and ride the roads but you can’t put fat tyres or suspension or even proper working brakes on a road bike anyway the wheels would snap if you rode over a twig they’re crap so there.

I think that’s settled it, quite frankly. 🙂

(Wades in with length of bike chain and chisel)

Hybrid, head down tarmac eaters, fly down the bridleways and with the right tyres even the single track.

29 er plus a set of slicks

I could live without my MTB but I love my road bike, so road bike would stay. Only used the MTB 10-15 times last year but used the road bike loads. BUT because it would be my only bike it would be pimped out, so I would need to have a hack/commuter to save the road bike for proper rides. Hack would stay outside if lack of space is the issue (would that still count as having one bike only? :-)).

29er so I could run “narrow” “slicks” for road riding and a quick switch to bigger treads for proper MTBing. Would probably try to have a rigid and sus fork for same reasons. MTBs are ok on the road but for distance road riding I think a 29er would be better. A disk brake CX would be a possible alternative (currently that would be a Boardman, as probably would the 29er too when they are realesed).

At the end of the day though people 50 years ago had much less choice and they still rode in all sorts of places, Rough Stuff anyone? It’s not trail centre/”proper” modern MTBing but I could survive on it. The reality is “we” are spoiled and that’s why we come up with questions like this.

Would hate to have to choose, currently loving road riding more than i’ve ever done, so quick, light and you can explore villages and roads you’d never see otherwise, and just getting into racing which is opening up my eyes to things i never though possible. But i love the hills, the rocky climbs and fast descents, I’m a mtb’er at heart despite not mtb’ing much just now…Couldn’t choose.

<hijack>
tinribz, whats your carradice bag bracket?
i was looking at something similar for my barley, i have the qr bracket, but when strapped to the post its too angled. i tried a right angle piece of aluminium, but it snapped after 1 ride. Yours looks exactly what i was trying to make…..

<hijack>

back on topic…..would have to be a CX.

Here in sunny lincs road everytime.
If we move back to a place where there are hills and i dont have to drive miles for them then mtb.

Round here (Guildford) I would say Mtb, purely because I get fed up having to battle to be on the road, but I have very fond memories of sunny road ride in Staffordshire/Cheshire when I was at university round there.

Two years ago I would have said MTB without question. Now having had a couple of years road riding as well I would probably go for a road bike. One of the main reasons is the ability to do it from your door, and not have to spend ages cleaning off the muddy gloop that exists for half our year.

Love my road bike but hate the traffic drivers on the UK roads. For me the road bike only really comes into it’s own in France.

Love my mountain bikes more.

(and if you favour road>mtb why are you hanging out on here?)

tinribz, whats your carradice bag bracket?
i was looking at something similar for my barley, i have the qr bracket, but when strapped to the post its too angled. i tried a right angle piece of aluminium, but it snapped after 1 ride. Yours looks exactly what i was trying to make…..

I had a Bagman QR for a camper longflap which was obviously way too big, but staying with the top part I shaped a bit of alu much like it sounds you did to replace the bottom part. This was only meant to be a prototype but it works so well I haven’t had to build anything more substantial, yet. I’m only using for a roll to stop the side to side, it’s hardly supporting any weight.

poor phone pic

thanks,
think i just need a slightly stronger bracket then,
my barley would probably be a little heavier but your design should work.

Mountainbike.

I’m with tinribz ^ there, (but for me it’s my Peregrine).
No choice required.

😀

touring bike – pretty much covers all bases, jack of all trades,master of none. If it had to be one bike it’d be the tourer,with discs and lots of different tyres.

both.
train on the road to have fun off-road?

Mountain bike.

I thought about getting into road cycling a couple of years ago but chose off road instead due to the annoying amount of traffic, even on country lanes mid week. I can certainly feel some sympathy for roadies having to put up with that all the time.

By comparison, reaching my off road destination after a short road ride is absolute bliss, yah boo sucks to the rat race.
One this I like about off road other than the technical challenge and fun aspect, is that the twisty single track keeps your mind interested, I may be wrong (and correct me of you wish) but I view road cycling as slightly more monotonous in that regard, a bit like joining a gym with the focus being more on cadence etc?

I’ve taken up running but have the luxury of being able to run in the same areas I cycle off road, as well as some nice canal scenery too, or a quick blast round the estates to get the job done, so that ticks the training box for me.

Each to their own though.

MTB. Nothing you can ever do on a road bike beats flying down twisty singletrack full speed. And if you think the opposite, then you can’t ride singletrack fast enough 🙂

but I view road cycling as slightly more monotonous in that regard

Slightly?! 😯

They can actually be completely different pursuits, when you think about it. Road riding is kind of like running. You pound out the miles in your own world in that sort of meditative state where you daydream, or you focus on the athelticism, the pain and the speed to get your endorphin high.

MTBing can be like that but it can also be an ‘extreme’ sport – white knuckle singletrack, scary downhills, technical climbs and so on, a test of bike handling, skill and agility. You get endorphins from that and the exercise part too.

Still for me popping over to Cwmcarn is one of my fave rushes because I know it so well I can bury myself up and down to try and shave seconds of my PB.. A great personal challenge that requires fitness and skill.