[Closed] Road versus MTB purchase.. or, where have the MAMILS gone?

Boardman Pro XC.

I have a nice road bike (bought years ago), now I only really use it on Zwift & if I do a sportive (got 2 closed road ones I'm doing this year).

Wouldn't really recommend anyone to buy a proper road bike these days really, unless they're racing or training for racing (fast chain gangs, etc).

Gravel/cyclocross/whatever you want to call it is so much more versatile for (IMO) a tiny speed/efficiency loss. Being able to head into the woods or down a bridleway is great. Hate road riding in urban areas anyway, all the traffic trying to kill you, sketchy roundabouts etc. Once I get out in the country it's much better, never have any aggro from drivers.

I always wear "baggies" (not actually that baggy due to my mighty quads 😎) on the road/gravel bike. I'll be wearing them for Ride London, etc. Always used to do the full, lycra only thing on the road bike. Then one day some kids laughed at me. Didn't bother me at the time but later when I reflected on it I realised they were right to do it.

Boardman Pro XC.

I recently bought a Brompton. For (mostly) riding on roads.

I don't get on with what most people would call a road bike. Fragile little things.

I have had a gravel bike for 5 years though, that gets used for road duties - some commuting and the occasional FNRttC.

jimdubleyou
Subscriber
I don’t get on with what most people would call a road bike. Fragile little things.

Fragile?

Easier to sell a roadie gravel/xc kit and bike than to get them to upgrade a perfectly functioning roadbike.

The road boom, around the 2012 olympics was a point of stagnation for MTB kit wise in the preceding few years. Trail centres hadn't really kicked off in force, so you had XC/trail and DH, bikes generally worked and were all one wheel size, everyone wore endura humvees and camelbak mules.

Now that most serious roadies have carbon frames and disc brakes (or a vehement opinion against disc brakes), there's nothing to sell them except road tubeless. So they are probably still out riding them, but the shop won't know this, they only know about the N+1 brigade.

Fragile?

Yeah, skinny tyres, rim brakes. Designed for lightness, not durability.

I'm too much of a biffer to trust a lightweight racer road bike.

I can’t say I think my road bike is particularly fragile. The only time I’ve damaged one is piling into a massive pothole that hurled itself at me from under the van I was following (probably too closely). I damaged the rear wheel rim beyond repair with that - although somehow didn’t get a pinch puncture and it still managed to get me to work / back that day.

I can see for a lot of people either a road bike with wider tyres or something a little more gravelly would be a good compromise.

I like the speed of my road bike though - it accelerates and brakes really well (has hydraulic discs) and handles well on the road.

Mtb is my love though - given 4 hours to ride I’d always take one of my mtb’s.

Yeah, skinny tyres, rim brakes. Designed for lightness, not durability

Actually - the movement now is much more towards aero frames over lightweight, aero is faster over most terrain apart from very hilly. Get with the times 😉 .
Might have opened another debate there in itself though.

Decent road bike is a long term purchase - even the components last much better than off-road stuff. Plus it's harder to get that cycle of obsolescence going that has worked so well with the mountain bike market - taking two degrees off the head angle butters no parsnips in roadieworld.

So you would expect to see a fair amount of mamil market saturation.

I’ve always done both .... I’ve always called myself a mtber who rides on the road

This ^

I have a mountain bike and a road bike and enjoy each discipline for different reasons. If I could only keep one bike it would be my mountain bike :o)

Get with the times 😉 .

I have already reached D-1.

As above. Good road bikes last a long time and the rate of change has been much less (certainly once disc brakes and thru axles became a thing}.

My perception from reading gravel/adventure bike forums is that most of the new folk are roadies who also want to do some light off-road but that's because it has become trendy rather than the roads being less safe.

There is a big difference between what people are buying and what people are riding. Case in point, last time I popped into my local Evans the showroom was full of eMTBs. I doubt they'll ever make up more than a tiny fraction of bikes in use, but there is money to be made from selling them right now.

Decent road bike is a long term purchase

I’m going to say this. Road bikes (unless ridden over cobbles every weekend) last way longer than MTBs. Plus, roadies tend to settle on a frame size once they’re happy with the fit then upgrade as stuff wears out (so do MTBers) I’m just speaking from experience here, and a mix of my mates bikes that they’ve owned.

I’d take a straw pole and say our road bikes are at least 4yrs old, high grade frames.

But hey, don’t let that stop you enjoying road bikes. Surprisingly for some they’re fun too.

Not seen any drop in numbers at the cycling club, if there's been a drop in MAMILS then it's been offset by a massive increase in 20-something women. It's gone from one or two (usually partners) to outnumbering the men in the social and steady paced clubruns, still only a few in the brisk and none (AFAIK, except the occasional exception) in the fast group.

A lot of the people I used to ride MTB with now ride more road than MTB too, seems there were a few splits in the group where half the regulars got increasingly frustrated with the other 3/4 of the group who turned up one week in three and dragged the average speeds down to frustrating levels due to a lack of fitness (and probably an increase in suspension travel and willingness to admit to just wanting to spin to the top and shred/mince down) . So they now have road bikes as it was an easy way to get out of that stagnation.

We've done a few gravel clubruns but they've mostly just been the same few nutters each time, a mix of cross racers and ultra endurance racers, couldn't really call many of them fashion victims or recent converts.

Cycling in general, at a club level at least seems to be in good health. And the bike shed at work has been full all winter which is unusual, and must have at least treble the number of racks over the last 6 years or so.

Just ordered a new "gravel" bike as the old one was getting a bit tired (and I wanted a bit of bling).

Said tired bike gets used for loads of stuff though, from 3peaks / Dirty Reiver through Winter road club rides and right on to riding to the gym or going for a spin with the kids (including child seat).

Just a "bike", innit. And I think that's part of the appeal.

My old road bike (SWorks Tarmac from the Gerolstein era)which I am still using as a winter bike is the only bike that has lasted more than three years without breaking, so it can hardly be described as being fragile.

The trend I’m seeing at my LBS here in Germany is also more for gravel bikes but I think the demographic is the casual sport rider. The competitive rider still wants a dedicated road bike. I think the improvements in mountain bike design has actually alienated a lot of the casual riders as the stuff you have to ride to get that fun factor on a modern mountain bike is a lot more technical than twenty years ago and it can be quite intimidating for a lot of people who only ride off road occasionally. The gravel bike allows the casual rider to ride what is considered tame by mtbers but have the feeling they are riding something ‚rad‘

Never was a mamil but started out cycling for utility, transport and pleasure on a skinny steel road bike, fairly lightweight. Then discovered ATB. For me the best type of bike does a bit of everything with least fuss. Dipped into monstercross/gravel at 50yrs and it fitted very well with my ATB needs.

Recently revisited skinny steel road-bike memories in the shape of a lovely svelte lugged 531 1980s classic Audax bike, and although it was the right frame size for me it became immediately apparent that I am no longer 16yrs old and skinny. Terrifying and punishing are words that came to mind. Back I go to the 29er ATB until I can shift enough lard to try a light and fast bike again. I may just be ATB/tourer for life. MTB still features in the guise of a single-speed hardtail yet utility, keep fit and mixed/urban transport makes up the vast majority of my cycling hours so rigid 29er seems the ‘ideal’ mainstay bike for a fat and busy bloke like me.

I pretty much became a full time roadie five years ago when I returned from living in Canada.

I now have 3 road bikes, the fast light summer one, the (relatively) fast light winter one with guards, and the singlespeed winter-salt-machine.

I'd have been content with that, as I almost literally have a bike for every season (if spring and autumn both count as 'shoulder') but then I caught the CX bug, and all my roadie mates caught either the CX bug (seasoned triathletes who just fancied a new challenge) or they caught the gravel bug through fear of traffic or I think just the novelty of exploring.

Happily there are a lot of routes in the Highlands that I previously considered to long/boring/too much road for the MTB, which I am now super excited about riding this year on my new gravel bike.

Meanwhile, the joy of having three other road bikes means the components on them all last forever, the summer bike is now 4 years old on the same rims and Ultegra groupset but is nowhere near worn. Both the winter bikes, despite running rim brakes, still have at least another season in them, if not longer, so the only reason I'd be buying a new road bike is boredom and shiny-shiny (or fear of all the affordable rim brake models being discontinued, I need to stockpile!)

Hmmmm,

I started off as an MTBerist long before getting into drop-barred bikes, I'm almost certainly the archetypal MAMIL these days.

I ride my Road bike(s) more than any other, my Gravel is my next most used toy, and of course that does do some road miles as well.

Your LBS's anecdote is perhaps more a reflection of the fact that winter generally drives some roadies off the roads either into muddy fields or onto turbo trainers. Mainly for fear of ice/rain/poor visibility/potholes resulting in an accident on the tarmac, once the sun is out they'll be back on the roads...
Cycling on the road seems to have been on a general upwards trajectory since the "Olympic effect" and Wiggins mania" helped things along circa 2012.

Perhaps it's more that Gravel/adventure bikes are now a 'thing' where they weren't a handful of years ago and someone who's already enthusiastic about bikes in general just wants to try something that can chop along well on the road and handle the odd bridleway, but I don't believe Roadies have all suddenly been bullied off the roads.

As for wearing Baggies, it's just the uniform for "offroading" they'll have seen in the comics innit, you can still ride a gravel bike in lycra (and I do) with no ill effects.

I nearly bought a road bike last week ...
I then had a quick road ride on my road rat - and realised the chance son dying on the roads around Brighton are just too high

I have just bought a new road bike. My mountain bike is 5 years old and I chose to upgrade my road bike instead. I considered a gravel / cx bike for quite a while but still can't get sold on the idea where I live in the central south coast. The bridleways around here will bash the hell out of you on a rigid skinny tyre'd bike and my days of using my body as suspension for fun are long since gone.

the summer bike is now 4 years old on the same rims and Ultegra groupset but is nowhere near worn.

I'm still using the Cube I bought while working at TBC so that's 11 years old. Still on the original PF BB too 😊. Other than a (slight) preference for disk brakes these days there's nothing I need to change about it so it'll be soldiering on a good while yet.

Your LBS’s anecdote is perhaps more a reflection of the fact that winter generally drives some roadies off the roads either into muddy fields or onto turbo trainers. Mainly for fear of ice/rain/poor visibility/potholes resulting in an accident on the tarmac, once the sun is out they’ll be back on the roads…

I'd also point out that bike sales are (mathematically) a differential of what's actually being ridden. i.e. they're the gradient of the graph not the area under it. They could sell a gravel bike every day for a year, and still not make a dent on the Sunday morning roadie clubrun numbers. Partially because you'r comparing those sales agains every bike owned in the local area. and partially because roadies love n+1 as much as the next person. that they own a cross/gravel bike doesn't mean they no longer ride on the road.

I nearly bought a road bike last week …
I then had a quick road ride on my road rat – and realised the chance son dying on the roads around Brighton are just too high

Two types of driver to look out for (that aren't the 95% that are just Ok).

Bad drivers will kill you through poor driving. 99.9999% of bad overtakes or SMIDSY's are just near misses though.

****s will shout from the car window, but 99.9999% are harmless.

You can largely manage the risk from both with good road positioning etc. It's only really the 0.00001% of both that are an actual risk. The actual risk of being hit (by bad driving or deliberate ****tishness) is actually very small.

That I get five or six crap overtakes on a short 2 mile ride to work isn't the same as five or six near death experiences.

My next "new" bike will probably be some daft rigid/singlespeed incarnation of my old 26er Soul 🙂

If I had any actual money, once I'd gotten the real (MTB) bikes up to a reasonably decent standard, I'd much sooner buy a gravel sort of bike than a road bike.

I had a quick go on my BIL's new Genesis Fugio at the weekend, and it was well good. Admittedly I was mincing a bit since I was wearing normal shoes and it had SPD pedals, but it whizzed down lumpy-ish farmtrack type stuff very convincingly.

Possibly on a nice smooth road ride it'd be a bit slower I guess, but I'd trade the offroad ability for that any day.

I, maybe, fit the scenario the OP posted although at 72 I'm not really a MAMIL but, nevertheless, a roadie for a number of years. I did the Tourmalet on my 70th, Luz Ardiden the next day and Hautacam last year. Unfortunately last year I had a minor pulmonary embolism probably brought on by a DVT caused by an excessively long non-stop drive back to the UK from southwest France.

I wasn't off the bike for long but it made me reassess what I wanted from cycling and I decided I never wanted to make nearly every ride a ballsout effort but just enjoy the ride, scenery etc.

I ressurrected a 90's (I think) Scott Sawtooth that had been mouldering in a corner of mygarage and not used since last used for family type outings.... I took it over to Swinley, Tunnel Hill areas and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I needed to ride a bit carefully as I was on blood thinners at the time and an accident whilst taking them wasn't recommended.  Been off the blood thinners since last September, thankfully.

However, I gradually pushed myself a bit more and thought I'd treat myself to a Bossnut... far more bike/ability than I have but great fun..I now find I can get a good workout. elevate my pulse on some of the steep ramps but pull over and enjoy the surrounding when I want without feeling guilty/lazy.... and I still have targets which are mainly getting down certain trails that for me are still a challenge... a good buzz when I make them (however slowly).

I still go on the road but a lot less frequently although this is probably skewed at the moment with the crap weather.

I use the turbo quite often ... BigRingVR and Zwift...

I've got a couple of Wiliers plus a Spesh Roubaix. Lovely bikes and great to ride. Whilst I don't like all the crap driving it doesn't put me off road riding.

Sorry for the ramble.

As for wearing Baggies, it’s just the uniform for “offroading” they’ll have seen in the comics innit,

Sure there’re a few varying reasons. ‘Modesty’ being one?

And the having of pockets.

That I get five or six crap overtakes on a short 2 mile ride to work

... A crap overtake (eg under 2ft away) is only a "I'll just check this phone message" or a "he/she that's walking on the pavement is a bit tasty" distraction away from being a 6" pass, which in my book IS very nearly

the same as five or six near death experiences

I get what you're saying. But it does feel like the margin is paper thin on a not-infrequent basis ...

Anyway. Back to the OP. My next purchase will be a FS replacement. Have toyed with the idea of a road bike, but a second set of wheels with road slicks for my gravel bike is just fine for the amount of road-only riding I want to do.

Current sales of road bikes may well be on a downward curve. But I rarely see a fellow MTBer / gravelleur out on the trails, but see hordes of roadies out on the tarmac.

I've enjoyed reading every reply so far.

I’d also point out that bike sales are (mathematically) a differential of what’s actually being ridden. i.e. they’re the gradient of the graph not the area under it. They could sell a gravel bike every day for a year, and still not make a dent on the Sunday morning roadie clubrun numbers

He did also say in the shop that maybe a lot of roadies just know what they like and want, and stick to buying their gear and bikes online now, as they've all progressed from being the newbies years ago. But he doesn't personally see that many new ones coming in to the sport - taking road as mtb as two different sports.

I think the improvements in mountain bike design has actually alienated a lot of the casual riders as the stuff you have to ride to get that fun factor on a modern mountain bike is a lot more technical than twenty years ago and it can be quite intimidating for a lot of people who only ride off road occasionally.

This is a good point to be fair, although every time I go to a smooth trail centre loop there are people on 160mm travel or more enduro bikes.

Not buying any more bikes, but might end up selling one of my road bikes for lack of use.

Just really enjoy MTB again now and do running on weeknights instead of road cycling for fitness maintenance.

Wouldn't mind a new "racer" with discs and room for big tyres, but my 2012 bike is still a delight to ride. Changes have been incremental compared to MTBs getting LLS & changing wheel sizes.

The road boom, around the 2012 olympics was a point of stagnation for MTB kit wise in the preceding few years. Trail centres hadn’t really kicked off in force

Trail centres were already on the wane.

This is a good point to be fair, although every time I go to a smooth trail centre loop there are people on 160mm travel or more enduro bikes.

Something like Swinley/QECP/Llandegla blue might be tame and smooth to the riding gods of this forum, and yes a full enduropoon might not be ideal; but it is still a long, long way from the towpath/country park routes of someone that just wants a spot of fresh air with no traffic on a twitchy 80mm travel hardtail. The market for that is going to be vastly bigger than the market that cares about going round a berm.

Trail centres were already on the wane.

really? I was being broad with my definition, I meant any sort of deliberately manufactured trail with features for bike riding. Whether thats a Forestry commission TC, BPW, the B!KE network, etc

I wasn't planning on buying a bike but now I've found out my road bike is fragile I better find some money from somewhere to replace it. Shame really as I'd kinda got attached to it over the last few years and 5 figure mileage. I didn't realise how close to death I'd been on it all that time.

Genuine answer - if I buy another bike then it will be a gravel bike as I don't have one at the moment.

I get what you’re saying. But it does feel like the margin is paper thin on a not-infrequent basis …

I'm assuming that the <2ft pass brigade are just bad drivers an unaware that it's a dick thing to do.

The ones on their phone as as likely to mount the pavement and kill me walking to work, nothing you can do about that level of ****ish behavior.

Love my rigid mtb and when I complete my move back to Weymouth a new FS will complement it but the last few months have seen me doing most miles in my SS hybrid with assorted tyres and I bought one of the Pkanet X carbon evo disc bikes because at £899 it seemed pretty good value. And the amount I've ridden it has made that a good call. Looking forward to some longer days when the spring arrives and the wind drops.

really? I was being broad with my definition, I meant any sort of deliberately manufactured trail with features for bike riding. Whether thats a Forestry commission TC, BPW, the B!KE network, etc

The first generation of trail centres in Wales and Scotland (7stanes) were around 99, 00 I think (maybe earlier for CyB) and you prob would say they were on the wane by 2012, or at least consolidating around a few of the bigger venues. They had a huge impact on MTBing in that decade.

The more bike-park, uplift oriented ones like BPW, Antur etc are the next generation you maybe had in mind for centres that got popular 2012 onwards.

My road bike is nearly 10 years old. It has 5 year old cosmic carbone wheels. It looks brand new and hard to differentiate to a new bike.

The wifes giant anthem is 5 years old and feels horribly dated. Bendy 29 wheels, qr on the back, a double up front and 650mm bars.

This is probably a similar scenario to many people.

Not had a road bike since I was 14. Have got an old steel frame Puch at my parents which I occasionally ride, non-indexed gear levers on the downtube which is fun. I like the speed of them but an mtb (rigid or otherwise) is my cup of tea for messing about on during commutes to/from work.

I’m after a cheap hack CX/gravel commuter hack and a Honda NC750X.

I think the road bike trend has peaked now, especially since Sky have gone, but the ones that have stuck with it will be trying MTB and gravel now for a change or because it’s not getting any better on the roads.

Actually, I think the new PX Bootzipper would be almost perfect for me. But I’d want to see what it was like on the road before I spunked a load of cash on one.

Multiple tyres/rims on a 29er HT.. all we need 🙂

My next bike purchase will be a full suss mid travel 29er, but I've recently bought a new carbon road bike.

Actually my next bike related purchase will probably be some new lycra bib shorts....

I bought a new road bike just before Christmas to replace a 13 year old frame (components updated and upgraded over that time). I think I got my money's worth out of the old one. The new one has to go for a similar timescale.

Remember the weather has been crap recently, very wet and windy so not ideal conditions for road riding especially when you take the condition of the roads into account. I would guess a fair few people have been using Zwift, trainerroad etc too.

I am sure you will see more road bikes when the weather cheers up a bit.

As for my next bike, I am after a new full sus MTB. I just need to decide what.

This morning's commute was the first time I'd seen a roadie group out in ages in the week.

I had a period off last year due to a hand injury. I'd been mostly road cycling, but struggled to get into it again; there was always something to get in the way of a 3 hour cycle

So I started on the MTB again (more of a work out in 1 hour than 3 on the road), realised the Ridgeway and by-ways are now basically empty of cyclists again (everyone's been road cycling around us since 2012). Then I bought a proper old hard-tail. No suspension. Steel. Just like the old days. And it's great. I love it again. Can't wait till the summer when I can do the slow gentle climb from Streatley, have a quick half in the Bell, and still be back in an hour

But it has made me realise you don't need the latest or greatest to have fun on the bike. You just need a bike, and a trail, and you're away

Re. trail centres, as Garry said the XC loops have mostly been in a form of managed decline the last decade, and with the "rise of enduro" people are more interested in off-piste lines in the woods - plus I think more people are heading out into the proper hills than 10 years ago.

The ones on their phone as as likely to mount the pavement and kill me walking to work

No they're not, but I think you knew that already.

I used to ride mostly on road, with a few trips on rough tracks with my touring bike. But a few years ago I bought a cyclocross bike and I suddenly realised how much nicer it is riding on the bridleways - no cars! A year later I bought a cheap hardtail mountain bike and ventured onto rougher tracks. Cycling UK has also being working on getting better access to the rights of way network for cyclists - the North Downs Way riders route for example. A Cycling UK survey found that there is a huge desire to ride off-road along bridleways and byways. I've got no interest in spending sh*tloads of dosh on bike kit, but I'm enjoying cycling more than ever -- both on- and off-road -- and love exploring the countryside on my doorstep.

Re. trail centres, as Garry said the XC loops have mostly been in a form of managed decline the last decade

Is there any quantifiable evidence to show this supposed trend? My experience (having been visting trail centres for well over 20 years) is that they are still absolutely packed on a weekend. A good thing, I must add.

I was meaning more in terms of creating new (XC) trail centres and investment in maintenance.

But in terms of popularity my experience has been that some (Llandegla, Glentress, CyB, Whinlatter) can still be dead busy while others (Afan springs to mind) are way quieter than in the past.

I inherited a road bike (1955 Dawes Debonair) in the early 80s, joined a club and rode it lots until a) stupid drivers and b) working in a bike shop, persuaded me to buy an MTB (1986 Rockhopper). Have had a number of MTBs since then. Avoided road riding until the 2012 Olympics 'effect', bought a steel Audax bike (Dawes Sportif Elite) and got some miles in. Great on a quiet road or when light touring but never really happy due to the risk from passing traffic. I live in the west of Scotland and have recently retired. I've just plumped for a gravel bike (PX Tempest). I can now mix n match Sustrans / Argyll Forestry Roads / quiet singletrack roads without the terrain or distance limitations of either a road bike or MTB. It truly is perfect for the type of riding I have always wanted to do. Could probably sell most of my other bikes now.

I can now mix n match Sustrans / Argyll Forestry Roads / quiet singletrack roads

Funny, that's where a lot of my intended gravel weekends are headed, Arrochar, Inveraray, Glen Etive, Lochgilphead areas. Lots of stuff that was just a bit too tedious on the MTB but not rideable on the road bike.

Also some big coastal loops in Morvern that I'm really looking forward to, proper terra incognita for me

Multiple tyres/rims on a 29er HT.. all we need 🙂

So many things wrong with that, I'm going to 100% presume or hope you are joking.

So many things wrong with that, I’m going to 100% presume or hope you are joking

Presume away, I'm planning on a 140km sportive in it in Belgium

My life as a cyclist has oscillated between road and MTB, like most people I suspect. I started in the early MTB days in the late 80s, then got into time trialling as a student, then went back to MTB in the early 2000s. After getting bored loading my MTB into a car to ride anywhere interesting, I switched back to the road in about 2009, and have been a keen club roadie ever since.

However I now have young kids, so have discovered the joy of riding with them off road. There's no way I'd take an 8 and 5 year old out on the roads of the South East, after all. That led to the purchase of a Kinesis gravel bike and dusting off my old 2004 Santa Cruz, and now I'm looking at buying a Bird Aether for blasting around Swinley and other trail centres with the kids, or with my new found fellow MTBing dads. I'll still get out on the road once a week though!

Is there any quantifiable evidence to show this supposed trend? My experience (having been visting trail centres for well over 20 years) is that they are still absolutely packed on a weekend. A good thing, I must add.

Depends which ones you look at.

Swinley seems to get smoother each time they empty the car park meter.

Glentress blue and red used to be as smooth as a BMX track when I first visited in 2013 ish (admittedly I think they had just had a load of funding to do some maintenance) last time I went it was a lot rougher, I couldn't even follow the trail on some sections it just widened out into the trees!

Cannock has always been just about maintained, there's always erosion, but every time I've been it's been much the same.

Dunno if it's just that they're busier, but not quite self sustaining, or if the average bike is no longer a hardtail so people are less bothered by bumpy trails.

So many things wrong with that, I’m going to 100% presume or hope you are joking.

It was riding my Trek Superfly with slick 40s on it that convinced me that gravel was a goid idea, raced 2 seasins of CX on it too.

Would perhaps still be using it but couldn't get comfortable on flat bars any more, and got fed up with squealing discs in wet weather.

If I was forced to cut back to one bike I'd probably be keeping the Superfly, certainly the most versatile.

I’m planning on a 140km sportive in it in Belgium

Well the word 'sportive' says a lot - about your current riding style, whatever about your desires and ambitions that I'm not sure. You'll be able to complete it and should comfortable provided it's set up properly for you, but I'd get frustrated at the gears spinning out, and annoyed at the riding position on the descents - in fact the riding position in most areas really. That's just naming two of the issues.

I do ride my 29er on the road for short spins, 1 hour max... but that's only if its extremely bad weather or for a recovery spin or something.

Giant Revolt looks like fun

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/bikes-revolt-advanced-2020

Well the word ‘sportive’ says a lot – about your current riding style, whatever about your desires and ambitions that I’m not sure. You’ll be able to complete it and should comfortable provided it’s set up properly for you, but I’d get frustrated at the gears spinning out, and annoyed at the riding position on the descents – in fact the riding position in most areas really. That’s just naming two of the issues.

I do ride my 29er on the road for short spins, 1 hour max… but that’s only if its extremely bad weather or for a recovery spin or something

Have we gone straight for willy waving and I'm better than you already.

You crack on mate, you are correct.

I bought a new road bike just before Christmas to replace a 13 year old frame (components updated and upgraded over that time). I think I got my money’s worth out of the old one. The new one has to go for a similar timescale.

Mines now 16 years old, and was an old model then, think it actually dates back to the 90's!

Pro's and cons though, in my reluctance to not make a mistake in buying a new one I've been dithering on a new oen since the CAAD10, now decided on a SystemSix ultegra, as long as there's a <£2.5k 56cm one in the sales next year, there wasn't this year and it'll take me 12 months to save that much anyway.

Well the word ‘sportive’ says a lot – about your current riding style, whatever about your desires and ambitions that I’m not sure. You’ll be able to complete it and should comfortable provided it’s set up properly for you, but I’d get frustrated at the gears spinning out, and annoyed at the riding position on the descents – in fact the riding position in most areas really. That’s just naming two of the issues.

There's a whole (several?) threads of Weeksy buying then selling a CX bike, go dig one up. It doesn't necessarily make sense, but you won't change his mind!

I think I've had 3 CX bikes. 3 road bikes.

Hated them all. Longest I owned a CX one was 7 days, shortest was 15 hours

Still debate buying one for indoors

I did a road ride today, on my 160mm bike running 2.5s. it wasn't fast. Lol

I fall directly into the category the OP described.....

I am a "roadie" at heart, having been a serious racer in my teens (regional RR champ, national squad, etc) and a keen road cyclist for all the 35 years since.....

Mixed in to those 35 years has been plenty of MTB'ing - whether it was as a winter alternative to the orad, riding with the kids as they were growing up, a bit of fun at the trail centre, etc..

But now, in the past 12 months, I've gone the other way.

I have a very nice custom built stainless Reilly road bike that is hanging in the attic, and have sold all my other road bikes.

I have three MTB's hanging on the wall in the garage, which all get used, every week - two 26ers (an Orange 5 and a Nicolai Helius) and a carbon 29er hardtail Cannondale FSi.

If I buy another bike, it'll be a short travel 29er.

And all this because:

The roads are in a shit state where I live
Drivers have a death wish against cyclists - almost every ride I see "close calls" and many of them are deliberate attempts to intimidate cyclists - why? I have no idea but I've had enough of it.

I'm loving riding my MTB(s) and just riding for fitness in the great outdoors!

Hated them all. Longest I owned a CX one was 7 days, shortest was 15 hours

Lol! I've rarely liked a bike straight away, they all feel 'wrong' at first, if I got rid of any bike that didn't feel right straight away then I wouldn't have any bikes...