how does climbing compare MTB vs Road bikes?

always wondered, having never ever ridden a road bike up some of the toughest peak roads etc…..would i notice a huge difference in the ease of the climb? im quite a fit guy, in terms of off road xc climbing etc, its just sometimes when riding up the peak on off road routes, i have to tag on some uber road climbs to get to the fun stuff, and often get passed by roadies….are they likely to be 10x fitter than me, or does the road bike make it that much easier?? obviously weight helps of the bikes, but gearing etc my mate seemed to think its tougher on a road bike than a mtb?

Might just be me but I find road climbing more difficult than mtb, and making the effort on the road bike has made off road climbing easier 😛

I find it tougher on a road bike (might just be my gears though)

I reckon I’m quicker uphill on my rd bike though 😐

I think a road bike is tougher but quicker.

pretty much depends on gearing.

Even with a compact chainset and a 25 or 28 rear cog you’re turning a much bigger gear on a road bike than you might on an mtb.

riding Singlespeed prepares you quite well for road bike climbing, ime.

interesting, sounds like my mate was talking sense for once then 🙂

i know you can just sat back on your mtb like an armchair spinning in the easiest gears – but i only use middle ring on a 32 9 speed cassette, which is tough enough…..

guess the weight of the road bike allows you to get there quicker but a bit more punishing…..if thats the case then some of the chaps that flew past me the other day must have been mega mega fit! scary to think im quite fit out of the xc group i ride with (off road climbing)….be like a car passing me if the TDF riders passed id guess! crazy!

roadbike is both easier and faster* as you dont have to do anything but pedal – you want to stand up just stand up and pedal. No technique or traction issues

I would take on a pro rider up hill on the road if I get a road bike and they get the orange 5

* it never gets easier it just gets faster

I find climbing on a road bike much easier than on a mountain bike, dunno why. I find the positioning on the road bike more natural somehow, on uphill stuff at least.

I would take on a pro rider up hill on the road if I get a road bike and they get the orange 5

balls, you’d knock them off when you are weaving all over the place 😀

😆

I struggle to climb unless going at least 9-10mph (I need the momentum)

last thing you want to do is go really slow and wobbly

I’ve been riding road bikes for only a year, but mountain bike for 25yrs. if the road is fairly slack angled, 10% then the road bike is much faster. if the road is steep, theres some 25-30% unclassified roads around here, then you’d be better off with the lower gearing & smaller wheels of the mtb, despite the road bike being significantly lighter.

I’ve found the biggest training benefit of road bikes is theres never an excuse to stop pedalling. on a mtb its amazing how much freewheeling & recovery you have compared to road riding.

Easier on road, no traction issues, body position off-road can make or break a steep climb, and standing up is not always possible.

I use a 33/32 combo on my mtb (with 26inch wheels). Its a much more spinny gear than a 34/27 on 700c wheels. But climbing stnading on an mtb feels wierd/wrong after riding a road bike.

but i only use middle ring on a 32 9 speed cassette, which is tough enough…..

That’s a 1:1 gear. The easiest gear with a standard chainset on a road bike with a 12-25 cassette (not unreasonable, it’s what I run), is 1:1.56, almost identical to your big ring and one down from easiest on the cassette. Plus wheels are bigger so equivalent gearing is harder.

So, try the climbs in your big ring and one down from the bottom of the block, it’ll be a fair bit harder, but you’ll go quicker 🙂

IMO climbing on the road isn’t necessarily harder, but it is far faster, which can make it harder.

Road is easier technically, as unless you’re going up the Angliru or similar you never lose traction. It’s harder physically – usually – as roads are of a more constant gradient, with less dips in the middle when you can get your breath back.

try the climbs in your big ring and one down from the bottom of the block,

on very steep off road in good conditions it might be possible standing up, I doubt it seated though.

Nicer position on my road bike for long climbs. Also one you have speed its easier to maintain the speed on a road bike.

IME quicker but tougher on the road bike.

If thats the case then some of the chaps that flew past me the other day must have been mega mega fit!

In recent road races I’ve been climbing short ish hills at 18-20mph, and I’m not fast compared to the racers/other roadies…the speed they can ride and climb at is amazing!

Road “fit” and MTB “fit” are totally different!

Road bikes are so stiff, so all your effort is going into the pedals, so that respect yes road bikes are easier to get up hills.

Also, as Junkyard says. It never gets easier, it just gets faster 😀

yes road bikes are faster on the road, even up hill. Its not just weight: skinny tyres, bigger wheels, geometry, even aerodynamics.

on very steep off road in good conditions it might be possible standing up, I doubt it seated though

1) We’re talking about riding on the road on an MTB vs a road bike though, not riding off road vs on road, aren’t we!?

2) How’s the standing/seating comment relevant, it’s about comparative effort of two style of bike, don’t need to bring other variables in! Ones ability to climb in the saddle is rather dependant on your leg strength anyway, sure there are climbs some could do seated in the big ring that would have others out of the saddle in the granny!

obviously weight helps of the bikes, but gearing etc my mate seemed to think its tougher on a road bike than a mtb?

Position and geometry. Road bikes are designed to climb, you can use your biceps by climbing with your hands on the hoods.
MTBs are generally more laid back, suspension will be bouncing around and unless you’ve got bar ends you’ll be using your weaker triceps due to the hand position.

Gearing doesn’t really come into it that much. A mistake that a lot of people make is to try and spin up everything on a road bike, similar to how they’d climb on a MTB – you actually need to be putting a bit of force into it on the road.

Are right, my mistake, in which case I haven’t got a clue.

It depends on what your used to, I find I am more ‘at home’ climbing on a mtb unless I have been riding the road bike a lot then it changes.
A road bike will almost always be easier (as long as you have the fitness to cope with the gearing), so in regards to the OP’s question are they 10x fitter? Probably not, a road bike will be quicker (slick tyres and weight), but a fitter rider will usually still out climb you what ever bike you put them on (with in reason).

on a mtb its amazing how much freewheeling & recovery you have compared to road riding.

That surely depends on the terrain you are riding – if you choose a route with gradients similair to the max you’d see on a road then you can pedal just as relentlessly as you would on a road bike.

TurnerGuy – Member
on a mtb its amazing how much freewheeling & recovery you have compared to road riding.
That surely depends on the terrain you are riding – if you choose a route with gradients similair to the max you’d see on a road then you can pedal just as relentlessly as you would on a road bike.

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Yes, completely. A bit OT but, you can spend a lot of time free wheeling on the road, esp if your riding in a bunch plus recovery time on a mountain bike is I would say shorter as you need have to concentrate more when descending. Although it does depend totally on how you ride, you can stop at the top of every hill and recover or just keep going whether off or on road.
Seems to be this idea that floats about that road riding is harder than MTBing, personally it’s only because road riders tend to rider harder and more fitness focused, where as MTB riding tends to be more laid back, but either can be hard or easy just depends on how fast you want to ride.
Think I am right in saying that scientifically xc mountain bike racing is only second to cross country skiing in terms of effort required…but maybe wrong.

That surely depends on the terrain you are riding – if you choose a route with gradients similair to the max you’d see on a road then you can pedal just as relentlessly as you would on a road bike.

But can you really pick an off road route that is comparable? off road over roots, rocks etc you naturally ease off, on the road you just keep on pedaling.

I thought road hills would be a breeze before i got my road bike then i was surprised how hard they were – probably due to gearing and not using a compact. One thing though you will notice is how much fitter you will be on your MTB after a period of road riding.

Road riding isnt easy i can assure you.

Road riding isnt easy i can assure you.

you probably mean that it doesn’t have to be easy.

you sure see a lot of fat middle aged riders out having a mid-life crisis with all the gear on but effectively just cruising along thinking they are getting some meaningful exercise.

I would say it is not so easy to do the same on a mountain bike, the minimum level of exertion must be more imho.

off road over roots, rocks etc you naturally ease off, on the road you just keep on pedaling.

See, I’d argue that I actualy put more effort in over roots/rocks etc. Youve got the pedal power to get you up a gradient. Then there’s the aditional power required to lift the bike up over the roots/rocks/etc, then there’s the aditional power required to move the bike arround with your upper body.

To put that in a practical example, you can ride up a hill easily, but you invariably bail at the technical bits as you just dont have the strength/skill to get through them.

I usualy find when I’m fitter than normal after a few months on a bike my uphill speed isn’t nececeraly any quicker, I just have more in reserve in the tank to get through the difficult bits.

I’d think the position and set up on a road bike would make it quicker, but not necessarily easier. You’ve still got to get all the weight up the hill after all!

A lower rolling resistance, a more effective body position and a lighter stiffer frame would certainly make climbing hills easier/faster (delete as appropriate!)

I couldn’t tell you which is more difficult, they’re different and I would imagine that different people with different strengths will give different responses.

I think its a state of mind. I’ve ridden with roadies, and mtbers, and folk who blend the two. On a road ride, it almost seems that the point is to get your ‘burn’ on and continue pushing until the end. Whilst some mtb rides are like that (and it seems, to me, the rides that are like this are often the rides lead by folk who ride both) but mostly they’re more relaxed, grinding up the hills but not physically exerting yourself so much.

With MTBing you need a certian level of concentration, I’d say way more than you need for road riding on quiet roads (in city is a bit different) – therefore the level to which you can push yourself is lower (as I certainly can’t concentrate\stay alert when I’m pushing myself 100%)..

people stop less often (if at all) for cake when on road climbs?

See, I’d argue that I actualy put more effort in over roots/rocks etc. Youve got the pedal power to get you up a gradient. Then there’s the aditional power required to lift the bike up over the roots/rocks/etc, then there’s the aditional power required to move the bike arround with your upper body.

To put that in a practical example, you can ride up a hill easily, but you invariably bail at the technical bits as you just dont have the strength/skill to get through them.

TINAS,

from my experience i will hit the technical section hard, then recover on the bit afterwards. On the road, my max won’t be as great but then i don’t have to recover either.

I tend to think of MTB as a serious of sprints, whilst the road is about keeping a pace.

What i also notice is that if i spend time on a road bike i loose the punch i get from riding the mountain bike, but i can recover faster and keep a higher tempo.

It’s a tricky one to be fair, I find that on a road bike you just pedal all the time, even when descending it’s good to keep your legs spinning. But it’s more of a constant effort.

On a MTB there’s lost of short sharp efforts, that is unless there’s epic climbs on the route.

All of this is based wholly upon my rubbish opinions

A road bike will always be quicker on the road than a mtb on the road. Suppose its bike weight, gearing, drag etc. Tend to also be out of the saddle more, due to gearing on the roadie. On a 60min road loop I’m around 12min quicker on my road bike than on my scott scale.

cheers guys – some interesting points and thoughts! makes it all alot clearer, and simply not as easy as i thought it was going to be…..one thing i guess i can assure myself other than hills aside for climbing, a road bike will alot quicker on semi flat/flat roads than a mtb….thinking about where i actually got overtaken at speed last night, it wasnt on the climb itself (sure the guy was catching me) but when it evened out, thats when he flew past, and it still felt pretty hard going even though it was evening out….

tonight i had a tough tough challenge…on a lovely evening just as i got to the best cheeky off road stuff, my bloody rear mech cable snapped right at the deraileur, frayed and snapped 🙁 so i was stuck in 9th cog for the rest of 1500ft of climbing…..some of the hills on the road were absolutly solid, couldnt sit, as legs simply didnt have power to turn in the gear, and standing meant i really had to push it but it was too tough….if thats what some of the road gearing is like, then no wonder some of these guys are as fit as can be, if i repped what i did tonight in that gearing id have thighs like chris hoys in no time at all ……well, more like his ankles i suppose

. Plus wheels are bigger so equivalent gearing is harder

More or less the same size?