any of you guys got a roadie as well as mtb? and do you know what your average speed on the road (not dirt) is on both?

/waits expectantly for all the willy waving to commence…

7 mph offroad 15 mph on road

(very limp willy waving here)

It's times like these that we'll miss smee/glupton/zoo turd

if its relatively flat and going at a moderate pace then about 18mph compared to about 15mph (thats both on roads)

mtb 60/70% of road bike average speed. Diplomatic willy wave.

Road speed can vary lots, but I guess you can get an average.

I can do (or could) a cross country route of 27 miles in 1:45. On the other hand, 30 miles in the Peak District is a killer, and takes all day.

All depends on the route, conditions etc. But typically road is 15-20mph and mtb 7-11mph.I've got a mtb route which I use for time trials to test my fitness ( I'd say it is a proper mtb ride, all offroad hills etc ). My best average speed on that was 13.1 mph but those days are long gone.

When I used to tour I used to work on 15-16 mph. Rigid mtb with slicks and rear panniers.

MTB club runs approx 10MPH, (moving average, others we like to wait for slower riders to catch up)
Roadie club runs approx 16MPH, which is a very social pace.

Parksie's estimate I would say is a good one.

15mph on the road in the Peak District. Off road I have absolutely no idea, but it is a lot slower (obviously)

Depends on a lot of factors. But somewhere between 0 and 60mph for both.

Meh – i get there when i get there. The quicker it's over the shorter the fun.

An utterly meaningless comparison in general.

I fyou read the OPs question I think he was looking for an average spped comparision between a road bike and an mtb,on road?

On the road I'm one to two mph slower on the mtb with slicks doing the same 15m loop, which was about five / ten mins difference.

One road run I did a few times on both bikes years ago was 1hr 15 mins on the road bike and 1 hr 30 mins on the MTB thats what – 18% difference?

ta very much

There's quite a bit of variation between "road bikes". A light racer on 23mm tyres will be a lot faster than a tourer running 32mm.

I've got both and found that with some 1" high pressure slicks on an MTB there is virtually no difference.

If you stick a 48/36/26 chainset on there you'll have enough gears too, just depends on how much customizing you want to do of the MTB.

biggest problem is lack of really fast MTB slick tyres. as far as i can tell you've got
– specialized all condition pro 26*1"
– continental gatorskin 26* 1.25"
– continental grand prix 26 * 1"

anyone know of any others?? Sport Contacts seem to be quite a bit heavier due to all the puncture protection.

It's times like these that we'll miss smee/glupton/zoo turd

What happened to him then? Is there a link to the all important thread? Sorry I have been away.

waits expectantly for all the willy waving to commence…

You called?

Have averaged ~23mph on the MTB with full off-road setup, though semi-slick tyres rather than heavy knobblies. Could average 25mph on the same course on a road bike.

There are all sorts of variables though – road bike in that instance was full TT setup, and I did most of the MTB ride in a low "pretend tri bar" tuck. At those sort of speeds aero makes a big difference – even at 15mph if you're sitting upright with big wide risers then you'll have a lot more drag compared to getting down into a bit of a tuck. The other important factor is tyres – more significant difference between MTB tyres than roadie ones. Some MTB tyres have a lot more drag.

as a rule of thumb for route planning I work on about 10km/h for mountain biking and 20 to 25km/h for road. Thats for riding here in North Wales.

A non stop lap of the marin takes a reasonably fit rider just under 2hrs, a fast rider can do it in 1:30 ish and apparently there are times in the 1:15's but this is really really fast.

Average speeds depends on so many things – overall distance, weather, route knowledge, ride ethos, height gain, trail / road surface, average group fitness, slowest rider fitness etc etc etc

If you stick a 48/36/26 chainset on there you'll have enough gears too

44/11 is actually plenty high enough to average high speeds – that's all I had on for the ride I mentioned above, and I can't remember spinning out that much, particularly given the worse position on an MTB means the top speed is more limited and there is also more aero advantage in going for a non-pedalling tuck.

biggest problem is lack of really fast MTB slick tyres. as far as i can tell you've got
– specialized all condition pro 26*1"
– continental gatorskin 26* 1.25"
– continental grand prix 26 * 1"

anyone know of any others??
Anything slick will make relatively little real world difference. Not really sure why it's a problem that there aren't more options anyway – just pick one of those! Conti GPs probably nominally the quickest, along with Huthinson Top Slick. Other options are Schwalbe Marathon Slick and Racer.

A far more meaningful comparison

My commute takes 20 minutes on the SS road bike.
It takes 30 minutes on the winter-tyred, geared mountain bike.

Don't know average speed because I hate maths and there's all the stop start traffic light rubbish, but commute is about 7 miles.

But whatever, I'm much, much slower on the mountain bike.

I've done some of my quickest commutes (48mins for 15miles 1200ft ascending) on a MTB with slicks (Conti 1" GP3000's) but I'm sure that's much more to do with my fitness at the time rather than the bike. I've now got a drop handlebar'd bike for commuting and it feels faster due to the more aerodynamic riding position although my times (60mins for the same ride)don't show it due to me being ten years older. 😥

Im smelling a certain substance in the air for the chap who claims he can maintain a 23mph average on road on an mtb.

uk road RACES on full on carbon race bikles etc average 25mph ish over the course. by your reckoning you'd only be just out the back of the group!

IMO

Road flat – can maintain 20mph average (but it hurts and makes you sweat)
Road Peaks – 15 to 16 mph average.

MTB dry 10-12mph average
MTB wet and sloppy 8-10mph average.

Anyone that claims a road bike and an MTB with slicks on the road can maintain the same consistent pace is talking out of their rear parts.

On the road, MTB with slicks over 17 miles (commute, with a mate for competition/pushing) – my best average was 18.6mph, but more normally was 17.5ish.
Not done too many road rides on the new road bike but I seem to be able to average around 22mph, but I've not tried the same course so it's hardly scientific. I really didn't expect to see such a difference, personally.

I think a lot of people have had trouble understanding the original post, the clue is in the words "not dirt". 🙄

do you know what your average speed on the road (not dirt) is on both?

about 15-30% slower on MTB depedning on set up and terrain.
Sole averages around 16-20 mph road and 12- 16 MTB slicks mph depending on terrain /distance.
Personally any road distance over about 7 miles is done on a road bike

commute on raod bike 23mm 23mins
commute on cross bike 32mm sort of knobblies witha pannier 27 ish
commute on mtb with a back pack 2.1 advantages 30-33ish
commute mtb with bob trailer 35-37 ish

have not done it on theroad biek for a while so it should be alittle quicker than that about 21-22 now hpe that helps wind makes a much bigger difference on the the mtb to times

wind makes a much bigger difference on the the mtb to times

Seems to, yes. Could add 25% onto my commute times with a headwind of 15mph.

DezB – good graph 😆 but shame it can't be applied to everyone's commute! I tried commuting in Glasgow by MTB, canal towpaths are boring and flat, I'd rather get to work faster!

ah, take your point dibbs.

i still stand by my comment that anyone that claims there is no diff between a road bike and a slicked up mtb on the road is talking tosh.

and road bikes off road are rubbish. fact.

On a level tarmac road, no wind, I try to keep my computer reading 19/20K/h on the mountain bike but try to keep it at 26/28 on the road bike

C

On a level tarmac road, no wind, I try to keep my computer reading 19/20K/h on the mountain bike but try to keep it at 26/28 on the road bike

C

Im smelling a certain substance in the air for the chap who claims he can maintain a 23mph average on road on an mtb.

Sweat? Adrenaline? Testosterone? I'd have thought the implication was obvious – was done in a 10 mile time trial over a measured course, so I'm pretty confident about the accuracy.

uk road RACES on full on carbon race bikles etc average 25mph ish over the course. by your reckoning you'd only be just out the back of the group!

I'm guessing you've never actually done a road race? The ones I've competed in at a lower level go rather faster than that, at least for sustained bursts – if they average less that's only because they spend some of the time pootling round. Not surprising given those at the front pushing the pace can generally all manage at least 25 or 26mph on their own for a time trial. Having said that, at the time I did that ride on my MTB I'm fairly confident I could have stayed in the pack at a road race riding it.

Anyone that claims a road bike and an MTB with slicks on the road can maintain the same consistent pace is talking out of their rear parts.

Maybe you should have a chat with these two and point out to them they're doing it all wrong

as ive got a roadie type bike and an mtb, why would i ride the mtb on the road?

uk road RACES on full on carbon race bikles etc average 25mph ish over the course.

Christ, I'm not far off winning some road races, maybe I should compete 😆 . In all seriousness though, I've no idea about competition road speeds, but I was chatting to an pro racer (when I worked in a bike shop) and he confidently told me I'd need to be averaging 30-32mph to be anywhere near the top of the field on short-ish TTs, but that you could fairly easily fall into the rear of the group as there is a large spread.

DezB – good graph but shame it can't be applied to everyone's commute! I tried commuting in Glasgow by MTB, canal towpaths are boring and flat, I'd rather get to work faster!

I guess I didn't read the OP properly either – cos my commute is no fun on an MTB either! I'll save it for another thread 🙂