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- Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!torn!watserv2.uwaterloo.ca!maxwell.uwaterloo.ca!praetzel
- From: praetzel@maxwell.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Praetzel)
- Subject: Re: MTBs as racers
- Message-ID: <BzoG6w.Jx2@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>
- Sender: news@watserv2.uwaterloo.ca
- Organization: University of Waterloo
- References: <20DEC199213163969@pavo.concordia.ca> <1992Dec22.140349.26102@einoed.in-berlin.de>
- Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 20:13:43 GMT
- Lines: 25
-
- In article <1992Dec22.140349.26102@einoed.in-berlin.de> alh@einoed.in-berlin.de (Adrian Le Hanne) writes:
- >I'm in the process of building up a '93 'Dale frame as a 'road bike'. I will
- >using spare parts that i have lying around here (such as XT brakes/levers,
- >a Campy/XT wheel set, Litespeed stem etc.) Together with an Scott AT2-LF
- >bar (looks like an MTB bar with steer horns) and a 50-11 gear it will give
- >me the opportunity to ride with roadies (except the air resistance maybe).
-
- I just used normal drop bars on my bike. I started with a 48 - 12 high gear
- and that was plenty. Going to a 52 did not really help much. Heck I never
- got into the 12t that much. Most races only average 40 km/h or so anyway.
- The only difference between such a setup is weight. With drop bars and a
- long stem you can get into the same pedal relationship. The handling will
- be different but I do not beleive for one minuite that it would hinder a
- rider. The weight difference between my MTB and your average SL frame was
- about 4 lb. Again not much difference. It may matter if you are not strong
- enough to hold onto the pack on hills but then I would lead them up and still
- be at the back when we crested.
- In short there is no reason why you can't road race, TT and crit race a MTB
- after changing the bars, wheels (tires and gears). Heck I did for 1.5 years
- before I got my Klein. I am not any faster now, nor more comfortable. The
- only thing is that I don't have to go thru the 1 hour ritual of converting the
- bike. But then my Klein is 7 lb lighter than the road bike and that makes a
- big difference when I lift it into my trunk or bunny hop Dave Harvy whenever
- that Cat 3 turkey crashes in front of me.
- - Eric
-