Can I make an MTB into a road racing bike?

[Beans]

I'm a funny shape, long body with short legs. Visit a good road shop and they will measure you up and make suggestions. Emma Pooley is knee high to a grasshopper and she has a road bike off the peg (she is rather efficient on it too!). Cavendish aint exactly the jolly green giant either! Neither have custom frames - standard sizes with custom bits

As long as you have longish arms too, then from what I understand you probably have the ultimate bodyshape for a good racing position.

Long torso & arms lets you get well horizontal (aero) and use very deep drops comfortably. its much easier to find road frames with a longet tope tube and shorter seatube (most TT frames are especially like that). Small road frames often seem to cutt off at 54cm in terms of top tube, and then they just make a shorter seat tube in the smaller size. Like 50cm ST/54cm TT.

If you have ever spent much time in the weight room (as track cyclists do) you will find that your kind of body shape also helps create optimal positioninf for weightlifting exercises too.

While someone like me has really it really awkward.

 

[Russell]

Sounds to me like you just need to get a professional fitting done on a proper road bike and give yourself chance to get used to the position.

If you can ride an mtb comfortably, there is absolutely no reason why a suitably sized road bike won't fit you with changes to the stem/post/bars etc or even crank length.

 

[Beans]

Im pretty sure I need a custom frame to get a good road bike position.

A very short top tube, seating well behind the bottom bracket, and a 650c front wheel to avoid the toe overlap. it would be allkinds of ugly, not a like a lopro at all, as I would still need the bars fairly high.

 

[FairfaxPat]

I have been using my old Funk as a road bike for years-works great and I get strange looks and comments from roadies.

 

[cows_in_cars]

Although at the other end of the scale height wise, I can appreciate were you are coming from, I have always found my MTB's much easier to ride than my road bikes. Think there is a degree of just being more used to riding a mountain bike and it just suiting me better, I have noticed that my speed for given effort is often higher on my MTB than the road bike. I also find road bars annoyingly narrow for climbing! Again think it's what you are used to.

If I were you I would just stick some slick tyres on your wheels, or if you have disc brakes get a set of 700c rims on disc hubs or 29er wheels and just leave the bars as flats. Unless your racing on the road don't really see the point of going to all the trouble of setting a bike thats not designed to take drops up with them. A flat bar and bar ends will do just fine.

Before I had a road bike I used to train on a my MTB with slicks never found it much of a problem keeping up, yes it will be slower than a pure road bike but the difference will be small esp if your more comfortable.

 

[Ally]

Would be well worth getting a proper fitting and see what your options are.

A mountain bike will never roll as well as a 700c bike, but you'll get pretty close with good slicks.

If you are really into road cycling, or you do get into it and option for the future might be a custom frame. You can have fun experimenting with MTB frames though.

 

[keithb]

MTBs make great road bikes...

 

[Jones]

You can do it but its never going to have a shorter top tube than a small road frame :? even something like a 14" kona has a top tube of 54.5cm.

I'm the same height and a little T-Rex in proportions so I do have to ride a 'small' in most manufacturers frames but I can get a good position. There are plenty of frames out there with shorter top tubes than 54cm traditional and compact.

Planet X bikes fit me really well and seem to have a high front end which helps, Condor frames come in a 52cm square frame which also fits me well and I've always loved DeRosa frames, their a little more racy with a lower front end but really compact with short top tubes

The DeRosa is set up as I rode it, the Planet X had only just been built up so the seatpost is probably too high but the contact points are much shorter than I could get with 99% of MTB frames.

Their all sold now but the DeRosa in particular was very short in the top tube, I think it was about 51cm.

 

[WD Pro]

I have 1.4 slicks (look thinner though), a small cassette and a 50t on the Marin - Its never going to be as good as a road bike though ...

WD

 

[jimo746]

years ago I used to do the local wednesday night 10mile time-trial on my mtb fitted with slicks and tri-bars, and I thought it was pretty good... until one day I borrowed a 700c bike to try it.... and blew my previous time out of the water

mtb's are fine on the roads for commuting or even training, but if you're half serious about road riding then you really do need to get a road bike.

I'd suggest going to a proper roadie bike shop and getting fitted and measured for a bike, then you will know where you stand. Also you may want to consider some frames aimed more at women, as they may suit you better (and most of them don't look as ghey as you might think).