Smooth Tires for MTB or "Okay-ish" Road bike?

Hi Everyone -

Trying to figure out my bike situation. Right now I ride a specialized hardrock MTB. (Alum frame but still heavy) I'm only getting about 13-14 mph on the top gears, so I'm trying to decide if I should just get smooth tires put on the MTB (anyone have a cost guess on that one if a LBS does it for me?) or if I should get an okay-ish road bike. I'm currently looking at the MOTOBECANE vent noir at just under $700.

Am I better off investing in the road bike or should I wait until I have a better feel for Tris and just get some tires for now?

I'm currently signed up for a July Sprint and Aug Oly.

Ok, I did this for the longest time. I had a hardtail mtn bike when I first started riding. You can put city tires on it on your own, any bike shop will have them. The tires aren't THAT thin but they're better than riding on knobbies if you're doing street riding.

You will have weight and gear challenges but I could sometimes average 16-17mph for centuries. To be honest, it wasn't *that* bad and sometimes I miss the fact that it felt like a tank and I could go over anything.

When I did the tri's last year, I saw all sorts of bikes. I passed someone on a Cervelo and I got passed by someone on a mtn bike. I think you can play with your bike enough to make it functional and then if 'n you want a road bike, go for it.

One more thing I can mention. I'm not sure how to measure my current MTB, but I'm almost positive the frame is too big for me. I don't have basically any clearance over the bar when I know you're supposed to have an inch or so.

At the time it wasn't a big deal because it was just a out on a Saturday afternoon type of bike and was on super-clearance and was the only size they had. I've ridden as much as 28 miles on it, but my hands get really numb despite using gel gloves.

So tossing in that factor... do you think it's a bad idea to just switch out the tires? I guess I'm tempted to get a road bike because I know it will fit better, but I'm just hesitant to spend that much $$$. But given my 25 mile bike ride in the Oly I'm wondering if it would be silly to ride/spend $ on my current bike that I know will cause me hand comfort issues.

It might be a good idea to go with the tires and also get some help with bike fit adjustments. I'm thinking that this will give you more time to research road bikes and figure out what you really want and what you can afford.

I have a 2001 Specialized Rockhopper set up for commuting (35 mile round trip on roads) which is as roadiefied as possible: slick 1.3 tyres, rigid forks, road cassette (11-23) but it is still basically a tank in comparison to my road bike. It was always a heavy bike but I rode it on the road for a few years (without road gearing) with no problems until I bought a road bike. The road bike goes faster for less effort and is a joy to ride on the road (its a cheap roadie as well), I hate having to ride the Spesh for any length of time these days on the road, there is just someting about the thing that makes it feel like "supertanker" :). I use it in the depths of winter for commuting but am always wishing I was on the roadie (and I'm an MTBer first and foremost). I always feel more knackered after riding the Spesh to work than the road bike because I have to work so hard to keep it up to speed, the road bike is much easier.

My Spesh has no clearance for me which is not a problem on the road (its far too big a frame for me offroad), I have a sloping frame roadie to get some clearance as both my current MTB frames are big on clearance. A road bike will feel long too though my roadbike has a much shorter top tube than my Specialized tank.

My advice is to try the slick tyres because they will help and possibly even putting a road casette on the rear to take advantage of close ratio gearing (it should work fine with your MTB rear mech) but to start to look around for a decent road bike, it'll save you some energy when riding in a tri.

Thanks I have some slicks and tubes I'm about to order sometime this week but Geeze you're really making a girl want to break down and buy a new ride!

Maybe I'll start poking around the local shops and see what's available.

Does anyone know of a biking for dummies type website I can read up on... you know like what's the benefits of 105's versus yadda yadda?

I know just enough to get myself in trouble. :)