MTB bike vs. Cross bike

[bikerHen]

I can't decide what to do. I really want a cross bike. But I have to sell a bike to pay for a new one.

My mind likes the idea of ripping down a sweet singletrack, but my body just doesn't seem to get it, so my few mtb rides are very tame. I really only use the mtb for winter commuting. It works fine but is not as comfortable as my road bike and it's heavy(er) to ride and carry upstairs when I get to work. I'm comfortable on the cross bike, it's lighter and I think it would work well on our messy winter roads.

The main question is, can I use a cross bike as a mountain bike on an occasional ride. The bike I'm looking at has a true, not compact double and is much harder to pedal up hills. I've got to give it a better test ride on some hills to see how good/bad it really is. I did ride it around in a lumpy weedy field and gravel road yesterday and it seems to handle well on non-asphalt.

To those of you who ride cross bikes, do they make good utility type bikes? Which is really the role this new bike would take. Or should I just stick with my mtb. bikerHen

[Blueberry]

I love my Surly Cross Check. It's fast (enough) on the road, will take a rack, and handles gravel roads/grass like a champ. That's really as rough as I want to do (it would also be great on rail trails). Unless you're into super technical stuff, I would say it would be fine for mountain biking. Folks race them over all kinds of wicked stuff that I wouldn't do on a mountain bike even.

I really am attached to drops, so the cross check works for me. I just don't like flat bars...go figure...

I would worry about a double, though. I ride a road triple, and still have 12-34 on the rear for steep gravel roads.

Good luck!

[KnottedYet]

My road bike is a compact double cyclocross bike, and I've ridden it on all kinds of stuff.

(My next utility bike will be a Surly Crosscheck.)

[Kalidurga]

I recently took my 2006 Specialized Tri-Cross bike on a gentle mtb trail: 2 stream crossings, small roots and rocks, light mud, gentle roller-coaster grades. It handled it all just great! The only thing I wished for was a chain-stay guard. I would have been walking steeper hills, but there was nothing on the trail we did that my compact rings couldn't handle. Most of the time I ride it on the kind of stuff described by CA in NC and it's terrific.

There are some 'cross bikes out there these days with triple rings, though. The 2007 Tri-Cross comes with either a double or a triple, if you need more climbing capacity.

[spokewench]

If you want to do serious mountain biking, stick with your mountain bike. If not and it sounds like maybe you don't want to do serious mtb riding, yes a cyclocross bike will do not too technical mountain biking. Everything off road here in Flag has hills, so I have a triple on my cyclocross bike. It is just too hard to ride a regular double off road here.

For comparison, I do ride a regular double on my road bike just to give you an idea.

For technical, rocky like we have here, there is nothing like a dual suspension mountain bike. YAHOO!

spoke