Possibility of transforming a mountain bike into a road bike?

Question

I have a Cannondale M700 mountain bike that is probably 10-12 years old. I have not been on it in a number of years and now I would like to transform it into a road bike if possible.

It does not have any suspension of any kind. It has Shimano Deore LX cantilever brakes and a Shimano Deore XT shifting mechanism.

It's still in great shape, and I love how light it is, so I would hate to get rid of it.

Is it possible and would it be cost feasible to do this transformation? Any help would be great.

Thank you.

Answer 1

i agree,the only real change you need to make is your tyres,and maybe your rims. the thinner the tyre the faster it will roll on the road,dependig on conditions i would'nt go for slicks cos they will be a nightmare on wet or icy roads,so go for an  round tyre unless you live somewhere really hot and dry.Schwalbe Hurricane Kevlar Belted Reflective Tyres,the Continental Town And Country Semi Slick Tyre are inexpensive and popular choices.also change your seat to something nice and comfortable.

Answer 2

Yep, simply put on more narrow tires, as others have advised you to do.  I had a Giant Boulder that I turned into a city bike for my daughter in just that way.  She loves it.

Glad to see you're keeping it on the road.  Okay, no pun intended.

Answer 3

Put Hutchinson slick tires and you're done. I have the same ones for home-to-work riding, it's perfect.

Answer 4

It really depends on your idea of a road bike. If it's in great shape just slap on some 1.5 slick, high pressure tires and you should be good to go. Not much else you can do to it. With no suspention and narrow high pressure tires it will be fine for the road.

One last thing if you need higher gearing usually an 11 tooth cassette will do the trick.

Answer 5

Unfortunately a transformation like this is nearly impossible but you can make it easier to ride on the road by installing narrower tires.

The differences between road and mountain bikes is so great that there is no real way to truly do what you want without spending more money than a new road bike would cost.

If you were to have the wheels relaced to 650C rims, replace the shifters, bar, and stem, replacing (or at least readjusting) the brakes and some other stuff it would be close but the frame geometry would still be way off for dedicated road riding.

Answer 6

You can't make it into a road bike for the pure fact that the bikes geometry is completely different. Although, it sounds like it could be a really great cross bike if your intrested in cyclo-cross

Answer 7

If the bike is in reasonable condition, all you need to do to make it better on road is fit a pair of slick tyres, 26 x 1,5 or similar and keep them inflated hard, this will increase your road speed by about 20%.

Answer 8

1-1/5 inch slick tires with a max inflation pressure of at least 80 psi is the best alternative. To go further towards making your MTB into a road bike is just not cost effective. The cost of the new components (gearing, bars, shifters, etc.) and the labor to get them installed would easily be greater than the value of your bike. Even if you invested the money because the bike has sentimental value, you would end up with a compromise that wouldn't work as well on the road as a hybrid, never mind a dedicated road bike.

HTH

Answer 9

I assume you want narrow tyres and drop bars....

For narrow tyres its a problem to get them as thin as a race bike as the wheels on a mountain bike are 26 inch and the wheels on a road bike are '700c'.  So a road tyre won't fit a MTB rim. Instead you can buy a road tyre without any or much knobly bits for a MTB wheel and pump it to high pressure, around 60psi, for road use.

As for the bars, it shouldn't be a problem, but you would need new brake levers (plus cables) and maybe gear shifters (on a race bike the brake lever and gear changer are integrated into the same mechanism).

Answer 10

Slick 1.5 tires are the way to go. They have MORE traction than tires with a tread pattern on the road under wet conditions. The only reason a bike tire need a tread pattern is off road, for traction in sand, dirt, gravel etc.