Mountain Biker to Road Warrior Help?

[Lothair]

Without going broke in the process? I don't bike enough to care to spend too much. For me, right now, cheaper is better otherwise it's not an option I can consider.

That said, I already have a comfy street cruising seat as we as all of the other basic essentials. What I'm looking to do now is increase performance.

The tires are already 26", however they're heavy knobbly treads which means useless increased friction and weight for pavement cycling. These are the ones I'm considering, they seem to be good cost/performance ratio.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002DX...725274-5991729

Aside from that... What else can I do? It's a fairly stock bike I grabbed from walmart. It's nice looking but twice less efficient as an old junker I was using before. Maybe the chain needs tightened or? Does the chain wheel size make a difference? Etc.

Thanks for any and all input. Appreciated as always.

[dr.walrus]

Does your bike have suspension? If it does, you want it as stiff as possible. That and longer gear ratios are all I can suggest. In terms of comfort, new handlebars and finally pedals.

And lights. Don't forget the lights.

[Lothair]

I actually just finished tightening the suspension. That's some odd timing! lol

The fork has a suspension mechanism as well, but I'm not sure if that's tightenable or if it even should be.

What do you mean by longer gear ratios? I'm not exactly bike savvy. I pedal, it goes. That's about all I know for sure. :p

This is the light I have. Its pretty sweet. Although I hear they have a 2 watt version now.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0015R...815524-9788861

I kinda want to rig up some el wire to the wheels, make some crazy designs. But I think that might prove to be more of a safety hazard than anything, being quite distracting I'm sure. lol

[dr.walrus]

I don't even own a bike but a lot of my friends do!

You want your suspension as hard as possible, if you could get stiffer forks on the front would be good - without bumps you're just using up energy bouncing the bike up and down. Some forks are adjustable, some aren't. Some you cant get stiffening springs for. Some have a locking mechanism so you can 'turn them off' for road travelling.

Gear ratios - tightly spaced gears are good for rough terrain - easy to swtich between gears to match the lumps and bumps. On roads, you don't want that - you're going to be going a lot faster too, regularly around the 20mph mark, so you want road gears, which allow you to go much faster and are spaced further apart. Most modern bikes with 10+ gears take that into account anyway, just with a 15 gear mountain bike you'll be switching up 3 at a time...

[Luke122]

Make sure your tire pressure is correct also.. too low = softer and more rolling resistance.

Saddle/bar height is important for not just comfort, but performance. I tend to lift my seat to where my legs are very nearly completely extended at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

If your bars are too low, then you are too far forward, and that can be dangerous. If they are too high, then you are too upright, and creating needless amounts of wind resistance. Riser bars are an easy/cheap way to change up your riding position; you can also get a longer stem if needed, to shift weight forward, or shorter to shift backwards.

If you are riding this bike as a "roadie" now, then you probably wont ever use the small chainring on the front anymore. Keep it on the largest ring, and just shift the rear.

Other than that, a good service to get the drivetrain and wheels all lubed up and operating efficiently is good idea.

Beyond that.. just start shaving off some weight from the bike.