Powerplay Force Pro Light Weight MTB Pedal

Advantages: Good quality components, well built.
Disadvantages: Rather heavy, front suspension.

...Not a bad bike at all, but it's failing is that it can't make up it's mind if it's one thing or the other. It's set up to be a light use MTB / rough towpath bike with semi-knobbly tyres, front suspension and a bouncy seatpost. As a MTB, it's too frail, as a city commuter it's too heavy and bouncy. It's ideal use would be taking the kids for Sunday rides around forestry trails. Using mine for a 10 mile hilly commute, mainly on cycle paths, I felt mine was let down by the front suspension and the poor Tioga tyres. I changed the tyres to semi-slicks which helped, and swapped the seat post to a solid one to which let me put the power down better. The front suspension still made the bike far heavier than it needed to be (36 lb including a rack) and the suspension saps your effort when pedalling hard. Along the flat this wan't too much... Read review

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Advantages: Make an MTB better on road
Disadvantages: Can be hard to find. No good off road

...Continental have produced the Grand Prix tyre in mtb size. 26" x 1" It has the same tread pattern as the road tyre and is very light (c.200g) Foldable too - with a kevlar bead I rode them on my Specialised mtb over the summer on a commute (8 miles each way) and they are superb for use on the road. It is the closest to a road bike tyre that I have ever seen, is very responsive and feels fast! If you ride an mtb mostly on the road and can feel the energy sapping from your legs with big knobbly tyres, you could do far worse than get a pair of these! They seem very durable too and can be inflated to decent pressures too - I ran them at close to 100 psi They are quite rare in shops and I had to search through a few on line stores to find one that listed them and had them in stock.... Read review

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Advantages: lightweight; very strong; slick gears; very fast
Disadvantages: cost; keeping it yours !

...Enthusiasts might tell you this is only the best downhill MTB. I don't care which way you're going, you simply have to ride this bike to appreciate how fast and slick it is. Its hard getting a dealer demo because of the cost but more about that later. Features: 6061 Series Aluminum twin Monocoque front, light-weight Monocoque swingarm with integral disc brake mounts and cable stops; Answer Mars Super, 80mm of Travel with Lockout; excellent Fox Float RL, with Rebound Adjuster and Lockout rear air shock; Shimano XTR throughout; Mavix X517. I chose downhill bars which I find more comfortable. Most dealers give you these for a free swap. disk brakes are extra but possible. You don't have to be fit to be the fastest thing on the road and off-road it knocks about 5 to 10 years off your age. A great bike. The XTR gearchange is amazing... Read review

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