Advice about what bike to buy ?

[JB11]

Hi ,I am a fit older person who has a mountain bike. I do struggle with hills although i Run & Ramble ! I have thought about buying an electric bike but do still want to pedal & don't like heavy bikes. Would i be better to get a road bike or hybrid or electric assisted ?. I do tend to do a mixture of road usage & cycle trails ! any advise welcome.

[PH]

Lots of variables. Does the MTB have suspension, this can sap a lot of energy, particularly a bobbing front fork on a hill. If not, there isn't much to be gained from swapping it for a hybrid, except maybe more appropriate tyres, but you can swap those anyway.
Road bikes are more efficient, though at a cost and the term covers a whole range of different bikes. Chances are if you're struggling up the hills on a bike that isn't bobbing up and down, then you're likely to struggle up them on another bike, maybe a bit less, but it won't make the difficult easy.
IMO the right gearing and technique are more helpful getting you up the hill than the bike, as long as the bike is reasonable.

[Tigerbiten]

How low is your first gear on your MTB ??

The trouble with the likes of road bikes is their gears tend to be biased high.
Their range tends to be something like 30"-125"
So they're fine with cycling downhill fast.
But if you're struggling on hills on your MTB, then you'll probably struggle even more on one.
I'd be more inclined to look for something like a lightweight touring bike as their gears are biased a lot lower.
Something like a 20"-100" range.
Or something built up with MTB gears as that will have a similar low gear range.
So not so fast downhill but much better at climbing hills.

Luck ............

[Tigerbiten]

How low is your first gear on your MTB ??

The trouble with the likes of road bikes is their gears tend to be biased high.
Their range tends to be something like 30"-125"
So they're fine if you like cycling downhill fast.
But if you're struggling on hills on your MTB, then you'll probably struggle even more on one.
I'd be more inclined to look for something like a lightweight touring bike as their gears are biased a lot lower.
Something like a 20"-100" range.
Or something built up with MTB gears as that will have a similar low gear range.
So not so fast downhill but much better at climbing hills.

Luck ............

[Jamesh]

A hybrid or endurance road bike should be fine.

Only you can say if you need electric assistance yet!

Cheers James

[gbnz]

Exercise makes a critical difference. Having been covid blocked from the gym for months, a dedicated 8 wk's mid May-July whilst on a high protein diet had an impact (2.5-4 Hr sessions, 1.8-2g protein per kg body weight).

Could feel the difference after 3 weeks, felt incredible. Equally pushing it on the bike makes a difference