Fast Fat Tyres

NorwegianBlue

I'm going to start doing some commuting on my MTB, rather than the usual winter road bike. The bike is pretty well suited to the task being what might be described as "hardcore" if I was 15 and read MBUK. However one thing that isn't suited to the daily grind are the 2.3" very off road tractor tyres on there.

I'm looking for some fast rolling tyres with one stipulation: they need to be about the 1.75" mark because I don't like the idea of running anything narrower on my big fat Halo rims. So does anybody have any experience of road going slicks in that sort of size that are still fairly fast rolling? Obviously I'm not expecting the same sort of speed as a 700x23c, but I don't want squidgy balloons that are more suited to a beach cruiser.

Oh and some puncture protection would be nice.

Cheers,

GJ

attica

I used to run Schwalbe Marathons at about 80-100 PSI when I used an MTB, still quite wide but gave low rolling resistance and high puncture resistance.

That should do the trick

NorwegianBlue

Attica wrote:

I used to run Schwalbe Marathons at about 80-100 PSI when I used an MTB, still quite wide but gave low rolling resistance and high puncture resistance.

That should do the trick

That's the first thing I thought of, but the larger sizes (1.75 and 2.00) only go to 75psi. I was wondering if there was anything else rated a little higher.

My preferred tyre from my old MTB commuting days was a Fatboy, but I'm not so sure about fitting a 32mm tyre to a 30mm rim, I think it might be a bit of a problem when your braking surfaces are wider than your tyre!

everogere

I read somewhere that the measurement of a tyre is from the rim to the surface of the tread ie. 32mm and not the width of the tread. So I would of thought that a 32mm tyre on a 30 mm wouldnt necesarily mean your brake surface would be wider than your tyre and therefore quite OK, but please any other member put me right if im wrong !

NorwegianBlue

everogere wrote:

I read somewhere that the measurement of a tyre is from the rim to the surface of the tread ie. 32mm and not the width of the tread. So I would of thought that a 32mm tyre on a 30 mm wouldnt necesarily mean your brake surface would be wider than your tyre and therefore quite OK, but please any other member put me right if im wrong !

Traditional imperial sizing did indeed work that way, but ISO sizing apparently works on width. Having said that most tyres seem to be around a 100% aspect ratio so there's very little in it.

The trouble is that all tyre sizing on width or height tends to be a little vague. The industry use the word "nominal" which means the same thing in this case. Then there is the issue of tread, some manufacturers include the tread in their measurements others measure the carcass. Apprarently WTB suggested a new standard to account for all this, but nobody else seems to use it.

Different tyre and rim manufaturers disagree about what tyre sizes suit what rim widths (compare Schwalbe with Mavic) which makes things even more complex.

Whichever way you look at it a 32mm tyre on a 30c rim sounds a bit iffy to me.

GJ

hoathy

Ok, so i guess assuming that tyre size doesn't matter so much now...
I run 1.5" Specialized Nimbus tyres on my commuter, they are awesome, I haven't had a pucture with them yet! and thats well over a year of having them on more than one bike!
There are amadilo versions that have even more resistance. I currently run them on Mavic XM317s, but in the past I had them on an old skool box section rigida wide rim and they are fine on that too....
I can't say enough good things about these tyres!

Belv

I run Schwalbe City Jets (26x1.5") which I am quite happy with and do come in a 1.95".

nicklouse

Schwalbe Super Moto's (Big apples but lighter)

or what about the halo Twin Rail?

NorwegianBlue

Belv wrote:

I run Schwalbe City Jets (26x1.5") which I am quite happy with and do come in a 1.95".

I actually quite like the City Jets, my wife has them on her bike. But in a 559 they only come in 1.5", the 1.95 is only available in 12" and 16".

NorwegianBlue

nicklouse wrote:

Schwalbe Super Moto's (Big apples but lighter)

or what about the halo Twin Rail?

Those Supermotos don't take anything like a high pressure, and they ain't cheap.

However, I'm starting to lean towards the Twin Rails. They take 85psi, which is pretty high for a tyre that fat. And they would probably be useful as a summer off road tyre, meaning I would get off road at the weekend without changing tyres.

One of the reasons that I'm looking at commuting on my dirt bike is that I'm trying to see if I can get down to one bike. I know that doesn't fit in with the ideas of some people round here who seem to have more bikes than I've got socks. The thing is though that I've got virtually no disposable income (thanks Gordon!) so I like the idea of a single bike on which I can spend what little cash I have.

Cheers,

GJ

Belv

NorwegianBlue wrote:

Belv wrote:

I run Schwalbe City Jets (26x1.5") which I am quite happy with and do come in a 1.95".

I actually quite like the City Jets, my wife has them on her bike. But in a 559 they only come in 1.5", the 1.95 is only available in 12" and 16".

I beg to differ...
http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1089-schwa ... y-jet.html

snooks

Another vote for Schwalbe city jets here

Got a pair of 1.5's on Ebay for £21 can't go wrong for that price 8)
.

NorwegianBlue

snooks wrote:

Another vote for Schwalbe city jets here

Got a pair of 1.5's on Ebay for £21 can't go wrong for that price 8)
.

The ones I put on Sarah's bike cost less than that, with tubes from Wiggle! They just seem a leetle bit skinny for my 30c rims.

NorwegianBlue

Belv wrote:

NorwegianBlue wrote:

Belv wrote:

I run Schwalbe City Jets (26x1.5") which I am quite happy with and do come in a 1.95".

I actually quite like the City Jets, my wife has them on her bike. But in a 559 they only come in 1.5", the 1.95 is only available in 12" and 16".

I beg to differ...
http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1089-schwa ... y-jet.html

Odd. That disagrees with this:

http://www.schwalbe.com/gbl/en/bicycle/ ... _Produkt=4

Anyway the 65 psi max rating is pretty damn squidgy. I note that the 1.5" also seems to have dropped from 85psi max on the pair I bought last year to 65psi on this years model.

nicklouse

another option. but very heavy.

http://www.maxxis.com/PRODUCTS/BICYCLE/ ... asp?id=160

Belv

That is strange, i agree.

With the max pressure down to 65psi too, i think i might try the Big Apples next time then - see if all that blurb about good rolling resistance AND a smoother ride is true.

jedster

NB,
To be honest, it really sounds like, if you get rid of a bike, you should get a second wheel set. Keep your current wheels for offroad and get something inexpensive with narrower rins to run skinny(ish) ultragators or similar for commuting.

Don't you think?

J

snooks

NorwegianBlue wrote:

snooks wrote:

Another vote for Schwalbe city jets here

Got a pair of 1.5's on Ebay for £21 can't go wrong for that price 8)
.

The ones I put on Sarah's bike cost less than that, with tubes from Wiggle! They just seem a leetle bit skinny for my 30c rims.

That was a "buy it now" price next day delivery to my door ...£14.99 for the two tyres plus 5.99 P&P

But my point was they are cheap, good and it almost rude not to give them ago

interestingly Wiggle has the 1.95's as discontinued but they are still available on Ebay...There's a pair on for a BIN price of £19.99 delivered
.

NorwegianBlue

jedster wrote:

NB,
To be honest, it really sounds like, if you get rid of a bike, you should get a second wheel set. Keep your current wheels for offroad and get something inexpensive with narrower rins to run skinny(ish) ultragators or similar for commuting.

Don't you think?

J

I'm going to try commuting on the MTB for a while first to see if it's a realistic proposition. It is a bit of a change going from a relatively light road bike with 14 gears ranging from about 40" to 110" to a heavy dirt bike with eight gears ranging from about 27" to 84".

I want to give it a try just changing the tyres at first and if that works out OK I'll probably sell the road bike and some other roady bits and buy a spare wheelset, discs and probably a pair of fatboys.

In the mean time a pair of tyres that are a little bit country and a little bit ro... What? Oh sorry, a little bit on road and a little bit off road would be ideal.

Cheers,

GJ