Schwalbe City Jets - any use off-road at all?

mediamonkey

I'm getting fed up with knobblies on the road and thinking of switching over to City Jets for better rolling and puncture resistance. They always seem to get good reviews.

Thing is, I have a choice of commuting routes - flat, easy but boring tarmac, or a slightly shorter but hillier (and more fun) route involving some light-ish off-road, i.e. gravel paths, a bit of forestry trail and a couple of short and slightly shingly downhills.

Does anyone use CJs for this kind of stuff, and do they cope with it OK or is it asking for a wipeout? Obviously if it's really muddy I'll stay on the roads...

roger_merriman

with care you'd be fine, how much grip you'd loose would depend on what knobblies you had on the first place. not all are equal and some are for deep mud and some are for fast hard pack runs etc.

cougie

Sounds like a great commute. If you take things easy - you shouldnt have any problems.

jinnan_tonnix

Well, if it's any help, I use Schwalbe Marathon 1.5" on my rigid mountain bike.

Depending on my mood, I often commute on a cycle towpath (a 5 mile mix of chippings on hard pack, sandy mud, tarmac and packed stonedust).

I've never had any problems with my Marathons. There's a surprising amount of grip on mud, but be sensible. I'm pretty sure you'll be OK.

simon_e

I found mine to work well on the mtb - allowed satisfying lean angle and I suffered only one puncture (thanks to a hefty nail) in over a year of commuting.

There isn't really any 'tread' to speak of, and being 1.5" (near enough) slicks they won't be fantastic on the loose. Provided you go steady on the poor surfaces they should be fine. Experiment with pressures to get your preferred feeling for rolling speed and offroad stability. Don't forget appropriately sized inner tubes.

Schwalbe make a 1.95" version as well, but I don't know if the extra would make much difference.

Try a pair. If you don't like them put them on fleabay or the classifieds forum on this site.

Konan

Not considered an intermediate? There are plenty out there that sit on a slick center for road work but have side knobbles for light offroad.

I run Vittoria Randonneur Cross tyres myself. Which handle farm tracks well enough and I've not puncturesd in a couple of years use.

I think there's a marathon cross tyres out there. More in the city jet price region, there's the Sillento II.

sdg_77

I have city jets on my Marin - put on for a charity ride and then left on for a holiday in the Netherlands - no real problems compared to the knobblies they replaced when riding on hard packed gravel - but they're not so good on forest paths in the wet. Having said that - I didn't fall off or have any real frighteners. My wife has Silentios on her bike - on balance I'd say they were better if you intend to use forest paths.

Possibly stating the obvious but either the CJs or Silentios are much quieter on the road and make it much easier to accelerate the bike.

sdg.

mediamonkey

I've got some City Jets now - fitted them today (after giving my bike a Christmas clean!).

Amazing what a difference they make to the look of the bike - they're on a Spesh XC Pro which had huge tall chunky stock tyres. Makes it look like it's got 20in wheels! Will take some getting used to...

However a quick spin around the block and I was amazed how light the wheels feel - really fast acceleration and oh so quiet

If tomorrow is as nice and sunny as today then I'll take them for a quick spin off road to test them out.