Should I stick slicks on a mtb for road use?

Dusty Saddle

I've always owned a bike, but have a 8 year old Specialized mountain bike (Rockhopper, with front suspension, v brakes) getting a bit dusty in the shed as I don't get to use it as much as I'd like due to work and family commitments making it hard to go for a 3 - 4 hour ride in the Sussex countryside around Brighton where I live.

I'd like to do more riding to relieve stress, get fit and have some time alone, which makes me think of road riding. I figure I can more enjoyably go for a quick hour or two on a road bike than on my MTB. But I'd like to keep my mountain bike for riding in better weather and maybe sticking a child seat on the back, and getting the wife and kid out for bike ride.

Does anyone have an experience of putting slick tyres on a mountain bike for use on the road and swapping tyres on and off? Is it pretty pointless? I am considering spending £500 to £800 on a first ever road bike or £60 on slick tyres? I think I could get really into road cycling as family commitments of having a toddler get a bit easier, but have never ridden a road bike. Any advice most appreciated, before I go and ask same question in a bike shop.

Cheers

jimwocko

Put slicks on

That's exactly what I did. Used a rather unloved MTB for commuting with offroad tyres on for a bit, then swapped for slicks. Works well, especially if you are only 'trying it out' to see how you get on.

Be warned though - you will eventually buy a road bike, and another MTB, and then you'll have no money! I still use the original for commuting, easy to repair and less likely to be nicked!

By the way, £60 for slicks? I've had these on mine for about 3000 miles and still going strong!
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=8547

wheezee

I have slicks on my old MTB that I use for buzzing around town. It's great.

However, I don't think it would be half as much fun going out on it for a couple of hours purely to enjoy the ride.

rich164h

I was in the same situation as you and ended up going for a road bike straight away as I'd managed to convince myself that I would stick with the road biking after forcing myself to use the non-slicked full suspension mountain bike for 6 months on the road and seeing my mileage, speed and fitness increase dramatically. I figured if I could stick with it for that sort of time and still want to carry on with road biking then I would have saved myself some cash from buying new tyres/inner tubes and possibly a new cassette (to stop me from constantly spinning out on anything that resembled a downhill section).

If you're less sure and are mostly riding around town I'd probably go for the MTB slicks, but for longer country rides I'd probably stick with what you've got and go straight to a proper road bike when you think the time is right. Spending the cash saved on a bike fit, or some decent shoes/clipless pedals would be money well spent.

Something like this would be perfect though if you do decide to "upgrade" the MTB tyres:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/fat-boy-atb-tyre-ec004845

Remember that you'll probably need new inner tubes as well, but all in you'll probably only be spending ~£40 rather than the £60 you're quoting at the moment.

DCowling

Hi
I am in the same situation as you, and am having to make do with a full suspension MTB.
I have put slicks on and it has made a world of difference.
I have been triding since June this year and just completed my 1st 50miler last Sunday, I also ride to work at least 2 days a week ( 15 mile round trip) and often go the long way home just for the pleasure of it.
I do want a road bike but can say hand on heart that I do not need one for what I do i.e. pleasure / fitness riding.
Go have fun, it's the best thing I have done since I quit smoking, I have never been healthier or fitter in years and I have also seen places in my area that I did not know existed

Bets of luck

kettrinboy

An alternative to slicks is intermediates, not much slower on the road than slicks but can still handle some mild off roading, thats what ive used on my MTB for a few years now, with pure slicks your almost restricted to just road riding , with inters you can do both road/off road reasonably well.

keef66

I retired my light, rigid mtb from offroad uties and put slicks on it. So much faster.

But then I found my back was aching on longer road rides, I was looking for different hand positions on the bars, and becoming annoyed by the big jumps between gears, so I bought a road bike.

About half the weight, and so much more efficient to pedal. Heaven!

Butterd2

Slicks make a big difference in speeding up and improving the handling of an MTB on the road. However jim speaks wise words, you will end up with a road bike and now I have also converted my MTB to 700c road wheels because they do roll better still than 26" with slicks.

snailracer

I might suggest wide "semi-slicks" - these have a smooth central tread (fast on tarmac) and knobs on the edges (stops you sliding out around off-road bends).

You have to take it easy round bends on tarmac, however, as the knobs have much less grip than the smooth centre tread.

Dusty Saddle

Cheers everyone - it seems the sensible choice is to put slicks or intermediates on my mtb and see how I get on riding it on the road. I do keep thinking about a shiny new bike though...

Cheers

surreyxc

Get the right slicks, do not go too skinny, I had 1inch slicks. They made the bike look ugly, and the ride very harsh, the other thing to consider is that larger wheels roll over rough stuff easier. So 26inch skinny slicks will feel harsher than the equivalent tyre on a 29inch /700 wheel, go for 1.5 or so.

mcj78

surreyxc wrote:

Get the right slicks, do not go too skinny, I had 1inch slicks. They made the bike look ugly, and the ride very harsh, the other thing to consider is that larger wheels roll over rough stuff easier. So 26inch skinny slicks will feel harsher than the equivalent tyre on a 29inch /700 wheel, go for 1.5 or so.

I concur - the 1" slicks I had on my mtb for a while just felt wrong, the 1.5" Maxxis Xeniths I went for after those made a big difference to comfort, without affecting speed too much.

I eventually bought a road bike & wish i'd done so sooner tbh - after the initial "this feels weird" period i'm as at home on it as I am off-road on my mtb.

J

wheezee

+1.

I put the 2.3 Big Apples on mine, just because I could. Very comfortable with a rigid fork, and very heavy.

uptonspark

I did the same and put Specialised Nimbus Armadillos on. Much quicker and smoother than knobbys on the tarmac but tough and grippy enough for the sort of routes I do with the kids. Upright position helps to keep an eye on the kids while riding as well.
Having said all that after doing that for about a year I went out and bought a roadie for "me" rides.

juankerr

£30 on a set of slicks and start saving for the road bike.

Bar Shaker

I did two rides with Conti 1.6 Contact Sports on. They were fab but I still nearly died trying to keep up with my roady mates.

The signature says the rest.

baser

I run a Boardman HT pro and would love to have road bike as well, sadly funds wont run that far so I ended up buying a pair of Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 26" x 1.25" with kevlar, I am easily as fast as my roadie mates.

The only trouble I have found with this methord is top speed, which is pegged back to around 30 ish mph on the flat with a 44 - 11 max gear, did manage 44 mph once but that was on a long downhill with the wind behind me.

Looked into getting a pair of 700c disc hub wheels made but I have been quoted £200 + so I will stick with the Tourguards until I can afford a road bike.

Big_Ste

Stick slicks on the MTB. As others have said, you are going to buy a road bike eventually

I've ridden with MTB and slicks for the last year or so, now looking at buying a road bike! Its ace!

Dusty Saddle

Cheers for the advice everyone. But if everyone's experience is that they end up on a road bike, maybe I should just buy one now? I have the savings to spend about £800 on it, and want a shiny new bike.

My LBS sell Specialized, Trek and Giant, and Dawes. Wondering about buying from Evans or even Halfords, as tempted by a Boardman, a cannondale or a bianchi, but would like to use LBS.

Anyway, plenty to think about. Cheers

Bar Shaker

baser wrote:

I run a Boardman HT pro and would love to have road bike as well, sadly funds wont run that far so I ended up buying a pair of Panaracer Pasela Tourguard 26" x 1.25" with kevlar, I am easily as fast as my roadie mates.

The only trouble I have found with this methord is top speed, which is pegged back to around 30 ish mph on the flat with a 44 - 11 max gear, did manage 44 mph once but that was on a long downhill with the wind behind me.

Having done this, you are not as fast as your roady mates. They are as slow as you, just as mine were. Their bikes are 4kg lighter than yours and they are sitting in a much more aero position. Once I got my road bike, my times over the same road routes were much better than when I had been nearly killing myself on my mtb and slicks.

That said, you may be much fitter than me as I can't manage more than 38mph on my mtb and more than 42mph on my 50-12 roady. On your bike 44mph would be a cadence of 143rpm, so I suppose it is just possible but I can't really peddle much faster than 120rpm.

A second set of wheels isn't really the answer. I also looked at this and was going to get another set of Ritchey WCS wheels with an 11-23 cassette. The main problem is the chain would need changing too as the wear will not match both cassettes and each wheel swap would probably involve re-indexing the rear mech and centring the callipers. By this time, you have changed your tyres and tubes. A new set of WCS wheels, discs, cassette and slicks worked out at just over £300when I priced it up.

Lillywhite

mcj78 wrote:

I concur - the 1" slicks I had on my mtb for a while just felt wrong

I agree. Have a set of 1" Continentals hanging up in my store room.

mcj78

Lillywhite wrote:

mcj78 wrote:

I concur - the 1" slicks I had on my mtb for a while just felt wrong

I agree. Have a set of 1" Continentals hanging up in my store room.

Heh - it seems a few people do, maybe there should be a 26x1" slick amnesty - think of all those tyres that could be recycled into slightly bigger, more useful tyres!

thisisjohnnyk

Hi Dusty Saddle,
I have done what you are thinking. I converted an old hard tail I had lying around, specifically as a commuting bike and to occasionally ferry the kids around. (Note I also have a road bike and a full suss mtb but I wanted something reliable that I could use for commuting, was comfy and I didn't mind being bumped around in the work bike park). The changes I made to the hard tail from MTB to psudo road bike were:
- Slick tyres - 1.2
- Single ring setup up front (simpler and looks cool).
- Rigid forks (no need for susp when using on the road)
- And stuck on some ultra wide handle bars for complete impracticality because they look cool and are comfy

It's not fast. It's not light. But I love it. This is now my favourite bike to ride! It was cheap to convert and if you dont have a road bike, lets be honest this is a great stop gap project and you can use a little bit of money to personalize your ride. I'm not going to go on any group rides on this bike or huge distance. I cycle too and from work - 10 miles each way, every day. It's solid and I don't worry about potholes or punctures due to the mtb wheels and relatively thick rubber on the mtb slicks.
My advice - do it - get out and ride what you have.
If you feel you want to go faster for the same effort, buy a road bike and some lycra.

keef66

Hmm, I'm thinking the O.P. likely made up his mind 8 years ago. Did you just find this thread down the back of the sofa??

Mad_Malx

Dusty Saddle wrote:

Cheers for the advice everyone. But if everyone's experience is that they end up on a road bike, maybe I should just buy one now? I have the savings to spend about £800 on it, and want a shiny new bike.

My LBS sell Specialized, Trek and Giant, and Dawes. Wondering about buying from Evans or even Halfords, as tempted by a Boardman, a cannondale or a bianchi, but would like to use LBS.

Anyway, plenty to think about. Cheers

For £800 loads to choose from. Have a chat with your LBS and see what they are doing on 'special offer' and what you like the feel of. LBS should let you test ride at that price. Brands you mention are all good, although Dawes are maybe not so well regarded these days.
Look for carbon forks and tiagra groupset or better, and probably around 9-10kg all in. Tyres often poor at that price. Wheels will be ok but you will probably think about upgrading after a season.

keef66

FFS! STOP REPLYING TO AN 8 YEAR OLD THREAD!!!!

Mad_Malx

:oops:

CitizenLee

Haha, it's been like Dawn of the Dead Threads on here lately

Probably people replying to results they find in Google.

cooldad

Contrary to popular belief, I am neither dead nor a zombie.

Matthewfalle

I have a set of Fat Boys on my CAAD 2 MTB that I use for cutting around with the bambini and going to the shops. I also used to commute on it when communt meant a lot of gravel track.

Do it - its a laugh, will get you out on the bike and will cost you pennies.

nuclearred955

I put slicks on my old MTB about the time this thread was actually current. Haven't actually ridden the bloody thing in over 4 years...