Changing to tougher tyres

lawsio

Hi all,

Quick (hopefully) question about changing the tyres on my bike. A lot of the cycle paths I have easy access to are very rough concrete and gravel river/canal paths and at the moment riding them on my 23mm slicks is dodgey at best! Very bumpy to say the least!

I have a B'Twin Triban 3, and am wondering what the biggest off-road tyres I could fit on the bike are? I'm eyeing up these,

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bon ... ss#answers

Is this a good way to go or am I way off the mark?

Also, if I do change the tyres will that be enough to make the bike sound on these paths? Is there any danger of knackering up the forks if I use a road bike on tougher surfaces?

matt@theforce

I very much doubt you will get a 34c on the Triban. I have the Forme5 (flat bar version of the Triban) and I run 25c Scwalbe Marathon Plus and ride on both surface/un surfaced cycle paths and took my Forme5 around the woods at Langsett today and it rode well (if a little bumpy on the loose rocks/stones & soft ground).

The 25c doesn't leave much room when removing/fitting the rear wheel, I have to remove the skewer to get the wheel passed the rear mech.

I can't recommend any tyres apart from the ones I've used, the Marathon Plus worked fine today and didnt get a puncture despite some speedy runs and hard knocks (I do the same route on my MTB's) and still kept my MTB pace.

ugo.santalucia

I would try a 28 mm tyre with a bit of tread, inflated at 80-85 PSI max. A Gatorskin or similar... Off road tyres are just a drag
As for the fork issue, no, the fork will be fine, the headset might suffer if it is an integrated type, if it is a standard threadless headset (you can see the cups) it won't suffer at all