Tyre width advice

Aguila

Hi all,

Yet another tyre thread! Boardman team hardtail, supplied with conti mountain king 2.2 which appear to be made of cheese. Ludicrous number of thorn punctures. Changed to schwalbe black jack 2.1. These are better puncture wise but leave very little clearance up front and have rubbed on chainstays at the back which is odd as they are said to be only 2.1. I use 2.1 ice spikers for snow/ice season which I have no issues with clearance wise. I'm going to replace the black jacks due to the clearance with marathon plus mtb tyres. They come in 1.75 or 2.1. At face value I should be fine with the 2.1 from the conti/ice spiker experience but I'm wary after the black jacks. 1.75 seems a bit narrow.

They are used for commute, quite a bit of road remainder bridleway. Lots of thorn bushes hence no enthusiasm for anything non-bomb proof! Thoughts on relative widths please!

Initialised

Width is usually the width from the rim to the outer edge of the rolling surface of the tyre not the width across the carcass of the tyre.



But some manufacturers will measure to the carcass and others to the top of the lugs.

Since Marathons are relatively treadless 2.1 is going to be almost a balloon tyre so maybe go for 1.75.

Have you considered running 29" wheels with a low profile tyre?

corshamjim

Initialised wrote:

Have you considered running 29" wheels with a low profile tyre?

That's an interesting thought.. What tyres would be 'low profile'?

Initialised

Something like a Gatorskin or Durano, slick but relatively puncture resistant or bomb proof Marathon Plus 1.35 if it'd fit, it'd make a big difference getting up to speed on the road sections and you only really need tread on loose surfaces like mud, snow, grass and gravel.

The bike comes with 26x2.2" Conti Mountain Kings so you could get away with 1.2" or 23mm 700c/29" tyres.

The Rookie

Not sure why you think 1.75 will be too narrow, my commuter is on 1.5" tyres on MTB wheels.