A quick road bike tyre

gt-arrowhead

Hello, in just less than a month im going to be doing a 50k ride (not a race) around London streets for charity, and today i spoke with the other people in my school that are taking part, and they are all using carbon bikes and road bikes, im going to use a retro GT Arrowhead, which is the best bike that i have.

Im going to upgrade and ive got my shopping list all ready.
-stem with a lower angle, simply cause it looks better
-Ive already installed a new saddle
-A new chain
-Axle for my rear wheel which has a 4-5 month old freewheel on it, so thats pretty much an upgrade
-New break wiring, possibly only outer. Dropping the red wires as it will look odd without the rest of the red bits.

All i need is a set of tyres, im not looking to blow any more than around £35 on road tyres. Bearing in mind i cant use the super thin tyres as i have a "standard" width rim.

I know either way i probably wont be able to compete with the carbon bikes but im pretty sure they will be running on a tyre that isnt the best for the road, I should be able to get the edge on them with tyres, so any suggestions on what the best tyre is for the road? And what PSI is the best? I tend to run 55 PSI max, is this good or bad?

By the way, these are what ive got in mind, these or maybe Kojaks. http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003 ... d_i=468294

bennett_346

I use Schwalbe City Jets and they are perfect for a budget slick.

gt-arrowhead

bennett_346 wrote:

I use Schwalbe City Jets and they are perfect for a budget slick.

Ahh cool Thanks

Sprool

+1 for the schwalbe city jets- they have been on my summer wheels for the mtb for the past 5 years for when i just want to ride tarmac. They are cheap, light enough and grippy. Touch wood never had a puncture either. I'm sure there's better quality ones out there but for the price these do a great job.
[edit] 1.6's I think...

gt-arrowhead

Sprool wrote:

+1 for the schwalbe city jets- they have been on my summer wheels for the mtb for the past 5 years for when i just want to ride tarmac. They are cheap, light enough and grippy. Touch wood never had a puncture either. I'm sure there's better quality ones out there but for the price these do a great job.
[edit] 1.6's I think...

Thanks, ive been looking and they have great reviews too. I like the sound of 1.6 too, wide tyres look nice.

njee20

What are 'standard' width rims? I'd use Conti GPs or Spesh All Conditions 1" if you want speed. Unless you have monster wide rims they'll fit fine.

gt-arrowhead

Thanks,Ill have a look at them. Well, my rim width is like just the normal size you get on pretty much all mountain bikes, its not thin or wide, its just normal. never had a problem with tyres, so they should be fine.

bennett_346

I wouldn't go less than 1.9" on a "normal" width mtb rim, they can cause narrower tyres to form a weird shape.

gt-arrowhead

Yeah, im using 1.95s at the moment, they are not too fat and not too thin, reckon i could go more or less by just a little without too much trouble.

The Rookie

Measure the internal rim width and check on Schwalbes webbie what you can get away with....simples!

njee20

You'll be fine with something narrower, folk worry far too much about this sort of thing, yes a big tyre may come up a bit 'bulbous' on a narrow rim, but a narrow tyre will fit just fine, and be faster. A friend ran 1.25" Fatboys on Mavic D321 rims back in the day (29mm width) with no ill effects whatsoever.

gt-arrowhead

njee20 wrote:

You'll be fine with something narrower, folk worry far too much about this sort of thing, yes a big tyre may come up a bit 'bulbous' on a narrow rim, but a narrow tyre will fit just fine, and be faster. A friend ran 1.25" Fatboys on Mavic D321 rims back in the day (29mm width) with no ill effects whatsoever.

Cheers
I also think that the width of the tyre doesnt really matter too much. I think im going to go for the Michelin Wild Run`r because it is cheap, pretty thin (going from 1.95 to 1.4) has good reviews and looks fantastic cause it has no tread. Also should give me good grip as it is said to have a grippy rubber compound. Ill be fine with the lack of tread, im really used to slicks now.

Sprool

njee20 wrote:

...a narrow tyre will fit just fine, and be faster.

Some interesting tech posts on a similar thread I started a couple of days back would contend this issue.
viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12911539
My intuition says narrow = faster but the tekkies say this is wrong. I'm undecided, only I know my Schwalbe 1.6 slicks make road cycling far easier than 1.95 off-road knobblies.

gt-arrowhead

Thanks, ill give that a read

The Rookie

Sprool wrote:

My intuition says narrow = faster but the tekkies say this is wrong.

Not quite......
Narrower means less aero drag which means faster.

Narrower doesn't mean less rolling resistance AT THE SAME PRESSURE, however as tyres get narrower maximum recommended pressure often goes up, take advantage of that and narrower CAN MEAN less rolling resistance.

My new 1.5" slicks at 80psi definately have less RR than my old ones which were 1.95 and had a max pressure of 55psi.

gt-arrowhead

I think ive decided to go to 1.4 slicks now (the michellin ones above) so judging by what you said i should have even less resistance which will mean it is more likely for me to keep up with the carbon bikes