Downsizing tyres

lostintheforest

I recently bought a Norco Sight 2 (2nd hand) and it comes with the original 2.35 Kendas tyres. I've since been offered some schwables from a friend but they are 2.25 tyres from his old bike. Now they have plenty of life left in them, more than the Kendas, but is it wise going to a smaller tyre? Anybody else done this? Seems a shame to turn down a good set of tyres.

Tom Barton

Depends entirely on what the smaller tyres are (Schwalbe make lots of tyres), what you plan on riding terrain wise and a little bit of what the weather conditions are like...

If its something like a Nobby Nic, opinion is generally divided but on the whole they are a perfectly good tyre for general trail riding and are middle of the road for rolling resistance. Grip is ok in most conditions but if you really like to push the bike hard or terms like 'aggressive' or 'DH' or 'gnar' are part of your riding vocabulary I'd pick something a little sturdier.

Tyres like rocket rons, racing ralphs etc are XC/race orientated tyres (light, fast, a little delicate I the rough and not so grippy) and given that our Game of Thrones length winter is coming again, depending on where you ride you may want something more of an alrounder...

cooldad

You are talking about fractions of an inch - I doubt you'd notice the difference. Plus tyres from different manufacturers come up different sizes, so the 'smaller' size could be a bigger tyre.
But Kenda make some great tyres and Schwalbe make some rubbish ones, and compounds make a big difference.