Commuter tyres for Kona mtb suggestions please

stantheman206

Hi there

I have a Kona Caldera Mtb that i have Maxxis Ignitor tyres on, obviously not good for road use. I am after some suggestions for a good cheap (ish) fast rolling tyre that I can put on my bike for the ride to and from work. The rims are 26" and are Sun Black Eye (not tubeless) it it helps.

Many thanks in anticipation

Andrew

dj58

I use Specialized Nimbus sport 26 x 1.5" on my road converted Kona MTB, run at 65 p.s.i. a good compromise for speed, comfort and puncture protection.

Initialised

Schwalbe Durano 1.1" (28mm), very low rolling resistance with decent puncture protection, better in the wet than Gatorskins but will make your bike look a little skeletal. Will get you used to riding on skinny tyres before you make the shift to a proper bike

getting_on_a_bit

I have a 1995 steel cindercone,mavic 717, and have used Continental Contact Sport 26x1.6" for many many years.Had thinner Specialised Fat Boy before that which were probably a bit quicker but the thicker Continental are more comfy and roll well.Only had a few punctures each year.A hard winter can see off the side walls.

stantheman206

Thanks guys, has anyone had any experiences with gatorskins? I don't wanna spend more than £25 each tyre so they seem to Fit the bill? Also would I need new inner tubes to replace my existing ones, not entirely sure what they are but they fit the ignitor tyres presently on the wheels?

Initialised

I didn't get on to well with Gatorskins, the bike felt much better on Duranos, no confidence in the wet on 26" Gators, felt like the back end wasn't planted, they are hard to fit and not as puncture proof as you'd expect. Either way you'll need new tubes going from 2.1 down to 1.1 is a big change. Look for 650B tubes.

I liked using a Contact Sport on the rear with a Gator on the front but I found the Contact Sport much more puncture prone than Duranos or Gators and needing one 1.6 and one 1.1 tube was a pain. I'm currently running 23mm Specialized Espoir's (28mms supplied with the bike punctured once each in 4000 miles) if they do an equivalent 650B/26" tyre it'd be worth looking into.

snowster

I have these on my cube http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewit ... 0841997433 and seem to do the job 800 miles and not a puncture in sight and cheap to go with it...

stantheman206

Interesting! My commute is on some country lanes so maybe I would benefit from a slight tread and sacrifice a little on a Speed !

notnot

I've used Schwalbe City Jets 1.5" very happily. Roll nicely, decent grip and not all that pricey (give a slightly lively feel to the bike and steering when pumped up to recommended psi).

They seem fine on rubbish roads and on country lanes (inc. the odd 20miles ride on lanes). Ridable on good tracks, though you wouldn't get them if this was most of your riding. Never had an issue with punctures, though you may want more protection if you're often going over thorns etc.

stantheman206

snowster wrote:

I have these on my cube http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewit ... 0841997433 and seem to do the job 800 miles and not a puncture in sight and cheap to go with it...

Amazing value! think i may take a punt on these plus some new tubes. Having given it some thought I will probably only be riding road surfaces with my Reba's locked during the week and then do some "proper" biking in the mud at the weekend with the ignitors back on! what do you think initialised?

Initialised

I haven't tried City Jets, 1.5" just seemed a bit half arsed so I went straight to proper skinny 1.2" Gators. That said I've only had one puncture ever on Schwalbe tyres (currently 6 across three bikes) so if puncture resistance is something your looking for then definitely worth a punt.

Last time I rode my MTB on the road it was on Maxxis High Roller DH 2.35s, very hard going when your used to 23mm slicks. So you'll definitely feel a lot faster than on the Ignitors.

notnot

Initialised wrote:

I haven't tried City Jets, 1.5" just seemed a bit half arsed so I went straight to proper skinny 1.2" Gators.

Definitely is a bit of a compromise They let me do a bit more than would be comfortable on proper skinny slicks, though, and roll well enough that I expect it's more my limited fitness (and things like air resistance) that slow me down rather than the tyres.

vimfuego

I commute into London every day on my old XC MTB. I've been running Gators for the last year or so and have never had any problems with them (the odd visit from the p******e fairy - but no tyre is 100% puncture proof). They seem to handle well enough, even in the wet, and I've plenty of confidence riding on them (including sticking them into corners without panicking). Mind you I've ridden them for the last few years on my roadie too, so probably used to what they can do and how my riding style works with them. They give you great protection from p*******s (if you regularly pick out any flints, bits of glass etc that they pick up) and roll really quickly if you put the effort in (18mph average over a 16 mile ride for me without much bother). The 26" version can be a bar steward to get on & off the rims, but once you've nailed the technique down they are no real bother (just be prepared to swear at them whilst doing it) & TBH if you're not regularly stuck at the side of the road in the cold replacing tubes, then it's a small price to pay. As per a previous post, the bike looks a bit skinny without fatter knobbly tyres - but who cares when you can easily mix it with full on roadies.

Can't speak for others experience, but I've found Gators are brilliant on my commuter. With that said, a mate swears by Schwalbe Durano Plus's - a bit heavier but feel more substantial and offer good protection too.

Good luck with it

simon_e

Initialised wrote:

I haven't tried City Jets, 1.5" just seemed a bit half arsed

You don't know what you're missing. Narrower is not necessarily better and I don't think they're any slower than the Specialized 1" slicks I tried. Unlike the Jets, these didn't inspire much confidence and were more jarring.

The only downside is that City Jets have a puny puncture belt so if you regularly ride over glass shards, thorns etc then I'd recommend trying something with more protection.

Initialised

vimfuego wrote:

Can't speak for others experience, but I've found Gators are brilliant on my commuter. With that said, a mate swears by Schwalbe Durano Plus's - a bit heavier but feel more substantial and offer good protection too.

I only managed to puncture my Duranos by hitting a pothole at 30mph. I didn't see it coming as I was drafting a bus at the time. So I'd say the puncture protection on them is plenty without going to the Plus belt which can drastically reduce the feel of the rubber-road interface.

The Rookie

I commute on a 26" wheeled hybrid and have tried a few 26" slicks, all in 1.5" width apart from the Bronx.
1/ Bronx off ebay, heavy as hell, very thick and pretty much PF proof, but wear out phenominally fast
2/ City Jets, excellent budget option but not as good as better tyres
3/ WTB Slickasaurus, bought used, did over 3k miles before being worn out, 2 visits from the PF (the second long after I really should have replaced the second of the two to wear out), failry light, fairly fast rolling
3/ Spesh Nimbus, not as good as the WTB's, not really any better than the CJ's apart from slightly more grip in cold weather
4/ Panaracer Ribmo, very fast rolling, no PF visit in 1000 miles, strange tread shape means it rolls like a narrower tyre and should last ages.
5/ Conti Sport contact, slightly better in most respects than the WTB but lack of a tread pattern means they produce a LOT of spray.

drummer_boy

Got some Schwalbe Marathons on my Caldera, never had a puncture since :-) tried all sorts before that, but the Marathons win for me.

marley0891

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18728783#p18728783]Drummer_Boy[/url] wrote:

Got some Schwalbe Marathons on my Caldera, never had a puncture since :-) tried all sorts before that, but the Marathons win for me.

Did you fit these tyres to Sun Black Eye rims on your Caldera?

The reason I ask is I have these rims on my 08 Caldera and bought a set of Nimbus Armadillo 26 x 1.5 and they required two people and much force to fit so not very practical as I would like to swap for MTB tyres now and then.