Newbie question: best tyres for road speed &towpath security

ox)red81

Hi
I have typically been road cycling for my commute so I'm used to a nice speedy ride. I'm now swopping to a MTB, with a ride along a towpath, and then about 20 minutes of road at the end.
My MTB currently has very mountain bikey tyres which I find slow going on the road.
I am keen to replace them with tyres that will give me the best of both worlds and wondered if anyone had any thoughts about this?
I popped into a cycle shop and was recommended:
specalized nimbus, or specialised hemisphere or the marathon plus.

I've looked at them online and wondered if anyone had experience of them or other tyres that give good grip on eg muddy towpath, but aren't too slow on the road?

I am particularly paranoid because I had a bad fall a couple of years ago on the canal, on a hybrid, where the wheel caught when I was moving from the muddy bit to a paved bit, which was higher. It's like this all the way along the canal, which is why I'm going MTB, to try and lessen this risk.
thanks very much!

bendertherobot

You know what, left field. I run Maxxis Ikon on my MTB. 29ers. I'm constantly staggered how they deal with absolutely everything.

When I went up the Afan Mountain Centre recently the shop there had fitted Ikons to all his MTB's as he was so pleased with how they performed.

They even roll really well on tarmac. In fact I did a 25 mile on/off road circuit on mine today.

kamiokande

I've got Marathon Pluses on my MTB, they are quick on the road, certainly much quicker than proper mtb tyres. I ride on a towpath quite a bit and they do a very good job in the dry, in the wet they can be a bit slidey where the towpath is muddy, but they're great on gravelly type surfaces. I suppose it depends how muddy the towpath is? There are sections I ride on that are on a sideways incline that I'm wary of, had a few slips when it's wet but it's just a matter of putting a foot down. There's also a section where a lock is leaking (so it's permanently soaked) and the rear can sometimes lose traction completely. These are just small sections where it's particularly bad though the majority is gravelly or paved and I can bomb along just fine on them.

snowster

schwalbe city jet 2,300 mile+ and not a puncture in slight

ox)red81

Thanks all. Kamiokande that sounds v reassuring, am going to give the marathon a whirl.

arthur_scrimshaw

Marathon Plus are heavy dead tyres which will suck any enjoyment from your ride. One wag on here described them as like riding with hosepipes for tyres. The plus side is you won't be troubled by punctures. I rode a pair for a year or so then swapped to Vittoria Randonneur pro 2's and they are much nicer. The trade off is that I've had a p********. 1 in 6 months so worth the overall improvement in ride quality.

t4tomo

if you want something that will cope with mud but still run OK on he road then try these
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-land-cruiser-mtb-tyre/

the continous band around the middle means it runs well on the road, but it still grips like stink in the mud.

I have them on my MTB / station hack bike.

anewman

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

Marathon Plus are heavy dead tyres which will suck any enjoyment from your ride.

I read stuff like this and didn't notice the slightest bit of difference when I went from stock Kenda Happy (or un happy as the case was when I got a puncture) Medium to Marathon Plus. But then that could be because they don't add that much to my already 110kg :twisted:

I'm not convinced they're the best for some of the towpaths I ride, and I've not been out in the rain on them as yet. But I haven't had a single puncture since I fitted them.

roger_merriman

As the OP is after a fast tyre for a MTB but still wants good grip for slippery conditions.

Race XC tyres such as the Maxxis Ikon fit the brief, plus are a far lighter, with modern tread design etc than City tyres such as Marathon pluses/city jets/land cruisers.

I use a old MTB with a MudX Front and Rapid Rob, gives good fast grippy handling on muddy towpaths/greasy roundabouts etc.

matt@theforce

I used to run some Schwalbe Land Cruisers 26x1.95, quite a nice tyre and lasted along time but I gave up as they were quite heavy and felt to dumb down the ride, I changed them for some Schwalbe Black Jacks 26x1.95 and wouldn't do without them.
They feel lightweight when riding, cope well with muddy/rocky/rooty/loose gravel trails yet also roll well on the road, so far mine have well over 2000miles on them and I use them if I'm doing a cross country ride on my mtb instead of using my CX bike & easily cover 60-70miles per trip on them (no punctures yet either)

drummer_boy

+ for land cruisers. I use these on my towpath/road commute.

Also, i use them for the CW AdventureX events. They roll well on road 9with enough air in them), and grip pretty well off road, as well as being robust. Another plus is that they are pretty cheap :-)

arthur_scrimshaw

anewman wrote:

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

Marathon Plus are heavy dead tyres which will suck any enjoyment from your ride.

I read stuff like this and didn't notice the slightest bit of difference when I went from stock Kenda Happy (or un happy as the case was when I got a puncture) Medium to Marathon Plus. But then that could be because they don't add that much to my already 110kg :twisted:

I'm not convinced they're the best for some of the towpaths I ride, and I've not been out in the rain on them as yet. But I haven't had a single puncture since I fitted them.

Well I'm surprised but then don't know how much you other tyres weigh? A pair of SMP weigh 1.5kg (in 28c) whereas a pair of Randonneurs in a 32 are just over 800gms. That's a lot of extra rotating mass exactly where you don't want it?