MTB Road Tyre Advice

Daymo1708

Hi guys,

I currently have a Voodoo Bantu which I use mainly for commuting & some light off road trails/canal towpaths.

Last week a couple of road bike mates talked me into signing up for a 50 mile charity ride and I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to swap the 27.5x2.25 Maxxis Ardents that came with the bike for something a bit more road friendly.

Up to now I've been looking at:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... -prod36216
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... prod128945
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... prod128938

The inner rim width of my wheels is 21mm and I read somewhere that the narrowest tyre I can go for is 1.5"

Has anyone had any experience with any of these tyres or any other suggestions?

Cheers
Damon

keef66

When I decided I was riding my rigid MTB mainly on road I just went into Halfords and bought a couple of 1.5" city slicks I think they were.

You don't need tread on a road tyre. But you do need to pump them up more than you'll be used to on a MTB

The Rookie

50 miles on Ardents wouldn't be an issue to be honest.

You could go narrower than a 1.50" but it wouldn't help your light off road use.

Do you want the new tyres for just on road or for the light off road use? If its just for on road then you could look at the Schwalbe Durano E in 27.5x1.5" (I know its meant for E-bikes but it will work just fine).

The 1.5" City Jets mentioned by kee aren't available as a 27.5".

Maxxis do a Detonator in 27.50 x 1.50, having had the 26" version I rate them highly, £25 ea though.

Daymo1708

Thanks for the reply,

I'm looking to get the new tyres just for road use/commuting and then stick the Ardents back on for the off road stuff.

I've looked around the forum and there seems to be plenty of suggestions for 26" tyres but not 27.5s

I'll have a look into the Durano & Detonators, cheers.

keef66

Yep, my MTB was bought in 1998, so it had 26" wheels, V-brakes, and no suspension

The Rookie

If the tyres are for dual purpose then one of the Marathon family would be ideal, the Marathon plus is a pig to fit and remove (see youtube for videos on how to) but is just about as unpuncturable as a pneumatic tyre can be, they do give rather a heavy dull road though due to the tread thickness/stiffness.

m00nbadger

funnily enough I have the same issue - doing a 60 mile bike ride on road and was looking for a tyre similar ot the OP says

was thinking 1.50 would be wayyyy too think tho, and was planning on buying the hurricanes linked above...

The Rookie

My commuter runs on 26x1.5", it works great on road and canal tow paths although on looser gravel they feel a bit squirrely you can still ride them just fine. My town hack bike (an old 1997 steel MTB) also runs on the same size.

In what way do you think 1.5" is too thin?

m00nbadger

not sure, just never ran anything remotely non-nobbly and that thin on my bike!

get the feeling I'd be lacking in control. not sure really. happy to be persuaded otherwise!

crazymac680

I bought theses for my old mtb now hybrid.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cont ... prod137099
They are really fast on road compared to my old ardents and have also served me well off road when my routes are dry and involve a lot of peddling.

The Rookie

Road bikes use tyres down to 23mm wide, even if that was marginal for control you would think one over 50% wider would be fine, besides the 1.5" road tyre probably still has more rubber in contact with the ground than the small area of the tread block tips on a knobbly.

I've hit a max speed of 45mph on mine, if I felt I lacked control I assure you I wouldn't have been going that fast, on part of my commute I hit 35mph daily.