Mtb tyres on road

Legit potato

Hello, im quite new to mountain biking (did quite a bit of road cycling) and im going to a holliday, but there arent any mtb trails around just a lot of roads... So i will be riding a lot of road climbs. Since after every climb there is a long descent all the way back to hotel, im intrested what tyre pressure is gonna work best (for grip not rolling resistance)? Is 15-20psi too low and i should ride with normal presure of around 24psi or is even lower better? Also how does cornering grip with some chunky 2.3 tyres compare to road bike tyres? Thanks.

cooldad

I'd be using much higher pressures if it's just road, and as for grip, you'll see when you fall off.

Legit potato

cooldad wrote:

I'd be using much higher pressures if it's just road, and as for grip, you'll see when you fall off.

Errr i dont really like road rash ... So higher pressures on road = more grip? Keep in mind im a bit less than 60kg

thistle_

Legit potato wrote:

cooldad wrote:

I'd be using much higher pressures if it's just road, and as for grip, you'll see when you fall off.

Errr i dont really like road rash ... So higher pressures on road = more grip? Keep in mind im a bit less than 60kg

Can you get some different tyres? Maybe something like this http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... -prod24640

fat daddy

I regularly use my mtb on the road as my nearest acceptable trail is cycleable to on the road.

Running knobbly 2.3 continental vertical or 2.1 racing ralph, the grip is less on the road compared to 25c/28c Contis' pro sport and gatorskin .. there isn't a comparison really, nobbles squirm around change shape, and spread the contact patch out so the tyre doesn't dig down on the road.

however ! ...... because the knobblies squirm around so much at high speed, they are as safe as anything, you can feel them slipping .. I have never had a tyre break away from me the bike just doesn't track perfectly around a bend, it slowely slips out to the side .... added to that the speed is considerably lower on a MTB, my ride into work on Tuesday I hit 24mph on the descent ... the same descent on Monday was 31 on the road bike.

mind you a few of the corners I swear I take quicker on the mtb, they are gritty, lumpy, off camber and the mtb holds the road feeling a lot safter than the road bike

Legit potato

Hmh i might get new tyres like those crazy bobs... i hope those have grip like nice road bike 25c tyres. Ok so tyre choice sorted out what do you think about pressures low or high?

The Rookie

If you are riding only on the road get a road tyre, they start at just over £10 each for a Schwlabe City Jet 26"x1.5" or you can spend a bit more.

I used to commute on 26" road tyres and used 80psi, never ran out of grip other than the day when it rained overnight and then froze, nothing grips on ice without steel spikes. That was about 3mph faster on average than on my MTB on nobblies even when pumped to 45psi.

LimitedGarry

Due to the landscape here, I get to ride a lot of tarmac on pretty much any trip longer than 40km. Some tarmac descents here have me going at 50-60km/h without pedalling. As for grip, I ride Maxxis Ardent and to be frank, I can't imagine what I'd have to do in order to loose grip on tarmac.
Getting the pressure higher will usually allow you to go slightly faster, but that depends on the tread you run.

trekvet

I run a couple of Continental Travel Contact, fast on road and grip for hard tracks. F at 35, R at 50 on coil FS. http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Continental-Tra ... wodDRsByQ#

N0bodyOfTheGoat

If your bike has 700 wheels, like a road bike, these tyres fly on the road (I've used a set for over 6 months) and £20 is a good price these days (they were £16 at PX a week or so ago).
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYSCMRCFOL ... -raceguard

They are also very capable of gentler off-road excursions, I think they are probably better all-rounder tyres than Smart Sams.