MTB TYRES TO SLICKS

mariannel

Hi All

Wasn't sure which forum to post in...MTB...or...Road. I have a mountain bike used mainly for off-road. I do use my bike to commute to work but as this is only a mile or so away from home, I have never really given much thought to the tyres.

However, I am going to do a charity ride next month, which is mainly road use, so thinking maybe best to change tyres for this event. I believe the smoother/thinner tyres would give me a better/easier ride. Maybe even go for rims and slicks...not really sure hence why I am here asking for ......thoughts on this.

I really don't want to buy another bike as I'm happy with my MTB, and it does the commute job for now.

If I was to change tyres/rims, hopefully this is not a silly question but what size would I buy? My MTB tyres are 26 x 2.35.

Any thoughts or comments much appreciated.

agentorange88

26" being the diameter, 2.35" being the width. Changing to a 1.5" or 1.25" wide tyre makes a heap of diference, I picked up a pair of vittoria tyres from decathlon for about £12 each that were perfect for london to brighton.

Will likely need narrower inner tubes as well to match and a back up tube or two.

agentorange88

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/26x15-rando ... 26694.html

the ones i used, im not sure if they are any good for regular use but as a one off they were fine for what i needed

bungle73

I put a pair of Schwalbe Kojaks on MTB before I bought a road bike. They're super fast.

roger_merriman

How far is the charity ride? and how fit are you i.e. do you ride this sort of distance any way?

sometimes it's better to stick to the devil you know as you where.

dj58

26 x 1.5" road pattern tyres are a good compromise between speed and comfort, as mentioned above buy matching size inner tubes to go with them and don't over inflate the tyre pressures. I use these on my commuter bike
http://www.jejamescycles.com/specialize ... gJ19PD_BwE

glenwatt

I have been running these on a commuter MTB without too many issues.

Plus plenty faster than full knobbles.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... -prod36216

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Apparently there is a 26x1.75 Marathon Cross variant...
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schw ... prod143786

£24 each plus 2.1% Topcashback (plus if you spend £99+, you can use a British Cycling 10% discount once per calendar month).

They might not be light for a 1.75" tyre because of the wire bead, but they roll very well on the road and are decent off-road at lower pressures. Got 29er version for my Wazoo.

mariannel

Thank you everyone for your comments.

Think I will go for the tyre change for the charity ride at least. With them sounding like a different 'ride', I will practice on my work commute and maybe do some longer 'road' riding.

animal72

I've got a set of nearly new Shwalbe Land Cruisers, with tubes.

Pick them up (Cambridge) or pay postage and you can have them for nowt.

Moonbiker

http://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/

This website is quite handy if you want to find fast rollin tyres

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. https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Continental-Tr ... 13d01ebba3 . The smoother the tread on front tyre, the less muck gets on chain.

part time waster

I ran specialzed fat boy 1.25 slicks. Did many 100 plus mile club runs with the roadies no problem. Roll fast and great grip.

Matthewfalle

I've used Fat Boy 1.25 for years on tarmac and gravel tracks - can't be faulted: roll well, look cool, pretty darn puncture resistant, no issues on wet roads, well priced.

100psi I think but just whack them up really hard and go rocking.

https://www.evanscycles.com/en-kz/speci ... e-00119321