Monstercross tyres advice

ex-pat scot

I have a slightly unusual challenge!

I have a "spare" CX bike, and it would be great if it were set up as a wider -tyre offroader.
To that end, i am looking for a pair of basic wide "monstercross" tyres to try out.
The bike is a 2010 Specialized tricross (rim brake), which looks to have pretty decent tyre clearance.
From a bit of googling, I can see that it can probably fit pretty large tyres; def in the front and prob in rear.
I'm sure that 700 x 40-42mm would be no probs, and up to 50mm up front.

So = any suggestion for suitable tyres? Cheap as possible! Any suggestion or spares lying around which you no longer use?
I dont think they would get a huge amount of use, but would be good to set up for blasting around our woods and on the various MTB tracks.
Worn would be fine - it would give me a sense of how they ride / feel, without spending big bucks and finding they dont fit or are not suitable.

(based in London and N Yorks).



(I already have a singlecross with 32mm slicks set up for winter use; a spare singlecross with 28mm slicks also for winter; a Ridley x-fire (rim) with 32 mm CX tyres and a Boardman CXR with Hunt disc 50/ Schwalbe G-One 30mms. Hence the "spare bike" comment and the suggestion I try the tricross with wider tyres - the Boardman and Ridley seem to have less clearance),

trek_dan

PX have these on cheap https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYHDSMS/s ... wired-tyre and just any old 29x2.0 MTB tyre on the front.

ex-pat scot

trek_dan wrote:

PX have these on cheap https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYHDSMS/s ... wired-tyre and just any old 29x2.0 MTB tyre on the front.

Thanks Dan - I had these in the basket before I decided to ask. I dont know anything about these tyres but they were my "baseline" for a decent price.

oxoman

Just make sure they're ok with your rims, I've got 42s on my TCX and at low pressures it feels like they want to roll in the corners.

ex-pat scot

oxoman wrote:

Just make sure they're ok with your rims, I've got 42s on my TCX and at low pressures it feels like they want to roll in the corners.

I'm not too worried - I'm used to that. My mtb (early 90s) has narrow mavic MA40 rims with 2" tyres, which was what we used to do 25 years ago.
i have a few pairs of wheels I can use. I will have a quick look at widths, but think that they are mostly quite narrow:
- Shimano RS80s are on at the moment with 28mm Gatorskins
- Sram 27AL are on the Ridley CX and could be swapped over
- older Fulcrum 1
- Sram S40

They will all be pretty much the same internal and external width and relatively narrow by today's standards.

ex-pat scot

I've ordered Schwalbe Smart Sam Kevlar Guard Wired Tyre - £7.50 each for a 42mm wide version.
It seems a pretty cheap way to try out and get a sense of how different a 42mm rolls vs my usual 32mm tyre.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYSCSSKGW ... wired-tyre
Lots in stock, apparently!

ex-pat scot

Arrived yesterday, having been ordered Friday afternoon.
They fit well -the 42mm are nice and roll decently well - i did a quick 22 mile blast last night (50% off road through the woods and 50% road work) and another 10 mile hilly road climb.

Clearance - the 42mm on RS80 rim fits OK in the rear (i suspect anything above 45mm would be at risk of a little rub).
It feels large enough and pretty much spot on for optimising the fit in the frame.
There's masses of room up front - the tricross fork is great for this and looks like it would easily swallow a 55mm / 2.25" tyre.

luv2ride

I put some 38mm Hyper Voyagers on my Singlecross last weekend for a bit of rainy, muddy fun riding...they worked surprisingly well. Would love some lighter, wider singlespeed rims on that thing, maybe even tubeless ready.. As you say, the clearances look big!

...might try my old 40mm WTB Nano's next. Thinking about it, I may have some spare 120 OLD wheels in the shed

bendertherobot

WTB resolute are the best tyres I've owned.
https://www.wtb.com/collections/gravel- ... 5275331151