New tyres

nbuuifx

I currently have three sets of tyres for my boardman MTB, but none of them are ideal.

I have some continental knobbly ones.
I have some continental travel Contact ones.
I have some continental road slicks.


The boardman used to be my only bike, hence the road slicks. However I now have a road bike too and use that if I'm just going out on the road.

The boardman has mainly been used now for going along cycling routes with the kids, these tend to be fairly flat routes (old train lines etc.) sometimes canal paths and a bit of road. I've been using the travel Contact ones as they seemed the best compromise, however they have now pretty much worn out, they are pretty slick now and I noticed some thread coming through. I don't like the knobbly ones as they are noisy and you can feel the extra effort they require. I had them fitted with a make shift no tubes setup but it's been so long that they were completely flat.

I was going to get some more travel contacts but they're not ideal, they work well most of the time but deep mud and slippy leaves feel dangerous. They are also expensive!

Is there anything else that is worth a look? I basically use it like a Hybrid, I want a good efficient tyre that won't sap all my effort away, but I want it to be able to handle some wet leaves and mud (maybe they could back when they were new??) - must be 26".

Thanks.

nbuuifx

Just had a quick look at those - they look quite knobbly but they do say they are one of their fastest rolling tyres.

They're pricey though at £32 each. I've not bought tyres for a good few years - is it just me? £64 for a pair of tyres seems steep - I can get budget car ones for that price

cooldad

Except budget car tyres will be really sh1t on a bike.

robertpb

How about these £15 the pair.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYVIPE26FT/ ... lding-tyre

nbuuifx

Just a quick look at the knobblies that I have got and they are Continental Vapour.

As I said before I used them years ago and they seemed OK for off road, but seemed a drag to me on the road. I could switch back to them but I never felt confident with them as tubeless tyres, I don't think the tyre was ever designed to be, nor was the rim. They worked but they kept going flat when left for a few weeks, then I'd have to use the compressor each time to seat them properly. If I went back to them, I think I'd put tubes back in. Just figured there must be something better out there.

nbuuifx

robertpb wrote:

How about these £15 the pair.

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYVIPE26FT/ ... lding-tyre

They sound OK from the description and the price is much better. Have you used them at all? Or anyone else? They look similar (pattern wise) to the ones on my wife's bike.

nbuuifx

There are some Vittoria Revolution G+ ones for the same price. It says they are for all conditions and they look like they'd be faster rolling. Any thoughts on those?

JGTR

Schwalbe Smart Sam, around £13 each on Chain Reaction. Also look at the Rapid Robs - both are designed as fast rolling XC tyres

JBA

If the Conti Vapour have wire beads you will struggle to get them to seal well if set up tubeless.
If you want to go tubeless I'd recommend Small Block 8, Rocket Ron/Racing Ralph or Specialized Fast Trak.

Bike tyres are now stupidly expensive, but if you want decent tyres you have to pay. There is no way around it unfortunately.

nbuuifx

I ended up going with the revolution G+ tyres at £15 for the pair. I popped them on today - took them for a quick spin on the road and they seemed great - they didn't drag too much and seemed to have a lot of grip. I'll give them a proper test tomorrow with a mixture of road, trail and forest riding.

Thanks for sign posting me towards those tyres at £7.50 - they seem great quality for the money.