Types of Tyres

[Egon Belmontie]

Hi all,

I need to replace one of my tyres due to wear,

But just wondering if it would make that much of a difference to the ride If i replaced the chunky offroad MTB tyres with the more road/touring style tyres as i only cycle on the road?

Or should i just replace the one tyre and stick to same?


Many thanks,
Egon.

 

[simon.r]

It will make a big difference to the ride if you fit road-style tyres - you'll go faster for the same amount of effort.

 

[MrJamie]

I don't mean to be antagonistic, but can anyone quantify the speed increase you would expect from going to slicks and/or reducing tyre width?

There's so much speed gain suggested on here from changing tyres, lighter wheels, wearing lycra, shaving legs , clip in pedals, rigid forks, weight reductions, drop bars, I genuinely wonder if id go like a bullet if I changed all of the above

 

[simon.r]

I reckon changing from 2.1" MTB tyres to 1.5" road tyres gained me about a 2 MPH increase in average speed over a 10 mile road route.

Totally un-scientific, just my experience.

 

[derrick]

Slicks for the road.

 

[potsy]

You hear all sorts of tales of huge increases in speed on here, most of which is bs imo.

You'll certainly notice some increases but it won't be a life changing doubling of speed, I reckon simon is about right, 2mph or so

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I don't mean to be antagonistic, but can anyone quantify the speed increase you would expect from going to slicks and/or reducing tyre width?

There's so much speed gain suggested on here from changing tyres, lighter wheels, wearing lycra, shaving legs , clip in pedals, rigid forks, weight reductions, drop bars, I genuinely wonder if id go like a bullet if I changed all of the above

I can only go from my experience but changing from knobbly tyres (26x2.0 Orca) to touring tyres (26x1.75 Continental TourRide) on the knockabout bike improved my average speed on a typical trip from 9/10mph to 11/13mph and up to 15mph on a good day.

 

[HovR]

I don't mean to be antagonistic, but can anyone quantify the speed increase you would expect from going to slicks and/or reducing tyre width?

There's so much speed gain suggested on here from changing tyres, lighter wheels, wearing lycra, shaving legs , clip in pedals, rigid forks, weight reductions, drop bars, I genuinely wonder if id go like a bullet if I changed all of the above

Not only what Rickshaw Phil said above, but changing to slick tires also removes a lot of annoying road buzz that is generated by the knobbly tires, as well as making the ride quieter.

Also, having had a bike which came with a non-lockout suspension fork, and upgrading to a rigid fork, I'd say that it's well worth it. The bike is so much easier to ride up hills and power off the lights etc, as a large chunk of your energy isn't wasted being translated into the fork bouncing up and down.

 

[Moodyman]

It will make a big difference to the ride if you fit road-style tyres - you'll go faster for the same amount of effort.

Not a huge benefit for short rides, but certainly for longer ones (10+ miles) the benefits will be felt - less effort required.

 

[potsy]

Egon, if you only ride on road then I'd defo go for slick road type tyres, no point having nobbly's if you don't need the offroad grip.
What size are you running now?

 

[CopperCyclist]

I don't mean to be antagonistic, but can anyone quantify the speed increase you would expect from going to slicks and/or reducing tyre width?

There's so much speed gain suggested on here from changing tyres, lighter wheels, wearing lycra, shaving legs , clip in pedals, rigid forks, weight reductions, drop bars, I genuinely wonder if id go like a bullet if I changed all of the above

MTB with thick, wide knobblies: about 15-16mph rolling average on a commute
Cyclocross with 35mm semi slicks: 17-18mph
Road bike with 24mm slicks: 18-19mph

That's me anyway!

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I'm lazy so less effort for me - road slicks!!

 

[Stewart H]

I have been known to overtake knobbly tyred MTBs freewheeling on my slicks, loads less drag and quieter too.

 

[Norm]

I don't mean to be antagonistic, but can anyone quantify the speed increase you would expect from going to slicks and/or reducing tyre width?

I tested this on my old rigid MTB, doing the same route on consecutive evenings. I changed nothing except the tyres to do 2 runs on consecutive evenings. Moving from mixed-purpose rubber to road tyres reduced my time on a 7 mile road loop by around 17%.

 

[Boon 51]

My bobs worth..
I had an old mountain bike and fitted road tyres too it, then a week later bought a road bike..