Types of Tyres

[Peteaud]

Friend of mine just changed nobblies to slicks on his MTB.

Much faster and less effort is what he said, and now he is looking at road bikes......

Defo worth changing.

 

[karl61]

have to agree with stewart h

 

[Zakalwe]

Slicks are safer on the road than knobblies too, more rubber in contact with Tarmac = more grip.

 

[riggsbie]

I fitted some Big Apples 28 x 2.15 on my Scott Spark 29er.....

40 kph on the flat is easy....and 70 kph on a 10% downhill grade, but turning was interesting due to the rotating mass......

Awful on silty mud tho !

Riggsbie

 

[Robwiz]

I swapped the off road tyres on my MTB for Schwalbe City Jets and for the same effort I'm getting at least 2 mph more speed.

 

[Nocode]

So in summary. basically;

• Quicker, not masses quicker but a couple of mph and that can certainly add-up over a longer commute
• Safer, increased contact patch with the road
• Quieter, less noise from road and wind
• Purpose, you're only riding on roads so you might as well has a tyre that is suited to it's purpose

When I first started commuting back in August I swapped from knobblies to Schwalbe Marathon's (26 x 1.5) and it made a considerable difference - similar to what Norm said above regarding speed increase.

It's a no brainer imo.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Quicker, not masses quicker but a couple of mph and that can certainly add-up over a longer commute.

It certainly can add up.

To a lot of people an improvement of 2 to 3 MPH on the average speed really does not sound like a lot. However, to put things into perspective one of my regular rides is roughly 30 miles and as I can now usually do it at an average of 13mph instead of 10mph I can complete the ride 40 minutes quicker.

 

[Egon Belmontie]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replays some really helpfull advice. im glad it wasn't as stupid a question as i first thought lol

i'll will swing by my bike shop on the way home tonight then and pick up some decent road tyres.

thanks again

 

[mcshroom]

Just to add to the others, cornering is a lot nicer as well because the road tyres have a rounded profile and so you can lean more before they start skidding. When I put knobbly tyres back on my mtb it felt like I was turning in treacle.

Your rims will probably take anything down to about 1.5" width (they may do narrower, but 1.5" is a pretty safe bet). You will think that your bike looks wierd with skinnier slick tyres on to start with but you get used to them

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I went much faster with slicks on my MTB, especially around corners, in fact on one occasion my bike went even faster than I did and reached the far side of the road unhindered my body, I caught up with it by using my skin as a lubricant between myself and the road.

 

[sophie]

Im was thinking for doing the same, but dose the tyre width make much difference? ive got a mountain bike with think tyres on them, so do i need to get the same or should i get thinner ones? i think the ones ive got now are 26 x 2.35

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Im was thinking for doing the same, but dose the tyre width make much difference? ive got a mountain bike with think tyres on them, so do i need to get the same or should i get thinner ones? i think the ones ive got now are 26 x 2.35

If it's for mainly road use then a thinner tyre will be beneficial as they will roll easier and faster. 26x1.5 or 26x1.75 are most likely to fit your rims.

As already mentioned earlier in the thread, I favour a touring style tyre which rolls pretty well on the road but still has enough tread to cope with light off-road use. If you are only ever riding on-road then perhaps try a slick such as Schwalbe CityJets which will roll slightly easier still.

 

[sophie]

ok cool thanks phil i wasnt sure if i had to get the same thinkness or like you said 1.5, i tried asking at halfords and the two apes that were in the bike dept were more confused than i was about tyre size question and just kept trying to sell me a whole new wheel

 

[youngoldbloke]

The best answer if you ride on the road all the time is to change to hybrid/road bike.

 

[sophie]

i could OR i could make a few simple modifications to this bike that was giving to me for free and use that for a while lol