MTB Tyre choice for 60 mile charity road ride

[hab1966]

The wife and I have decided to take part in the Manchester to Blackpool charity bike ride in July.

Both our mountain bikes are fitted with good old 26" knobbly tyres which i'm thinking should be switched to something better suited for road use, but also capable of handling the probable downpour we will experience during the ride.

I'd also like a tyre that's got some element of puncture resistance as i want to be carrying the bare minimum in spares/tools.

Grateful for any suggestions.

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

Hello, I did a charity ride on a similar bike. I was lent a pair of slick and relatively narrow mtb tyres.

They certainly helped! Pump them up hard and enjoy the easy rolling.

Ps is it the London to Brighton?

[seyre1972]

Hi,

take a look on wiggle

Wiggle

I've did London to Brighton twice on my MTB but with road tyres/not slicks. Definitely makes a huge difference !!

[anonymous-user]

I'd be looking at some kind of directional tyre from either Maxxis or Schwalbe.

I'm doing the London to Brighton MTB ride this year, it's my arse that worries me the most.

[Psimpson7]

Schwalbe Thunder Burts are rapid on the road / hard pack.

Probably the fastest rolling mtb tyre I have used and still usable off road in dry / easy conditions.

[DMN]

I did the 65+ mile IOW round the island with DMR Motos on my Orange Crush.

[lukefreeman]

Chainsaw Rebuild said:

Hello, I did a charity ride on a similar bike. I was lent a pair of slick and relatively narrow mtb tyres.

They certainly helped! Pump them up hard and enjoy the easy rolling.

Ps is it the London to Brighton?

Gonna take a wild guess and says it's manchester to blackpool........

[hab1966]

would either of these do?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-marathon-original...

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-marathon-plus-rig...

[anonymous-user]

lukefreeman said:

Gonna take a wild guess and says it's manchester to blackpool........

Got Saturday's numbers while you're at it?

[daddy cool]

CoinSl0t said:

I'm doing the London to Brighton MTB ride this year, it's my arse that worries me the most.

Good luck with that - i did it last year, toughest ride ive done. Your worries are well founded - it was 7+ hours in the saddle for me, 9 hours in total. And the big climb comes at 65 miles in. But you'll be chuffed when you complete it
My thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Pot Odds]

I did the London to Brighton on a MTB wearing a set of Schwalbe City Jets a few years back. Much less rolling resistance - kept them on the bike for years for occasional commuting to work and they were fine for canal paths and firetracks - it was only when I got back into riding up some steeper stuff off road this winter that i switched back to nobblies and by god they were hard work on road by comparison !

I used these:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/schwalbe-city-j...

I have however noticed a version of the city jets on wiggle with kevlar guard if you're worried about punctures:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-city-jet-active-l...

You will however need to check whether your wheels are compatible with narrower tyres.

I can't really comment too much on their wet weather performance, particularly at speed, other than to say i haven't noticed any issues (but then i haven't tried any steep decents in the wet on them).

It's a slippery slope though - I was MTB through and through until things got a bit speedier on slick tyres - a road bike followed shortly after and i've loved it since. I'm a winter MTBer and summer roadie

Edited by Pot Odds on Wednesday 6th April 08:10

[hab1966]

Pot Odds said:

You will however need to check whether your wheels are compatible with narrower tyres.

That's a good point. I just presumed i could fit any tyre to my wheels. When buying tyres i've only checked that the width was correct for the frame. How do i go about checking the compatibility?

Pot Odds said:

It's a slippery slope though - I was MTB through and through until things got a bit speedier on slick tyres - a road bike followed shortly after and i've loved it since. I'm a winter MTBer and summer roadie

Not much chance of turning into a roadie; i don't have the body for lycra!!

Edited by hab1966 on Wednesday 6th April 09:12

[lufbramatt]

Schwalbe Cityjet in 1.95" cheap but roll well and still reasonably comfortable.

[anonymous-user]

daddy cool said:

Good luck with that - i did it last year, toughest ride ive done. Your worries are well founded - it was 7+ hours in the saddle for me, 9 hours in total. And the big climb comes at 65 miles in. But you'll be chuffed when you complete it
My thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Good post, just read it over lunch.

I really struggled to do a Wiggle event last month and that was only 28 miles with circa 3000ft of climbing, so the L2B is going to be a real challenge.

I've got plenty of time to build up some fitness, but I've been riding for just over two years now and haven't made any big distance gains.

Fortunately I'm riding with my brother in-law, he's very bike fit and will keep pushing me all the way.

I'll definitely be putting my Speedking 2's on for this ride.

[mfmman]

I have a hybrid with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres (although 700c) similar to these http://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-marathon-plus-rig...

Did a stack of road miles whilst saving up for a roadie including 50-60 mile club rides and barely ever pumped them up let alone got a puncture. Still loads of life left now, might be as much as 2000 miles old

Edited by mfmman on Wednesday 6th April 19:24

[Hell27]

I ran a 26" wheel mtb for 1300 miles on a set of bontrager hard case semi slicks without a single puncture, ever.
I combined regular road commuting into Manchester with off road riding around the local mountain bike trails and it handled both well.
Well worth a look.

[JQ]

I put these on when using my mountain bike to commute to work, can't fault them really.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/randonneur-reflect-hybr...