Road tyres for a mountain bike

[Moose.]

I've got a spare set of wheels at home which I'm thinking might be quite handy to have for those days when I just want to get somewhere quickly on the bike, so figured a set of road based tyres would do the trick Anyone got any recommendations for some super fast rolling, road based tyres for 26" MTB wheels? Ideally they wouldn't mind the odd tow path from time to time either, and must be cheap!

cheers

[BOR]

I use 26"x2,0" Schwalbe Kojaks. As the name implies, they are totally bald, dyageddit ?

Fast, cheap, light. No problems in wet weather so far, ok on level, gravel paths. Probably not great in mud, but I don't use it of road.

[longblackcoat]

Continental Sport Contact in 1.3 width - fast as anything but no use at all offroad.

If you need something to do a bit of both then Geax Roadster is good, with a bit more grip/sidewall strength. Nowhere near as fast as the Conti though.

[stewies_minion]

I've been on these for more than a year

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Schwalbe_City_Je...

Can't complain at that price. A 20ft rear wheel skid does no favours for the tread though.

[Vron]

I bought some Schwalbe City jet for my Mountin bike from this guy - couldn't find anyone cheaper. Delivery was 2 days after payment too.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/nickswarehouse1_W0...

[thepickle]

I put some Maxxis Xeniths (26 x 1.5) on one of my bikes not long ago. I didn't fancy going any narrower (Conti Gator Skins), but that's mainly due to my rims (D521 cd). They roll super fast, I'm loving them, they require so much less effort than a normal treaded tyre on tarmac. My record on them so far is 37mph The obvious downside is that if you touch the slightest little piece of mud/grass they slide. One thing that has amazed me is I haven't had a single puncture yet (touching lots of wood!!), the contact part of the tyre is a decent thickness then goes thinner in the walls keeping weight down (360g). Good tyres, I'd buy them again.

[Cloud 9]

I use schwalbe landcruisers semi slicks, cheap and reliable :-)

[Emley]

I concur re the Maxxis Zenith's, did not want to go any narrower.
They are okay in the wet if you treat them with a bit of respect.

Done about 500 miles on them without a puncture and they are wearing well too.
They do need to be pumped up to the max though if its dry, they feel lathargic at lower pressures

[Moose.]

Thanks for the suggestions all

Went for the 26"x1.5 City Jets from CRC as they seems the best value at £12 each delivered. Will let you know how I get on with them

[TwistingMyMelon]

Good choice on the city jets, I had them on my old MTB and they were brilliant, I didnt get a puncture in 3000 miles of tarmac and gravel, and I ride hard!

I managed to get a pair in a 1.95 width, makeing them uber stable and forgiveing much more so than my current 700 rims

[MElliottUK]

Ive also been looking at wiggle, what differnce does the width make?

Mainly looking at a commuter tyre/coast to coast event tyre

Edited by MElliottUK on Wednesday 10th June 12:44

[TwistingMyMelon]

More width on a tyre : more contact with the ground and the benefits and drawbacks this provides.

On 26" wheels a narrow slick tyre (1.50) is slimmer so gives less rolling resistance, thus "quicker" and more nimble. I found wider slick tyres (1.90) give more rolling resistance but gave more stability when pressing on round bends and gravel, esp easing round slight bends at 40-50mph on greasy roads.

Narrow width tyres can also handle a higher PSI to improve RR

Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Wednesday 10th June 16:42

[Vron]

TwistingMyMelon said:

More width on a tyre : more contact with the ground and the benefits and drawbacks this provides.

On 26" wheels a narrow slick tyre (1.50) is slimmer so gives less rolling resistance, thus "quicker" and more nimble. I found wider slick tyres (1.90) give more rolling resistance but gave more stability when pressing on round bends and gravel, esp easing round slight bends at 40-50mph on greasy roads.

Narrow width tyres can also handle a higher PSI to improve RR

Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Wednesday 10th June 16:42

40 - 50MPH on a Mountain bike !?!

[TwistingMyMelon]

Some steep hills down in Wiltshire Boyo....

MTB with slicks, 54 was my max on cycle computer and that seemed to be +-5% accurate compairing to my mates Garmin GPS unit.

Anyway 38-40 is fairly easy on most hills I would have thought with a little effort

I do live for the hills tho, both up and down.

[MElliottUK]

I will go for 1.5's then i think, can i use my existing innertubes or will they we the incorrect width. I will most likely look out for a tyre & inner tube set anyway.

Thanks

[prand]

Inner tubes should be fine from a normal MTB wheel

[Steve UK]

I have put Michelin Mountain Rocks on my Cotic Soul, it gets used 75% road and 25% off when I take a short cut through some woods to the local reservoir my loop.

They are cheap and good on tarmac, no punctures off road either but do get a little interesting on loose stuff.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...

[pdV6]

TwistingMyMelon said:

Narrow width tyres can also handle a higher PSI to improve RR

Beware, though, that a lot of MTB wheelsets aren't rated to road tyre pressures.

It's all very well buying super skinny slicks and pumping them up to 120psi but when the wheel fails it'll hurt!

e.g. the Mavic XM719 I run on the back of my commuter is rated to 65psi iirc, so I have fat (2.0) slicks running at 60psi on there.

[mackie1]

These look like a reasonable compromise:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...

Anyone used them?

[thepickle]

mackie1 said:

These look like a reasonable compromise:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...

Anyone used them?

I've got a pair of these in the garage. For me, the puncture protection was absolutely rubbish, no different to a tyre without in my experience. They're also very heavy (700g), twice the weight of a Xenith for example, you can really feel the weight and protection band in the rolling resistance. They came with a label stating "Guaranteed against air loss" !!! would you believe. I thought I'd test this out when I was annoyed at them puncturing first/second ride out Halfords replaced mine twice (so 4 new tyres, fair play to them). Then I gave up on them and moved onto something else.