Warning: numpty question inside
Discussion
Cycling gents, I need your help.
95% of my riding is now on the road (I only ride for fitness/ fun rather than transport) and my mountain bike is proving a little heavy and cumbersome.
Ideally I need to buy a road bike, but as I have just bought a new motorbike I need to manage my spending for a few months, so have decided to fit road wheels to by bike as a short term fix. I don't want road tyres on my current wheels but new narrower and lighter items.
Now, do I just pop in and buy some new wheels and tyres? How do I swap the disc brakes? How do I find out the hub size so the new wheel fits my forks? What should I be looking for and are there any 'do's and don'ts' when it comes to wheel swapping?
Oh, and my bike is nothing special - it's £400 worth of Saracen
Cheers, and apologies for asking what I'm sure is a simple question.
95% of my riding is now on the road (I only ride for fitness/ fun rather than transport) and my mountain bike is proving a little heavy and cumbersome.
Ideally I need to buy a road bike, but as I have just bought a new motorbike I need to manage my spending for a few months, so have decided to fit road wheels to by bike as a short term fix. I don't want road tyres on my current wheels but new narrower and lighter items.
Now, do I just pop in and buy some new wheels and tyres? How do I swap the disc brakes? How do I find out the hub size so the new wheel fits my forks? What should I be looking for and are there any 'do's and don'ts' when it comes to wheel swapping?
Oh, and my bike is nothing special - it's £400 worth of Saracen
Cheers, and apologies for asking what I'm sure is a simple question.
Garlick said:
Cycling gents, I need your help.
95% of my riding is now on the road (I only ride for fitness/ fun rather than transport) and my mountain bike is proving a little heavy and cumbersome.
Ideally I need to buy a road bike, but as I have just bought a new motorbike I need to manage my spending for a few months, so have decided to fit road wheels to by bike as a short term fix. I don't want road tyres on my current wheels but new narrower and lighter items.
Now, do I just pop in and buy some new wheels and tyres? How do I swap the disc brakes? How do I find out the hub size so the new wheel fits my forks? What should I be looking for and are there any 'do's and don'ts' when it comes to wheel swapping?
Oh, and my bike is nothing special - it's £400 worth of Saracen
Cheers, and apologies for asking what I'm sure is a simple question.
if i understand the situation (which is unlikely) i dont think this is going to be possible because if your mtb has disc brakes it is unlikely to have caliper bosses (two sticky out bits near the top of the wheel!) mounted on the forks so you will need to run disc brake hubs on road wheels and most mountain bike hubs are 32 spoke and most road rims are 28 spoke. getting a wheel built is probably about £100 per wheel if you used your existing hubs, had new spokes and rim fitted. if the bike does have caliper mounts you will need to buy new calipers and levers and that will cost a fair bit too.95% of my riding is now on the road (I only ride for fitness/ fun rather than transport) and my mountain bike is proving a little heavy and cumbersome.
Ideally I need to buy a road bike, but as I have just bought a new motorbike I need to manage my spending for a few months, so have decided to fit road wheels to by bike as a short term fix. I don't want road tyres on my current wheels but new narrower and lighter items.
Now, do I just pop in and buy some new wheels and tyres? How do I swap the disc brakes? How do I find out the hub size so the new wheel fits my forks? What should I be looking for and are there any 'do's and don'ts' when it comes to wheel swapping?
Oh, and my bike is nothing special - it's £400 worth of Saracen
Cheers, and apologies for asking what I'm sure is a simple question.
running slicks/semi slicks on the mtb rims might be the only option, if you havent already tried it you might be surprised at just how much faster it is...
or buy a really cheap road bike, you can pick up carreras and things for £100 in the free ads magazines?...
Much cheaper and easier just to swap the tyres and tubes really.
If you insist on new wheels buy a set complete with discs which should fit straight in. You could try Decathlon at Surrey Quays or buy a pair online from www.merlin.co.uk
If you insist on new wheels buy a set complete with discs which should fit straight in. You could try Decathlon at Surrey Quays or buy a pair online from www.merlin.co.uk
Definitely give it a go with some road tyres on your existing wheels, I've recently done this and the difference is nothing short of amazing. Chain Reaction will do you a pair of MTB slicks (mine are Schwalbe Cityjets) for under £25 and i'm using my MTB inner tubes.
If you decided you needed a second set of wheels at a later date the easiest solution is probably to buy some very XC orientated wheels which will be reasonably light, second set of disc rotors, just swap them as and when. MTB hub spacing is pretty much standard so shouldn't be a problem.
If you decided you needed a second set of wheels at a later date the easiest solution is probably to buy some very XC orientated wheels which will be reasonably light, second set of disc rotors, just swap them as and when. MTB hub spacing is pretty much standard so shouldn't be a problem.
Ditto the comments above re semi-click road tyres on your existing rims.
Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Also, make sure they are pumped up to max pressure. Get a track pump (like this http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/LifeLine_High_Pr... which will make inflating your tyres to the right pressure much easier. You'll be amazed how much difference properly inflated road-biased tyres will make.
You may also like to think about maintenance of your drivetrain if you don't already do it. Cleaning your chain and sprockets and putting some good quality libe on will also help.
HTH
Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Also, make sure they are pumped up to max pressure. Get a track pump (like this http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/LifeLine_High_Pr... which will make inflating your tyres to the right pressure much easier. You'll be amazed how much difference properly inflated road-biased tyres will make.
You may also like to think about maintenance of your drivetrain if you don't already do it. Cleaning your chain and sprockets and putting some good quality libe on will also help.
HTH
Agree with the above, fit a set of 1.5" slicks like the CityJets to your wheels and pump them to about 55psi - the difference between them and knobblies on the road is like night and day. Make sure you get 1.5" inner tubes too or getting the tyres on and off without levers (I never use levers) is a bit of a pain as the tubes are too big for the tyres.
rocksteadyeddie said:
Ditto the comments above re semi-click road tyres on your existing rims.
Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Sorry but this is incorrect. Tyre grip is primarily a function of contact area. The slicker the better for maintaining grip, regardless of how wet the surface is.Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Tread on a road bicycle tyre is purely for marketing reasons. A bicycle would need to be travelling at over 90mph to aquaplane (which tread is designed to stop).
cheadle hulme said:
rocksteadyeddie said:
Ditto the comments above re semi-click road tyres on your existing rims.
Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Sorry but this is incorrect. Tyre grip is primarily a function of contact area. The slicker the better for maintaining grip, regardless of how wet the surface is.Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Tread on a road bicycle tyre is purely for marketing reasons. A bicycle would need to be travelling at over 90mph to aquaplane (which tread is designed to stop).
However, psychologically I am much more comfortable with a bit of tread in the wet, as I suspect are many others. Given that confidence is so important in cycling - particularly when cornering in the wet - you might want to consider treaded tyres anyway.
cheadle hulme said:
rocksteadyeddie said:
Ditto the comments above re semi-click road tyres on your existing rims.
Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Sorry but this is incorrect. Tyre grip is primarily a function of contact area. The slicker the better for maintaining grip, regardless of how wet the surface is.Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Tread on a road bicycle tyre is purely for marketing reasons. A bicycle would need to be travelling at over 90mph to aquaplane (which tread is designed to stop).
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
Surely it's the type of topic to be thrashed out over a few pints after a ride to be honest though!
Edited to paste thread..
Edited by Roman on Friday 2nd October 19:28
Roman said:
cheadle hulme said:
rocksteadyeddie said:
Ditto the comments above re semi-click road tyres on your existing rims.
Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Sorry but this is incorrect. Tyre grip is primarily a function of contact area. The slicker the better for maintaining grip, regardless of how wet the surface is.Don't go for slicks as they are a bit, errr, slick in the wet.
Tread on a road bicycle tyre is purely for marketing reasons. A bicycle would need to be travelling at over 90mph to aquaplane (which tread is designed to stop).
Surely it's the type of topic to be thrashed out over a few pints after a ride to be honest though!
Garlick, buy some slicks, save the money you'd spend on a new wheel set and spend it on motorbike bits.
If you can't live with mountain bike + slicks, you need a proper road bike. Don't watse your money on light wheels for a commute.
Nice thin road tyres bought this morning, fitted this afternoon and had a nice ride to test them out.
Good advice chaps, they work a treat and after I had fitted them I gave the bike a clean and the thinner tyres help to make it look like a new bike.
So, better riding and better looking.......
to all that helped me out.
Good advice chaps, they work a treat and after I had fitted them I gave the bike a clean and the thinner tyres help to make it look like a new bike.
So, better riding and better looking.......
to all that helped me out. Garlick said:
Perhaps, but now I have renewed love for the MTB....all because of some new tyres 
I did the same to ride to work, and it really makes a huge difference, although be careful as you can carry omre speed round corners, if you lean to far you may find the crank arm hits the ground and throws you off. Almost did that coming in the other day much to securities amusement.rocksteadyeddie said:
However, psychologically I am much more comfortable with a bit of tread in the wet, as I suspect are many others. Given that confidence is so important in cycling - particularly when cornering in the wet - you might want to consider treaded tyres anyway.
Far more important than that is to have a nice rounded profile so there are no lurches as you lean into the corner. That would be the undoing of most MTB-style semi slicks; the side knobs designed to bite when cornering off-road can cause the opposite effect on tarmac.I almost got the ones with 'knobbly bits' on the edges, but in the end went for a smooth tyre.
Lovely to ride, not least for the reduced noise. The new tyres are lovely and quiet on the road compared to the noise from the rather extreme tread and overall width of my old tyres on the tarmac
Lovely to ride, not least for the reduced noise. The new tyres are lovely and quiet on the road compared to the noise from the rather extreme tread and overall width of my old tyres on the tarmac
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