Tyres

[fidel260759]

This is probably an easy question for everyone out there but bear with me.

I am about to buy a new bike via the cycle2work scheme. I am limited to Halfords.

The bike I am looking at is a MTB with 26x2.3 tyres. I wil lbe both on and off road.

I presume that it is easy enough to change to 26x2.3 Slicks when I am going on longer rides on tarmac?

 

[Norm]

You can certainly change to slicks but there's little need to stick with tyres as wide as that. There was another thread about this recently but I switched my MTB to 26x1.5 tyres and the only problem was that it looked silly. It was lots faster, though.

 

[Steve H]

yep - I also got a set of 26 X 1.5 tyres that I put on for commuting and then swap back to my knobblies for the off roading stuff.

Norm's right in that the 1.5's look a bit daft on the mountain bike at first, but you soon get used to the look.

 

[e-rider]

If you want the bike to remain looking 'cool' go for a 26x1.9 slick!

 

[Klaus]

If you want the bike to remain looking 'cool' go for a 26x1.9 slick!

26 x 1.75 is a good compromise ...

 

[biggs682]

i have 26 x 1.90 schwables on full time

 

[Domestique]

26x1.35 Marathon +'s on Orbit Gold Medal.

 

[Zoiders]

Why convert a MTB when Halfords sell several MTBs that come ready set up as urban bikes?

They do the slick tyres Subway at several price and spec points that can be converted back to knobblies if you should want to, they also stock the GT Zaskar Urban Model in two models, both of which come with slicks and rigid forks yet will still take a knobbly tyre.

Rigid looks OK with !1 - 2" slicks, suspension won't.

If it's cheap sus fork specced on the bike you are looking at I would go for a rigid bike instead.

 

[I like Skol]

I can recomend the Continental slicks I mention in this thread - www.cyclechat.net/topic/76107-26x210/ and at 26x2.1 they are big enough to 'look' like an MTB tyre or I think Schwalbe do a tyre called the big apple which might be a 2.2 or 2.3. I was tempted at the time but wasn't certain it would fit my bike or else I would definitely have gone for the bigger rubber. The Continentals are furiously fast and will transform an MTB into a hardcase road warrior.

 

[Bodhbh]

You can get pretty much get slicks from 26x1 up to 26x2.5, depends what you want. Either way, they'll roll much faster than the knobblies. Personally I like the fatter ones, they don't look so wierd and you can still go boinging over kerbs and potholes.