What width of tyre for mtb on tarmac?

[beanzontoast]

Thanks all for these thoughts. Not planning on carrying much weight apart from a backpack, so that's not going to be a major factor. I think I'm going to look at M+ in 1.5 and 1.7 and see which appears most suited to the bike.

Then it's on to mudguards. Haven't investigated fixings yet, but I'm not sure the downtube and seat-stay mounted crud-catchers currently on it will be fully effective in rain on tarmac. I'm hoping the Trek 3700 can take proper full or 3/4 length mudguards...

 

[e-rider]

sus. forks will not take full length mudguards in most cases

 

[Davidc]

oh yeah, get advice on aesthetics from the sorriest, ugliest, mismatched bunch of rejects ever to stumble across the invention know as the wheel.

Alternatively if it looks ok to you, and is mechanically sound, do it.

Bu**er the aesthetics all I want is as much speed as possible with the least possible effort!

 

[MacB]

Bu**er the aesthetics all I want is as much speed as possible with the least possible effort!

you should be looking at one of these souped up e-bikes then

 

[beanzontoast]

sus. forks will not take full length mudguards in most cases

Yeah - this is what I'm half expecting to find. It's not ideal just using the crud catcher on the downtube though, so anything extra will be a bonus.

 

[lukesdad]

tom slicks 1 s 100 PSI used em for years on Mavic rims no probs pretty fast to specialized do one to thats supposed to be pretty good too.

 

[Tollers]

I use conti gatorskins 16 x 1.125". Moving from 1.5" to these made a hell of a difference to my speed

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Continental_Ultra_Gatorskin_MTB_Tyre/5360021704/

 

[Wobbly John]

Forget the width - I've done 48 mph on knobblies.

Go for slick, high pressure - 2" wide tyres at 100psi, beats thin tyres at 60psi any-day.

Forget comments on rim damage - they're bollocks

 

[bauldbairn]

I'm too much of a poseur I'm afraid.

I just swapped my knobblies for Big Apples - I went for the 26 x 2.15.

IMHO anything less than 1.75 just looks silly on an MTB, but that's just my opinion.

+1, I put 1.5 X 26" semi-slicks on mine and I thought they just didn't suit the look of the bike(too skinny) - as I wanted to keep my chunky 3/4 mudguards on. Replaced them with 1.85 X 26" semi-slicks and they look much better, just keep them pumped up to 85psi(mfg's max) to reduce rolling resistance.

 

[Tollers]

Hmmmm. New sort of forum spam message. SEO through backlinks in a scam warning.

 

[e-rider]

Forget the width - I've done 48 mph on knobblies.

Go for slick, high pressure - 2" wide tyres at 100psi, beats thin tyres at 60psi any-day.

Forget comments on rim damage - they're bollocks

it's not bollocks

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

For low rolling resistance / speed Conti Sport Contact 26x1.3" at 105psi provided the rim is not too wide. Price includes inner tube and replacement if punctured within 12 months.

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti sport contact.shtml
http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=Y1118

 

[kfinlay]

I'm looking at changing the tyres on my wife's mtb and wanted some slicks for the road but notice that a lot of them weight over 500g. I've found Shwalbe Kojaks at 295g that look good and are cheap - any other light and not too expensive tyres that you guys know of?

 

[tyred]

Bu**er the aesthetics all I want is as much speed as possible with the least possible effort!

I think what you actually want is a motorcycle