MTB Tyres for Road Use

"[]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I am looking at getting some slick or semi-slick tyres for my MTB since I
mainly use it for road riding.

Has anyboy heard of these tyres? Are they good?

http://www.geax.com/prodgeax/specialty/StRunner.htm

I can't recommend any particular brand, but if you want/have to use a MTB
for road riding then definitely get slicks. Having been there I can say it
makes a hell of a difference.

"[]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I am looking at getting some slick or semi-slick tyres for my MTB since I
mainly use it for road riding.

Has anyboy heard of these tyres? Are they good?

http://www.geax.com/prodgeax/specialty/StRunner.htm

Haven't got any experience of these tyres, but I can recommend the following
as excellent tyres for street use and road touring:

IRC Metero Duros - a virtual slick, in 1.5" rated at 100psi
Vittoria Randonneur Cross - 1.75, road tread, v.good for any gravel riding,
knurled sidewalls for dynamo
Schwalbe Marathon - also 1.75, very long wearing, knurled & reflective
sidewalls
Continental Contact Series (City, Sport and Travel Contacts)

All these tyres have very effective Kevler or Mr Tuffy-style puncture
protection layers in their tread. I know the Vittoria and IRC Metros are
very effective at stopping glass, thorns etc. I don't believe the Geax have
this feature.

Cheers
Peter

Quoted message said:

I am looking at getting some slick or semi-slick tyres for my MTB since I
mainly use it for road riding.

Has anyboy heard of these tyres? Are they good?

http://www.geax.com/prodgeax/specialty/StRunner.htm

I use 'em on my commuter bike. They work fine for me. They were the
They seem good value at $ 45 or so. I get 10 000 km from one on the
back, and they don't seem to pick up glass or similar nasties all that
often.

That said, I use 'em because the are the "skin-wall", mid-priced 26'
road tyre my LBS sold at the times I have bought tyres. *I'm sure other
ones may be just as good or better.* (see Resound and Peter Ss' posts.}
And I'm sure you could get lighter tyres (kevlar bead instead of
wire, maybe?) for more bux, but hey, MTBs on asphalt, it's not like
we're looking to save seconds on a 40km TT. Or something.

Geax Street Runners have tread pattern on the sides of the tyre you
corner with. My gripe is that they don't have tread pattern across the
whole "footprint' of the tyre. OK, so there's less "rolling resistance"
when you're going in a straight line (but, hmmm... I certainly can't
tell the difference.) I used to use IRC Metro Duros. I'd buy them
again, if I could find them. They seemed to be just a teensy bit
heavier than the Street Runners, but they had tread across all the
"footprint". Makes no difference at all on dry road, but does make an
appreciable difference on wet road, detour surfaces like grass or hard
dirt, and so on.

A note about "slicks": last time I went tyre-shopping, I didn't see any
MTB-rim cross-section 26' completely slick tyres. This may well have
been because I simply wasn't looking for MTB-rim cross-section 26'
completely slick tyres, but it may also be because tyre-makers don't
make 'em anymore (ng, correct me if I am - yet again - wrong).
Completely slick tyres are great for skinny tyre cycling, but not (IMHO)
for 26' wheel purposes. Sometime early in the last decade of the
previous century I used 'em... but I found I was pedaling hard but
getting nowhere on surfaces like grass or dirt... and I often found
that, on road after even light rain, my corner-side wrist, elbow, hip,
knee and ankle were saying hello to the asphalt in a way that was not
pleasurable. Short answer: knobbies no good on road, but go with some
tread.

[censored]
"anyboy", aka bruce, aka... whatever

ps: please post to ng if you find a really good 26' road tyre!

I use these and think they are great. I used to use the 1.6 inch variant,
but now I use the 1.25 inch ones. I did this to save a little bit of
weight. Only drawback is that I need at least one lever to remove the tyre
in the event of a flat now. With the 1.6 inch tyres no tools were required.
These tyres last well and are well worth the bucks. I used to use the
cheaper IRC tyres but I had a couple deform in the sidewall. The thought of
what a blowout in the wrong circumstances might mean, made me look for
something more reliable. That's when I switched to the Geax Streetruners.

Cheers

Jeff

Quoted post said:

I am looking at getting some slick or semi-slick tyres for my MTB since I
mainly use it for road riding.

Has anyboy heard of these tyres? Are they good?

http://www.geax.com/prodgeax/specialty/StRunner.htm

I use and recommend continental town and country. Great tyre.

Is the 1.25 inch really narrow for the MTB rim?

Would the difference in speed be marginal between the 1.25 and 1.6?

Thanks for your help & everyone else.

Quoted message said:

Is the 1.25 inch really narrow for the MTB rim?
Would the difference in speed be marginal between the 1.25 and 1.6?
Thanks for your help & everyone else.

If you are riding it like a road bike (i.e. on the road!) then there
should be no issue with that width. I used 1.3" tyres a lot on the mtb
commuting..

hippy

"[]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Is the 1.25 inch really narrow for the MTB rim?

Would the difference in speed be marginal between the 1.25 and 1.6?

An interesting aspet re. speed. Assuming the same tyre pressure, a wider
tyre actually gives less rolling resistance than a narrow tyre. Something to
do with less of the tread being deformed inawider tyre.

Cheers
Peter

[ said:

']I am looking at getting some slick or semi-slick tyres for my MTB since I
mainly use it for road riding.

Has anyboy heard of these tyres? Are they good?

geax.comStRunner.htmOpen ↗

I have used a succession of slicks and semi slicks on the MTB for commuting.

Started with LHR City Contours (26 x 1.75, $15 ea, road tread in the middle and small knobs along the edge of the tread). Sidewall blew on one and scared the living daylights out of me. Mrs A still has them on her MTB and has had no trouble - might be that I am a whole lot bigger and harder on bike, tyres etc. Swapped them for something else anyway.

Next, a set of Conti Travel Contacts (26 x 1.75, 85psi, $50 to $60 ea, slick in the middle and small knobs along the edge of the tread, all sorts of puncture resistant technology). Beautiful. Worked well on bitumen, OK on grass, just 'orright in sandy patches just off bike paths. No punctures.

Swapped the Conties for a set of Specialised Fatboys (26 x 1.25, 100psi, $30 to $40 ea, fully slick - smooth as a baby's bot) Beautiful on bitumen (stopped making the 'knobbly noise' when cornering), 'orright on grass, sinks when grass turns to soft sand. Noticeably faster than the others. Puncture resistant band. No punctures but I have only had them on the bike 2 weeks. I'm told they are a favourite of couriers in Perth.

SteveA

SteveA said:

I have used a succession of slicks and semi slicks on the MTB for commuting.

<snip>

Swapped the Conties for a set of Specialised Fatboys (26 x 1.25, 100psi, $30 to $40 ea, fully slick - smooth as a baby's bot) Beautiful on bitumen (stopped making the 'knobbly noise' when cornering), 'orright on grass, sinks when grass turns to soft sand. Noticeably faster than the others. Puncture resistant band. No punctures but I have only had them on the bike 2 weeks. I'm told they are a favourite of couriers in Perth.

SteveA

I also use the Specialised Fatboy slicks. They are the fastest road tyres I've used on the MTB. Keep them at 100psi & they roll real fast. There are undoubtably tougher tyres on the market than these but for speed v's durability they're pretty good.

How do they cope in the wet?

Because they have no tread pattern, does the water not disperse?

[ said:

']How do they cope in the wet?

Because they have no tread pattern, does the water not disperse?

So far so good.

Just watch the traaaaaaaam tracks! Slipperier than a greased slippery thing.

--
Cheers
Peter
"[]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

How do they cope in the wet?

Because they have no tread pattern, does the water not disperse?

A myth carried over from the auto industry, that has little relevance to
round cross-section bike tyres
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#hydroplaning

Slicks have great traction in everything except loose pea-gravel and maybe
wet grass. Traction comes from the amount of rubber area on the road. Tread
tends to reduce this rubber area and hence your traction.

Cheers
Peter
- who uses the treaded Vittoria Randoneur Cross tyres to give better
traction in dirt as well as tarmac.

Peter Signorini said:

"[]" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Is the 1.25 inch really narrow for the MTB rim?

Would the difference in speed be marginal between the 1.25 and 1.6?

An interesting aspet re. speed. Assuming the same tyre pressure, a wider
tyre actually gives less rolling resistance than a narrow tyre. Something to
do with less of the tread being deformed inawider tyre.

I wonder if the difference is noticeable? I would still buy the skinnier
tyres because they are typically designed to go faster and may have
smoother "tread" or something that the wider ones lack, possibly
negating any width-related rolling resistance issue??

hippy

hippy said:

I wonder if the difference is noticeable? I would still buy the skinnier
tyres because they are typically designed to go faster and may have
smoother "tread" or something that the wider ones lack, possibly
negating any width-related rolling resistance issue??

hippy

revolving weight may be more of an issue for speed due to more, well, revolving weight!

Can also recommend Specialized Fatboy slicks.
I used to run the 1" versions. VERY quick. just dont go near sandy surfaces.
not the best for longer term puncture resistance tho.
But who cares? they go quick and are all black, and therefore 'slick'

In article <[email hidden]>,

hippy said:

I would still buy the skinnier
tyres because they are typically designed to go faster and may have
smoother "tread" or something that the wider ones lack, possibly
negating any width-related rolling resistance issue??

The only advantage is that skinnier ones can usually stand higher
pressures, thus ruling out the idea of "at equal pressure" in the first
place.

--
Shane Stanley

--
Cheers
Peter

Shane Stanley said:

The only advantage is that skinnier ones can usually stand higher
pressures, thus ruling out the idea of "at equal pressure" in the first
place.

That's correct generally, but not the case with the IRC Metro Duro's. These
tyres in 26 X 1.25 are rated at 80psi, but the 26 X 1.5 is rated at 100psi.
Guess which will be faster?

Cheers
Peter

Shane Stanley said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

hippy said:

I would still buy the skinnier
tyres because they are typically designed to go faster and may have
smoother "tread" or something that the wider ones lack, possibly
negating any width-related rolling resistance issue??

The only advantage is that skinnier ones can usually stand higher
pressures, thus ruling out the idea of "at equal pressure" in the
first place.

The other advantage of skinnier tyres is reduced air resistance, which
makes a pretty big difference, IIRC. Remember that the top of the tyre
is going twice the speed the bike is, relative to the ground!

I have to put in another vote for the irc metro duros, Im quite a fan myself, I think I have the 1.5" ones? Whatever you do, dont get conti avenues, they really suck really badly. I had a pair and it was just hole after hole after hole.

I have a 700c pair of Schwalbe(sp?) marathons in 32mm, and they are nice tyres as well, but not slicks. I only have them for my tourer *for touring*, the rest of the time I use conti ultragators in 28mm. I heard the aus distro for shwalbe changed since I scored my last pair, so perhaps you can get a better range of their tyres now.

till