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Mountain Biking - Narrow tires

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norelec

07-08-03, 03:59 PM

I was looking at getting a set of slick tires for my mountain bike for when i want to commute to a friends house or work and then change back to my 1.95" tires when I want to ride the trails. My question is how narrow of a tire can I get without having to get new rims/wheel. I was thinking of gettting these

http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=121&subcategory=1084&brand=&sku=9604&storetype=&estoreid=

would my current rims work with this tire and what about the tubes I guess I would need ones that were meant for a 1.2" tire?

nathank

07-08-03, 04:08 PM

i have used 1.25" slicks before for touring with my MTb bike - used them with my same rims and had no real problems.

yes, you do need smaller tubes, but tubes are cheap.

the only real problem is pressure: mayn of the MTB rims aren't really designed to handle 100psi or whatever (i ran mine at 90-110 psi). you should also make sure the rim tape is really good (i doubled mine) as i had a problem with the spoke holes cutting the tube at high pressure.

my friend i toured with claimed that the high pressure destroyed his rims - they were new and were dead at the end of a 5 week tour.

unless you have REALLY wide rims, i think the pressure is more an issue than width as 1.25" isn't really that thin.

Raiyn

07-08-03, 09:25 PM

Simple solution to the PSI problem Most MTB slicks top out around 80-85 psi so the standard rubber rim stip should work fine. However I prefer Fond de Jaunte cloth rims trips

nikos

08-10-03, 07:32 AM

Hey, did you end up getting the 1.2 tires. Im thinking of doing the exact same thing.

bman

08-10-03, 10:32 AM

I recently put on some 1.25 road slicks on my mountain bike...Great fit and they really helped . The only downside to these tires is, they are harder to get on and off and they take 90+ PSI...be sure you have a good pump.

nikos

08-10-03, 12:30 PM

Yeah, I expect them to be difficult to get on and off, lucky I have a second set of rims that they will be staying on. Have you heard anyone being concerned about to much psi pressure being bad for atb rims? I was thinking of getting the hutchinson top slick golds and they run up to 120+ psi, more than my conti 3000 road tires!

tFUnK

08-10-03, 06:40 PM

i have 1.5 slicks on my mtb commuter. they were kind of hard to take on and off and i didnt have to pump them up too much (60-80psi) i had them on standard mtb rims before but now i switched them over to a set of wheels made for cyclocross.

mightypudge

08-10-03, 07:12 PM

I'm going to grab a set of Specialized Nimbus Armadillos for my hardtail MTB. If they are anything like the Armadillo Turbos I had on my road bike, they will rock!

Richard D

08-11-03, 04:54 AM

Originally posted by mightypudge
I'm going to grab a set of Specialized Nimbus Armadillos for my hardtail MTB. If they are anything like the Armadillo Turbos I had on my road bike, they will rock!

Let me know how they ride, and whether you'd trust them on gravel tracks - cheers Richard

Richard D

08-11-03, 06:05 AM