General Cycling Discussion - Which semi-slick tire is good?

I need your help guys, which tires would be the best for my mountain bike? I do road riding in this club and mountain in another club and i do not want to ruin my mountain bike tires. I will be doing smooth trail and road riding. What do i look for? max. psi? or what?

These do not seem that pricey and the treads look nice.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/subcategory.cfm?Cat_ID=22&Sub_ID=5425

Thanks

All semi-slicks are a compromise between fast rolling and grip. Some compromise more in one direction, some the other.

I like vredestein spiders - fast rolling central band, recessed knobs on the shoulders, hard wearing and puncture resistant. I find them fine for dry trails and they're fast on road. On the downside they're not the lightest or most supple.

I'd be wary of semi-slicks designed for off-road racing as the softer compound won't last long on tarmac.

Richard

I can't give you any expert advise on roadslicks as I am only on my first set. I have the Kenda Kwest's that I ordered from Supergo back about 3 months ago. I have not had the first problem with these. They are not to expensive and they come in 1.5,which from what I have read here should be the minimum to put on a 26" rim. Just my 02.

Kenda Kwest's from Supergo (http://www.supergo.com/itemdisplay.asp?parentid=15653&secid=7559&subid=7565&compflag=1&company=Kenda)

I see...i guess i just need road tires, because i will be swapping them off when necessary. I'm looking for a fairly light tire, lighter than my mountain bike tire, so i can see the actual difference. Have you guys seen any difference when using road tires on your mountain bike?

Why is 1.5 the minimum? Should i buy a special tube for the new road tire, or can I use the same tube and pump it up with lots of psi?

I like Michelin Wildgripper City's :) Have used town and country's too, but I didnt go much on them under my weight.

Is it bad if i were to keep taking on/off the tires? Because i will be doing road biking twice a week, and mountain biking once a week on the weekend, thus i will have to swap them every week. Will it seriously weaken the tire wall and make it split eventually?

I am looking at putting a pair of semi slicks on my Specialized Hardrock. Does anyone know where I can find the Michelin Wildgripper Citys and vredestein spiders online for a decent price, somewhere that wont kill me with shipping? Also, for city use would you reccomend some sort of antipuncture strip in the tire?

Thanks,
Brian

Sorry for another stupid question, but when a tire is "kevlar" beaded, would that also mean that the tire is easier to take off? Because my current tire on my new bike was SOOO easy to take off and put on without using that much tire levers. But on my 10 yr old bike, it was a pain in the **s to take the tire off, and put it back on. Why is that? Does it have to do with the kevlar beaded sides?

Like Richard D, I favor Vredestein, but on my extra wheelset I save for road use on my Stumpie, I prefer the S-licks (not a "semi", but rather a full slick.) It makes a huge difference in speed over knobbies and the tread pattern has not posed a traction problem for me, but then I've only use them on pavement and packed D.G. (probably not advised for loose gravel.) Wears like iron and I love the Kevlar bead, too, - a spare folds up nicely in my bag but I've yet to replace one in over 1,500 miles. Yes, as a hand-laid up tire, they're expensive but worth it.

Does anyone know where I can find these vredestein spiders online?

I've not found many Vredestein tires on-line and at the few sites that do offer them, it's limited to road bike tires. I order mine through my LBS. Try their website's list of dealers:

http://nt1.adventuresports.com/shops/veltec/asp/vtdllist.asp?Vendor=vre

Nice web site!

How do i convert a size of say, 700x28 to something on my rim? My current bike tire is 26x2. I guess my rim is a bit smaller than that? But what does this 700x28 or 700x32 thing mean?

700 is a road bike tire. MTB tires are 559 (or 26 inch).
I did not see the Spider model on the website and the Spider Extreme shown is 700 size only (for cyclo-cross, I guess.)

Not a single dealer in Ohio anyway. I am going to talk to my LBS tomorrow and see, but I will probably end up with a set of Michelin Wildgripper Citys. One problem I have noticed is that when I pump up my Specialized Enduros up to 70psi (rated to 80psi) where they do ok on a dry paved trail they are inpossible to control on wet surfaces. Will city slicks help with this?

Thanks,
Brian