Recumbent - high performance 16" and 20" slicks?

give me some brand names for high performance/ high pressure rated 16" and 20" slicks (totally slick, no grooves). Looking for tires that can hold up to 100lbs psi.

Totally slick:
Schwalbe Stelvio

I think there's going to be more to this question? I don't necessarily recommend Stelvios.

well i used to use the Continental Slciks (26" TOTALLY slick) they gripped like glue on high speed sharp corners and were pretty dang good in the rain too. I want to find something like that, but in a 20" or 16" size for a 'bent i might build.

I'll check out the Schwalbe Stelvio's, thanks!

Only one choice in those sizes: Greenspeed Scorchers
http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=1127163617
http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/readitem.pl?Accessory=1135183977
There is also Schwalbe Kojak in 20" x 1.35":
http://schwalbetires.com/node/1182/ok

Stelvios have a rep for giving a good ride and grip, but I consider them suitable for racing only. There's a good assortment of reasonably fast non-slick road tires for 20", but not a lot of choices for 16". IMHO the amount of tread you'll find on most of them isn't going to be enough to affect the performance.

These are EXACTLY what i want!! (greenspeed Scorchers), thank you very much for the link!

http://www.hostelshoppe.com/images/products/la_05gns_scorcher.jpg

Bushman. What are you riding? A bike or a trike? I think that's the most important issue
Totally slick:
Schwalbe Stelvio

I think there's going to be more to this question? I don't necessarily recommend Stelvios.
Schwalbe Stelvio. Small wall thickness, pretty soft wall at that and not much contact patch. I don't know what experience you've had with stevilos on a 2-wheeler, but I'm sure they're generally good. The stevilo, with it's small, soft wall and small contact patch and profile has been a bad experience for me in our 3-wheelers, with our team recently losing our 1st race ever running them for only 150minutes! Here's proof.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_3Q9bm6t3IcI/RmAPX2bbAeI/AAAAAAAAABE/Du3Qv3yMCNM/s320/Casey+race+BYR+001.jpg
Some teams do run them without issues, so it depends on your trikes steering geometry, but generally they don't suit trikes. I would however reccommend Primo Comets or Greenspeed scorchers in 16" for a trike, and you can't go past the Tioga Comp-pool as a fully slick 20". They are outstandingly grippy, in dry or wet.

Schwalbe Stelvio. Small wall thickness, pretty soft wall at that and not much contact patch. I don't know what experience you've had with stevilos on a 2-wheeler, but I'm sure they're generally good.

Not me! I've owned 6 Stelvios. Not a one of them wore out; they all suffered structural failure of one kind or another. The 406 version especially seems to like delaminating the cord, resulting in a wavy contact strip. In the pic here, the rim is true; only the tire carcass is crooked.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e135/blazingpedals/bike%20pics/stelvio.jpg

edit: I agree, they're entirely too fragile and short-lived to use on a trike.

Not me! I've owned 6 Stelvios. Not a one of them wore out; they all suffered structural failure of one kind or another. The 406 version especially seems to like delaminating the cord, resulting in a wavy contact strip. In the pic here, the rim is true; only the tire carcass is crooked.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e135/blazingpedals/bike%20pics/stelvio.jpg

edit: I agree, they're entirely too fragile and short-lived to use on a trike.

Incredible :eek: . What kind of punishment do you put them through, BlazingPedals, if any?

Just to elaborate on my previous post about the Schwarbles. My experience was that the huge lateral loads our tadpole (and every other tadpole the world over!) produced forced the contact patch to.....uhhh.......shall we say "no longer contact". The sidewall is very weak and thin and complicates the contact patches issues. There are 2 outcomes, 1 certain. The certainty is understeer. Initial turn-in transformed into an artform, with our vehicle falling into understeer if u turned-in too fast. Not to mention the midcorner understeer and understeer experienced if you tried to pedal out of a corner- many off track excursions through that :( .
The other outcome would be a pinch flat. We never had one in the 150 minutes the tyres lasted, yet it was obvious it was bound to happen. The tyre wall was extremely damaged, indicating that the tyre wall was acting as a contact patch at some stages :eek: .

Of course, this may be an isolated case. Some production trikes may not experience such problems, due to more relaxed steering geometry. But I still would never use them ever again. There are much better "trike friendly" tyres out there, such as what I listed in my previous post

:eek: wow!! look at that :D

oh, i'm building up a low to the ground trike, someone asked about this. for most of my bikes i run Conti slicks, but they are getting really hard to find up here.

I have a 28-406 Stelvio on the front of my Fujin. So lets say I want to replace it with another 28-406 high performance tire what would you suggest?

On the other hand, I've had extremely good success with Schwalbe Marathon tires on my trike. I suspect that I'll wear them out before they fail. And so far, I'm on my way to wearing them out before getting a single flat! *knock on wood* and all that...

For 28x406 the choices seem to be Stelvio, Continental Grand Prix, or Continental Sport Contact. I've got a few of the latter, complete with sucky reflective sidewall. I'd say they're only marginally slower than the other two, but I haven't run them enough to say more than that. When Sport Contacts originally came out, Conti warrantied them against flats, but the terms of the warranty were a joke - had to prove you were using a Conti tube and had to send the tire in to them for analysis. Like I'm going to do that instead of patching it and riding!

If I were allowed a small rant here, I'd complain about the fact that most lowracers (which are built for speed) use a 406 BMX rim in front and a 559 mountain bike rim in back. Why don't all lowracers use 451/622?

For 28x406 the choices seem to be Stelvio, Continental Grand Prix, or Continental Sport Contact. I've got a few of the latter, complete with sucky reflective sidewall. I'd say they're only marginally slower than the other two, but I haven't run them enough to say more than that. When Sport Contacts originally came out, Conti warrantied them against flats, but the terms of the warranty were a joke - had to prove you were using a Conti tube and had to send the tire in to them for analysis. Like I'm going to do that instead of patching it and riding!

If I were allowed a small rant here, I'd complain about the fact that most lowracers (which are built for speed) use a 406 BMX rim in front and a 559 mountain bike rim in back. Why don't all lowracers use 451/622?

rant away!! i too hate discrepancies like that. I like to be able to carry ONE size of tube with me.

Aren't there more tires available in 406 and 559 sizes?

Aren't there more tires available in 406 and 559 sizes?

There are more tires available in 406 vs 451, but they're all fat. I think Stelvio has a 25mm, all others are 28mm and fatter. OTOH, the 451 size is a road size. 451 tires range from 18mm to 37mm. My rant was related specifically to lowracers, but could apply to any current 26/20 bent that's primarily meant for road and has any pretensions of being fast. (For touring, the 406/559 is a fine combination.)

622 is the standard 700C tire, so all the choices available to roadies would be available to a bent using that size. 700C wouldn't have many tires available that are wider than 38mm; but there are zillions of choices between 23 and 28mm, compared to only a handful of 559s that are 25-28mm.

Stelvio's are the scurge of Schwalbe tires. Their construction definitely doesn't lend itself to trike use.

I think that the Schwalbe Kojaks ( http://schwalbetires.com/node/1183/ok ) will be the closest you will come to BMX/MTB rim-sizes and narrow (35/1.35"). These have been describes as a having a "sticky" compound and would be consistent with Schwalbe's wear rating. 215 grams for 35-406 should be a very competetive tire.

Stelvio's are the scurge of Schwalbe tires. Their construction definitely doesn't lend itself to trike use.

It's funny. Why does what is basically a 16" roadbike tyre even exist? I can't really see a market for it. 20" and up will obviously sell, but 16"?

For 28x406 the choices seem to be Stelvio, Continental Grand Prix, or Continental Sport Contact. I've got a few of the latter, complete with sucky reflective sidewall. I'd say they're only marginally slower than the other two, but I haven't run them enough to say more than that. When Sport Contacts originally came out, Conti warrantied them against flats, but the terms of the warranty were a joke - had to prove you were using a Conti tube and had to send the tire in to them for analysis. Like I'm going to do that instead of patching it and riding!

If I were allowed a small rant here, I'd complain about the fact that most lowracers (which are built for speed) use a 406 BMX rim in front and a 559 mountain bike rim in back. Why don't all lowracers use 451/622?

I had the Conti Sport Contacts on my Taifun and they were not bad for speed, but they are really heavy. I ordered up some Kojaks which are lighter and wider. I am having a rear wheel issue on that bike so I haven't been able to test them out yet - hopefully next week.

BTW - on my Fujin I am running 28-406 Stelvio on front and 23-571 Vredestein tire. That wheel size combination isn't bad because the front wheel is so small and loaded heavily I wouldn't want a narrower lower volume tire for street use. On the back the lightly loaded rear can use a 23mm tire with no worries.

If the Stelvios let me down I guess I'll give the Conti GPs a try. I've had success with them on my DF road bike.

It's funny. Why does what is basically a 16" roadbike tyre even exist? I can't really see a market for it. 20" and up will obviously sell, but 16"?I find the 16" Schwalbe Stelvio to be the best tire available for my Trice Micro front wheels. I don't run these tires on the rear of my trike because I want the largest diameter available for max speed. I was running Schwalbe Marathons on the rear until I switched to Greenspeed Scorchers. I am very happy with my current tire combination.

http://dse-trikes.blogspot.com

I had problems with wear on the Stelvios when I first bought the trike because the front wheels were not properly aligned. It is amazing how fast these tires wear if the wheels are out of alignment. I bet I didn't get more than 100 miles out of a new set. Since I did the wheel alignment I have hundreds of miles on these tires and the most wear they have shown is from me locking up the wheels with the hydraulic disc brakes.

I wish Continental Grand Prixs were available in 16" as well. I am currently running a pair of 20" contis on my HP Scorpion and those are really great tires also.

It's funny. Why does what is basically a 16" roadbike tyre even exist? I can't really see a market for it. 20" and up will obviously sell, but 16"?

Bite your tongue...errrr....I mean typing fingers! My wife's trike uses a 16" road tire for the front wheel!:eek:

Bite your tongue...errrr....I mean typing fingers! My wife's trike uses a 16" road tire for the front wheel!:eek:so it has a 18-22mm tyre wall?

I know that on trikes that I have built and raced I've have never had a problem with stelvios. I think steering geometry would have a lot to do with the wear of the tire.

I believe the 16" stelvios were originally made for racing wheelchairs. I know in the past they have been listed under "racing wheelchair" in the dealer catalog (in australia anyway)

I know that on trikes that I have built and raced I've have never had a problem with stelvios. I think steering geometry would have a lot to do with the wear of the tire.

+1

I have a set of Stelvios I often ride on my trike with -- I love 'em. Nice fast tire with a decent ride. While they're not super durable, neither is any racing tire, and I don't have concerns about unusual wear. However, they are very thin, so I wouldn't ride them where there is lots of debris.