Mountain Biking - Colour tyres and suspension forks.

Hi everyone, I wonder if you could answer two questions I have; firstly I wonder if it is possible to get coloured mountain bike tyres (ie green white etc), and secondly can suspension forks be put on a bike that originally came without them? Thanks.

Yes and yes. There are several manufacturer's that make tires with colored side walls (panaracer and Hutchinson are two), some that make colored tires (michelin and Kenda), and there used to be acompany that had cmouflage printed tires, but I can't recall the name. You frame can take a suspension fork, but there are two parameters that could limit your choice or increase the parts required to convert to suspension.

1. Your headtube. The standard now is 1-1/8", but some older frames had 1" headtubes.
If you have a 1" headtube, you can get suspension, but there are fewer options.

2. Your steerer, the standard now is threadless, but older bikes had threaded steerers.
If you have a threaded steerer, you can convert to threadless, but you will also need to buy a new headset and a new stem.

I hope this was helpful.

Thanks for the information; I'll check out a few websites now to see what comes up. Incidentally I did find some green tyres that appear to be made of a solid/foam rubber which don't hold any pressure so are puncture proof. Does anyone know anything about these?
Thanks again.

I did find some green tyres that appear to be made of a solid/foam rubber which don't hold any pressure so are puncture proof. Does anyone know anything about these?


Run away!

Actually, I do not know anything about the green airless tires, but you will find that most everyone rides pneumatic tires. That is mostly because they work the best. FOr offroad riding you can vary the pressure in your tires and it makes a big difference in how the tires perform in given conditions. Additionally traditional pneumatic tires give a more compliant ride, and probably weigh less. I do not know where you are located (probably not the US given your spelling of color and tire), or what you plan on doing with your bike, but I would be willing to say that you could find a cheap pneumatic tire that would significantly outperform any solid tire you might run across. There are also many different products to help prevent flats, if that is a major concern for you.

Just out of curiousity what are you thinking of converting, and where are you located (globally)?

and there used to be acompany that had cmouflage printed tires, but I can't recall the name.

The company is called sweetskinz. Here is a link to their MTB tire site: SWEETSKINZ (http://www.sweetskinz.com/mtb.html)

I looked into these a while back but they didn't get very good reviews from MTBR and they didn't look all that great to me.

Thanks for the information; I'll check out a few websites now to see what comes up. Incidentally I did find some green tyres that appear to be made of a solid/foam rubber which don't hold any pressure so are puncture proof. Does anyone know anything about these?
Thanks again.
Complete garbage. See reason #9 http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,5073,982,00.html?category_id=365

Thanks.
I've just come back to cycling after about 10 years, and I'm using my old Dawes Tracker mountain bike. I need some new tyres as the originals are nearly worn out, and I was thinking of a suspension to help my poor old wrists! I'm not sure whether its worth it though as I expect I could get a new bike for the same money. I thought of green tyres for a bit of fun really. I'm English but living in Cork Ireland at the moment but am in the Midlands quite regularly.
Thanks again for the replies