Touring - MTB touring bike - tire question

For those using a mountain bike for your touring rig I have a tire question. My '87 Trek has 26 X 1.5" Rigida rims. I'm looking at some road tread style tires for it. Can I go as narrow as 1.25" tires on those rims or would you recommend I stay with a little wider tire?

The 1.95 off road knobby tires I have on right now are almost too big (wide) for the fork so I'll drop those down a size or two before I take it up in the hills this summer for camping trips with the kids..

Have a Trekking bike .. a 26" wheel touring bike, came with Conti Travel contact,
their international adventure touring tire , it's a 1.75 width .. good tires
reasonably light, Kevlar tread belt, gator skin mesh on sidewalls , slick band
+ a row of edge knobs for gravel roads, never felt on pavement if not cornering too fast.

Most MTB rims will allow for a 1.25" tire but a 1.5" offers a nice compromise for many. Several nice 1.5" tires to choose from.

I'd suggest a quality tire, not a cheap one. I have Tom Slicks on my shopping bike. They were very inexpensive and I like them, but I'd consider something like Schwalbes if I was taking them touring.

Buying tires locally is a good idea because no matter what the manufacturer says, printed widths aren't truthful much of the time.

Go to a shop and get name brand tires. Schwalbe, Conti, Vittoria, Panaracer all make tires that will work on your bike.

I'd suggest a quality tire, not a cheap one. I have Tom Slicks on my shopping bike. They were very inexpensive and I like them, but I'd consider something like Schwalbes if I was taking them touring.

+1 I have Schwalbe Marathon 26x1.5's on my touring MTB, and they work well. I also have some Kenda Kwest 26x1.4's that are rated for 100psi, and they work well on another MTB. I just got some Panaracer Tserv PT 700x32's to use on a Trek 720 I am building up for lighter touring, and they look like they will do well for it.

I've toured with 2" Schwalbe Marathons and loved them. I have a new pair of 1.75" Marathons waiting in the wings for my next tour. I had 1.25" city tires on the same rims (26" stock rims) for commuting but prefer wider ones for touring.

I'd love to try a set of the Travel Contacts that fietsbob recommended, but for now I have a set of the 100psi Kenda Kwest (1.5") on my MTB. I spend most of my time on the road, but I've taken them through plenty of gravel and event some soft sand.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_TIeBxBH6dXI/TSFAZThbGCI/AAAAAAAABBg/CIPyhV94aB8/s800/rh_17.jpg

I've personally like 1.75 marathons on my MTB. Honestly, I didn't notice a big change in speed when I went thinner but did notice considerable degradation of ride comfort. I ride 2.35 offroad and 28mm on my road bike and I've tried lots of sizes on both bikes. 'FOR ME' 1.9-1.5 seems to be the sweet spot for comfort with not too much resistance. But I'm a heavy guy and I've met people that don't agree so if you can you should try out as many sizes as your can.

I'd stick with 1.5"+ sizes for touring on older wide Rigida rims. The only reason to go to 1.25 tires is if you and the load are light and the rims are 22-25mm wide. For touring bike you won't find as significant a benefit to narrower tires compared to reducing your load. If you're seeking fast riding touring tires the Continental Sport Contact or Panaracer Paselas/T-serv are pretty nice. You will find a huge difference going from 1.95 knobbies to any size kind of street tire. A Schwalbe 2.0 Big Apple will be a lot faster than a 1.95 knobby.

I typically run 1.5 or 1.75 tires on my MTB set up for touring. Currently I am running Forte Gotham City (Performance) tires, probably will use Schwalbe the next time around.

Aaron :)

I have 26x1.75 Marathons that I have been running on an all around mountain bike conversion for the past three years. I might take it down to 1.5 inch when they finally wear out (about 5500 miles and counting) but would not go narrower. I don't think the wider tires slow me down and not having to worry about crappy roads and rough trails makes the ride more fun and less stressful.

For what little it's worth, I ran Vittoria Randonneur Pro 26 x 1.5 " this past season and they seemed to perform very well, definitely lighter than the standard Schwalbe Marathon's with a more compliant ride. Can't give you durability rating yet but so far so good.

I typically run 1.5 or 1.75 tires on my MTB set up for touring. Currently I am running Forte Gotham City (Performance) tires, probably will use Schwalbe the next time around.

Aaron :)

I ended up at Performance with the remainder of a gift card from Christmas and went with these for now since I was limited on the budget. I have had a set on another mtb that my brother in law has ridden the past two years and they've held up very well. I like the look of those Kenda Kwest and the Travel Contacts and will probably try both in the future.