gobot

So here I am commuting across about 2 miles of really bad pavement every morning and night and I need the smushy mountain bike tires, but then the other 80 percent of my commute is on decent roads and smooth-ass bike paths and I'm sad about how slow the bike feels.

so, should I throw some road tires / wheels on it or will they not be able to handle the bad pavement in the hood? Is there a type of wheel thats sort of a compromise-- that is pretty fast but won't die if I happen to ride through a pothole at 15 mph?

cyccommute 

A 37mm road tire will hold up to touring loads (50+ lb) and dirt just fine...I've done it That's around 1.5" for mountain bike tires.

MyBikeGotStolen

I put some cheap <$10 1.5" slicks on my MTB bike and I ride them just as hard as I did the 2" knobbies before I put the slicks on. No problems yet in over 600 miles. And I do often ride with over 20lbs of school books in a milk-crate on the back.

skanking biker

or just keep your current tires and take a detour around the 2 miles of bad road

gobot

that's what I wanted to hear!

WillisB

I put on some Bontrager 1.5" Select Inverts on my MTB. I like them alot better than the regular tires when on rough roads. They also make a huge difference on pavement!

gobot

I looked at my wheels this morning before I left and I realized it already has 1.5" 60 psi tires and the wheel has 1.5" printed on it-- I aired it up to the max and was a little happier, but I could still use more speed!

So I'm looking at trying 1.25" slicks? I will consult w/ bike shop, try it out, and report on the damage if there is any!

If this doesn't work its back to Craigslist for a semi-disposable road bike y'all.

TRaffic Jammer

I've got 1.5inch slicks (Micheline) on mine and it rocks on the commute.

HardyWeinberg

I tried 1.5s on my mtn bike, went back to 2.0 slicks. Slick-esques. Much preferred the fatties.

gobot

haha Meat Pylons. that's disgusting!

icedmocha 

I have nashbar slicks on my mtb. The outer edge of the rim (the lip) is more exposed imo. There is a reason mtb tires are used as they are. You should be fine for commuting though as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

bdinger

I tried riding my skinny tired wanna-be-flat-bar-roadie (Trek FX) on my commute, and with the roads I ride it wasn't that comfortable. My direct commute is over potholed, crappy, non-maintained residential streets, so the 700x32 tires @ 100psi got a little old. I finally tried my fat-tired (26x21) MTB on them and... heaven. Pure heaven. Even with the knobbies, it's great. Slow as all get out, but great.

After hearing talk, and reading about them, I'm ordering a set of Michelin Transworld Citys in 26X1.5 soon-ish. Everything I hear is good, and they'll help get over the whole super reistance of big knobbies thing.

So yeah, I'd suggest going for it. If the ride gets too harsh, maybe look into a suspension fork?

Bikingtoteach

I started out on an old mountian bike that I put Nashbar slicks on, huge difference!!
They are not to pricey. Good luck.

squeakywheel

I wouldn't go skinnier than 26x1.5. The max pressure of 60 psi sounds kind of low. My 26x1.5 tires can go up to 80 psi.

If you can't go fast enough on your MTB with the tires you have, then look for a road bike. Probably a 20 year old 10-speed garage sale bike for starters.

gobot

awesome. when I get back from San francisco I will hit up the Craigslist

TRaffic Jammer

A change of gearing might be possible as well, depending on your frame clearances. 1-1.5 high pressure slicks and say a road ring on the front 46tooth+ can make for a pretty zippy ride. Meat pylons=pedestrians.

As for bomb proof road wheels, look at what messengers are riding. I used to ride Ambrosio Aero Elites back in the day of package shuttling. the Areo rim profile made for a really tough rim. I rode those wheels hard for years and they stayed vertically true (no hops), and i full on smashed some craters with them. Keep in mind these kinds of rims tend to be heavier and more expensive than the average rim. Avoid the Velo-City Deep-V trend, I've heard tell of manufacturing quality suffering due to ramped up production numbers because of skyrocketing demand. I'm savin' up for Ambrosio Focus (FCS) rims now... pro-quality Areo profile... I guess about 100bucks a hoop here in Canada.

JeffS

The slick issue is more important than the width. I guess I'm assuming you have knobby tires now. I really don't think you want to go narrower than 1.4/1.5. The difference between a 1.5 and 2.0 slick is negligible. The difference between a knobby and a slick will be significant.

gobot

Yeah I really ought to meet some messengers and check out their equipment-- I need to replace the old tires on my mtb soon anyway so I will get some 1.5" slicks when that happens.

also, the road ring for the front is interesting-- I hadn't thought about changing the gearing-- i think my highest gear is 42 teeth, so 46 would be a decent jump. However, it would probably cost the same to buy a used road bike as it would to start replacing gears.

TRaffic Jammer

I'm riding Micheline 1.5 MTB slicks....and baby they are slick...not a rain sip to be found, nothing, just rubber. My buddy gave me a deal on them as he said most consumers were afraid of them. Seems the general rider is looking for some form of tread/sipping on the tire. I bought them for an alleycat and love love love them. You'd have to be going much faster than a bike can reasonably go in order to hydroplane.

You should be able to go 44 easily enough on your MTB, for cheap. That combined with slicks you'll be flyin' in comparison. Couple miles of rough roads on a rode bike everyday will wear thin pretty quick, and might kill off a cheap road bike PDQ.

joelpalmer

Did a 25 mi commute on 1.5" for about a year covering everything from beautiful MUP to riding over railroad tracks in the warehouse/dock section of Alameda, never had a problem

squeakywheel

Yeah, knobbies will slow you down. I guess when he said he had 1.5 inch wide tires I just assumed they were street tires. I haven't seen knobbies that narrow.

I saw a huge boost in speed when switching from 2 inch knobbies to 1.5 inch street tires.

rando

do it, you'll love it.

Raiyn

One of the best moves I've made. So much faster and smoother

Jinks

I put on some 1.25 cheapo Performance slicks on my mountain bike. But it took some getting used too. It works fine on some crappy pavement. Luckily the rims I have aren't that wide, so it works. I tried putting the same slicks on my high end mountain bike that has wider rims, and the rims were way too exposed.

Sigurdd50

okay... so let's drop some brand names!

I'm setting up a mid 90's Trek 830 as my foul weather rider
A donation bike in the shop I work in.

It has knobbies and I AIN'T riding on them over roads and commuter paths. So what are some semi-slick 1.5" tire models that y'all recommend?

I see one vote for Michelin Transworld Citys..

Thanks in advance!