Road slicks on an MTB?
 

Im thinking about buying a set of road slicks for my off road oriented bike. I ride almost 10 miles/day of road travel so im thinking i can change the tires when i commute and whatnot and then if im going to go on the trail change the tires for my 2.1 width tires. Is this practical or will it have some negative consequence?

A guy I ride with does this all the time without any problems. I'll be doing too as soon as I can afford another wheelset. (which comes after a drivetrain replacement.) It sure will help your confidence to be able to keep a higher pace on your fattie while on the road!

Yea i cant see any negatives coming from it. Might look funny, road slicks with a suspension fork but oh well.

well, his tires are slick but they are far from skinny. (if that's what you mean) His tires are at least 3 inches wide. It doesnt look funny at all. It looks fast.

Oh, it does. I use slick 26x1.9 tires for urban riding and it is the goofiest looking thing. Anyway, the tires are City 1.9, I am not sure of the brand, as I don't have them in front of me. The nice thing is that they offer a butter smooth ride and enhanced efficiency.

I run Tioga City Slickers (1.5's?) on my rigid, which I use as a training bike on the paved roads. Works great for me on the road and even surprisingly well for dirt trails but loose gravel can get a little sketchy. After running slicks on pavement I can hardly bear to ride knobbies on pavement anymore, even for a short stretch.

Switching tires back and forth should present no problems but after awhile you might just decide to get two sets of wheels (or two bikes ; )

They'll work fine. When I was first starting racing triathlons, I did the bike leg on my Cannondale M700 mountain bike. I installed narrow slicks and an aerobar and rode that for a full season before buying a tri bike.

My finest moment was after the LA Triathlon series. I was packing my gear up in the car when a guy came trotting up to me and said "Hey, I just want to thank you for saving me a grand." I had no idea what he was talking about so he smiled and said "I was getting passed by guys on the bike course who had all sorts of carbon fiber aero wheels and disks and things. I was dejected and told myself I was buying new aero wheels TODAY. Then you came blowing past me on a freakin' mountain bike and I realized it had nothing to do with my wheels."

:)

That's a great story! There's a lesson in there worth a thousand dollars (or more). Thanks! :D

I know how you feel. I hate riding pavement on my knobbies anymore. I just switch out the tires, as I can't afford another set of wheels nor do I think it's necessary. Go for the slicks, you will not be disappointed.

Yea ive been told plenty of timets get a wheelset for both applications but on a highschool budjet that isnt always possible =/ Well i will take a look at some slicks then. Thanks

I know others do (two sets of wheels) but I don't, either. Not much to switching tires.

I run Ritchey Speedmax Pro 2.0's on my Hardrock Pro Disc. There's nothing wrong with putting slicks on your MTB if you ride it mostly on the road. I haven't done any trail riding with it yet as it's wintertime and I work quite a bit. If I do get the time and desire to go ride trails, I'll get some knobbies and swap out as necessary. Outside of that, I'll never ride knobbies on the road.

I have a Cannondale Jekyll 700 that I installed some Spedialized Fatboys on and WHOO is it fast! 26 x 1.25 and pumped to 85psi! Imagine carrying 22mph on your mtb. Of course I did lock everything out when I did that.

Speaking of Jekyll

http://www.ablbaseball.org/Other/jekyll1.jpg

hmmm -- 1.5 inch tires...small suckers

Looks kinda weird having that tiny tire on the lefty fork.. But if you do mostly pavement riding, there's no reason not to have slicks. :)

my58vw, that just looks plain weird! haha it looks like a broken bike! I bet it rides really sweet and fast, though :)

I want to get some slicks for my bike, the only thing I fear is continual flats

That shouldnt be a problem if you get that fatboy slicks. Specialized FatBoy, I believe is the name of them. I think they are 3 inch tires. If I rode in an urban area, those are definately what I would get. Stand up to the hard abuse, I would be scared of tacoing wheels flying off curbs, planters, and what not's with any skinny slicks.

yeah..the ones someone had pointed out previously were 2.5 I think and I currently have 2.1s I'll check out the fatboys :)

Fatboys are 1.25" wide slicks with absolutely no tread... They also make a Nimbus that's 1.5" and a Hemisphere that is 1.95" wide. The Nimbus & Hemisphere are available in "Armadillo" form which prevents most flats. Continental makes a Town & Country that's 2.1" wide and Maxxis makes the Hookworm that's 2.5" wide.

the hookworm...that's what cryo was talking about

The hookworm is about the widest urban/slick I've seen around so far. The problem is tire clearance issues. It's stupidly wide and won't clear some people's frames and forks.