How much difference will a set of road tires make for riding on the street?
what are some good ones?
what does a good set of 29 er rims go for?

My hybrid bike on road tires was easily as fast as my 70s road bike (in sig). With 29er tires, it's definitely a bit slower and harder to pedal. You can go just as fast in short clips but high speed runs are not anywhere as easy/maintainable. If you're planning on running in the street mostly (making a hybrid bike basically) they're worth it if you don't mind spending the money. The lowest I've seen decent 29er rims go for is in the mid 200s. You can also run cross bike rims if they're designed for cross bikes with MTB drop outs (my bike is setup this way). Those might be cheaper for nicer rims but I'm not entirely sure.

Edit: forgot to add that most 29er rims are setup for disc brakes so thats something that may limit you to cross rims.

Blue Sky has
https://www.blueskycycling.com/produc...-29er-Tire.htm
https://www.blueskycycling.com/produc...ty-FR-Rims.htm
https://www.blueskycycling.com/produc...sette-2010.htm
https://www.blueskycycling.com/produc...weep-Rotor.htm
https://www.blueskycycling.com/produc...ubber-Tube.htm

Thats $270 for complete front and rear wheels/tires thats a chunk of green but Much cheaper than a new road bike

Depends on how much road bike you want. If you're cool with stem shifters they start at $280.

I also weigh 285 @ 6-2" thats another reason I went with the MTB.
My Hard Rock is built like a Tank

This is what I want but it is only 26" as far as I can tell, they run up to 100 psi
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/...jsp?spid=57084

You do realize a 29er uses 700c rims? Any fat road bike tire 35mm or wider should work or your 29er. Lots of choices out there.

Here you go I have no trouble keeping up with high end road bikes alot has to do with the rider though.
I keep 3 sets of tires for riding a weekend road ride as pictured to work tires and a set of cyclocross tires for light trails. Weight is 8kg.
[IMG][/IMG]

Nice bike!

Not surprising that you can keep up to a lot of road bike - that machine is geared for the road, and weighs less than a lot of high end road bikes. Probably cost more than a lot of high end road bikes too!

I think i'll actually try answer your question.
[IMG][/IMG]

The schwalbe ultremo 23mm tires above are fitted to a 23mm internal width rim and is not recommended but does work there only for good roads and all these road race tires will puncture if there's alot of rubbish to ride over.
Below are 28mm vittoria randonneur there's other similar tires and are perfectly suited to any 23 to 24mm internal width rim these tires show hardly any differance in speed to 23mm race tires and are bombproof against punctures on any terrain.


[IMG]

I'm about to try a 35c cyclocross tire for light trail work and I'm taking a chance they'll fit might post a picture later.
The 28c continental double fighter2 tires below are hopeless against punctures and to small and narrow for trails. These spinergy 29er wheels cost around $550 on ebay.

[IMG][/IMG]

If I buy a set of 700c rims that are narrower will there be any fitment issues with my Hard Rock
E.G. will the RD and Disc caliper fit right?
Also what is the difference between MTB gearing and Road gearing my current rear cassette is 11-32

The total wheel diameter of my 29er wheel with the 28c vittoria tire in the picture above is 685mm and is fitted to a 26er frame.
I say it will fit your frame but you need to check first. The rim diameter has nothing to do with fitting the RD or caliper if you had rim brakes that would be a problem you just need a 135mm MTB disc hub.
My bike has a 50-34 compact road crank there bigger chain rings than MTB bikes and I had to do a lot of tricky stuff to make it fit, that would take a lot of explaining and dont know if I could make it all understandable quickly on here.
Your cassette is a MTB one with wider gear spacing than a roadbike. A road cassette is usually 11-25 to 28 and the ratios are closer together the deraillier on a road bike has a shorter cage or closer jockey wheels and makes shifting faster and more sharper.
I suggest if you want to run 700c road tires just buy a 29er wheel set with a internal rim width no more than 23mm and check what type of front axle you have eg. 9mmQR ,15mm or 20mm.