bryroth

I recently bought a cyclocross bike used and it is outfitted for the road with road tires and road pedals. I switched the pedals, but will mainly be using it for commute and some road training. However, I plan on taking it on trails as much as possible, kind of as a substitute for my long-lost mountain bike. I really plan on abusing it out on the trail.

My problem is that I'm new to self-maintenance and am trying to educate myself. As a result, I'm going to be walking into a bike shop and just asking someone who works there to pick out a tire for me. I just don't know enough terminology to research it myself. When I look online, I can choose between mountain or road, and I'm kind of at a loss.

So I thought, as a starting point to help me learn, why don't I just ask the experts.

What is a good, beefy-sized trail tire that I can fit onto my cross bike? It's an '05 Kona Jake although I don't know if that matters or not.

Oh, and right now I use Gommitalia Logo 700x32.

Thanks for any help!

dzinehaus

I went through a similar ordeal building up my bike trying to find info... Here's what I found out...

mountain tires are larger and won't fit on a road wheel (which is what cross bikes usually have as aside from frame geometry differences a cross bike is usually the same as a road bike but with knobby tires and cantilever brakes aside from road calipers)

check out https://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo.net/clinchers.html this will give you an idea of some tires out there.

Clincher tires are tires that use an inner tube then the tire on a rim, simple assembly no glueing necessary (uness you want to hassel with that, but i dont know why anyone would want to )

Tubeless tires are similar to most car tires that get sealed directly on the rim itself and then get inflated with air.

Tubular tires or sew-ups have an inner tube sewn into the tire itself and require tubular rims to use, or similar clincher rims that allow the use of tubular tires.

my suggestion... ride on those tires you have and see if it holds up to what you want to do... If they pop / brake on you then drop the $$ on a new set of tires. otherwise, why drop money on something you dont need?

now for the personal opinion of tires, I ride ritchey speedmax pro and a lot of others ride it too and say they like it as an all around tire... but if you want to drop some serious money on cross tires you can go really high end and buy vittorias. IRCs are nice....

here's the guy i got my speedmax pros from
https://cgi.ebay.ca/RITCHEY-Speedmax-...2em118Q2el1247

14.99$ per tire + shipping... great price

bryroth

Big help. Thanks.

M_S

Different frames will have different clearances for tires. In general, you'll have lots of clearance in the fork, but not so much int he chainstays. My 'cross bike, for exmample, can fit no biger than about a 40mm tire in the rear if the wheel is perfetly true, but I've put a 45mm Panaracer Fire Cross (about a 1.8 inch tire) on the front with room to spare.

My take after doing a decent amount of experiementing is that you will never turn your 'cross bike into a mountain bike. I ride mine on lots of technical singletrack, but I have to ride it very differently than I would even a hardtail. Do not expect it to perform like one in technbical off road situations. Instead of trying to make the 'cross bike into more of a trail bike, I've decided I enjoy it best with normal 'cross sized tires. It behaves the way it's supposed to. Also 35mm tires are less of a chore on the road, and toe overlap can get annoying witha large front tire.

But that's just my take. Enjoy your 'cross bike as a 'cross bike. by all means ride it on the trails, just don't expect it to be a mountain bike.

All that said, the specific tire that will work for you is very dependent on the local trails. What are they like? Rocky and roty? Sandy? Muddy?

justinb

As a fellow CX singletracker, I'd also encourage you to note that a lot of cross clinchers aren't overly puncture resistant. I ride in arizona (thorns everywhere) and absolutely run slime tubes every time I hit the singletrack. The increase in riding time relative to tube changing time has definitely been worth it. A tire liner system like Mr. Tuffy's might be useful too.