Which tire fits???
 

I have a Raleigh M50 mountain bike. The stock tires are mountain tread but not too aggressive. I am considering getting some smoother street tires for road use. The tires that are on there are 26x2.10. I was told from someone at a local shop that I could use thinner tires for the street but I am confused as to which tire would work. Do I need to use only 26x2.10's or will something thinner work. I don't really understand how something thinner would fit because I am keeping the same rims and would assume that I would need the same size rubber for the rim. Is there a range of sizes that would work properly with this rim size? Thanks

While I'm not sure which rims you have equipped on your bike...I'm pretty sure that any 26x1.5 (or in that range) slick/commuter type tire will work just fine. You'll most likely have to get some new tubes though.

Yeah, you can use a range of tires with one rim size. The current tire size doesn't help you though, you need to know the inside diameter of the rim.


Here's a useful article when you find your rim size. The chart in the article is in millimeters.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

Here's another article which has a (rather small) chart with sizing in mm and decimal.
http://www.biketiresdirect.com/tire-width-article

You have plenty of latitude on width. the critical dimension is the diameter which has to match the rim, but since the tire is open at the bottom any width within reason will fit.

I'm currently running a 26x1.4 tire on the front and a 26x2.0 on the rear. There's no real reason except that I cut the rear tire and the 2.0 was handy at the time, and I'm old school cheap - once a tire's on, it stay's on until cut or worn out.

Use the tire width chart shouldberiding linked to and pick a decent tire within the correct width range.

See the Sheldon Brown site for details on tire choices. I run 26x 1.25 slicks on my MTB.


http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/...a791cddd_b.jpg

I would just stick with 26 x 1.95. The really skinny tire can be a bit faster, but will be quite a bit more harsh riding. Just switching to a slick or semi-slick will give you a big boost in speed. Get a floor pump as well so you can keep the tire pressures up, about 50 PSI would be a good figure for most of those sort of tires,