due ruote 

I'm using 1.5 Paselas and like them a lot. I'm mostly on pavement, a bit of crushed gravel trails; all pretty tame stuff.

I tried Nashbar slicks once. They weren't bad, but a bit squishy cornering. Tried Schwalbe Big Bens - they were huge and heavy, really plush ride and looked like they'd never flat. I wound up selling them as I didn't care for the weight, and it was all I could do to get them not to rub my u-brake.

lotekmod

I have a set of Continental Town & Country in 26 x 1.9. I really like the inverted tread on these- fast on pavement but still has some grip on gravel. I haven't put many miles on them though, I like to keep knobbies on my 26in bikes and take them on the trails.

TimmyT 

I think I know where you got those Nice tires. It looks like you are using them for what they are intended and having a blast

I believe it. It's hard to beat a guy with a mile-wide smile. The fastest I ever went on "similar" tires was about 19-20 mph on a 10 mile flat, so if you were up against a B or C group, you could have easily toasted 'em.

I'd like to find a 1993 Multitrack in 23" and do something similar to what you did. Funny, I was having a bagel in the local shop today, and a guy came in with a later TIG'd 750. I kinda wanted to offer him a couple bills and take it home.

anixi

^
Am I seeing things or is there a baby's doll up in the tree trunk, behind the bike?!?

Bikedued

It's Annabelle, .,,,,BD

ksryder

Nope, that's why I took the pic. People get creative around here for Halloween.

I'm glad I saw that during the day. That tree has given me the serious creeps during my early morning rides. I'm a combat vet & I don't get the heebie jeebies very easily but that tree looms out of the shadows at a bind turn at the bottom of a hill and at 445 am sometimes your imagination can get the better of you.

ksryder

It's been fun. I got this bike to commute when I went back to school and didn't know much about bikes, later realized what an underappreciated find it is. I decided to try moustache bars because I wanted to see what they were like. Didn't like them at first but after some adjustments I like them a lot.

I guess you could say they grew on me. *rimshot*

Also this tires a pretty nice. Put about 80 miles mostly gravel on them this weekend. Awesome ride quality.

bobbyl1966

What crank size and cassete size you have in your mountain bikes.

Paramount1973 

I am using 1.75 Panaracer Tservs. These are about 42mm and weigh around 450 gm. They are Kevlar beaded and have the same tread as Paselas. I love these tires, they are grippy on wet pavement, give a cushy ride and roll well. Good flat resistance, I regularly roll over broken glass on them. There is plenty of room for fenders on my mountain bikes.


P4170259 by galoot_loves_tools, on Flickr

kimpw

I ride 170mm, I'm about 5ft 6in with a 30in inseam. 165 on road bikes.

kimpw

Great, made up my mind. 1.75's it is. I thought the 1.5 would be less cush, Thank you.

wrk101

Gearing is all about your motor and the terrain in your area. 11/28 and 12/28 seven speed cassettes on my two conversions. Triple chainrings are OEM that came with my Cimarron 28/38/48 I think. That takes you from about 25 gear inches to 109 gear inches. At a cadence of 80 RPM, that takes you from 5.9MPH to 26 MPH (with the 1.5 inch tires).

Play around on Sheldon Brown's gear calculator site.

Tires, I have Nashbar 1.25 inch slicks on one bike, the other has the Panaracer 1.5 inch tires. The beauty of a mtb conversion is that most can handle almost any width tire you want.

Paramount1973 

My riding buddy has 1.75 Paselas on his Lotus Pegasus MTB with fenders and likes them very much.

bobbyl1966

what cassete size and crank is good for bike trail with 900 feet elevation. On my mountain bike i have put crank 52/42 and 7 speeds cassete 13-26. I have 9 speeds wheel if working okay i want try make my mountain bike close to road bike. i want try 53/39 crank and 9 speeds cassete 12-25

cny-bikeman

You keep asking basically the same question. The answer is that gear range depends on both the rider and the usage or terrain. Further, 900 foot elevation (increase?) does not mean anything without knowing over what distance that occurs. If it happens in 6 miles that's less than a 3% grade, but if it's only a 2 mile distance it's an grinding 8.5% grade. What you need is determined by you riding the trail and seeing what it takes you to get up the trail.

As for making the mountain bike the same as your road bike: A 53 large chainwheel and a 12 tooth small cog on a mountain bike is almost useless, and not so wise on a road bike either. You should be travelling at a sustained speed of about 30 mph to use that gear. A larger front chainwheel or smaller rear cog will not make you go faster. Any experienced rider on this forum will tell you the same thing.

Bikedued

52/42 and a 13/26 rear cog set?? That is pretty close to triathlon hardcore gears around here, or flat out crit racing.,,,,BD

bobbyl1966

I had that spare crank and cassete and i tried that combination on my mountain bike. What is the best crank size and cassete size for use in fast long rides include century

bikemig 

See post no. 3541.

eastbay71

I'm running a 50/34 with a 11-34 9 speed rear on my Motobecane. I typically cruise in the 50-13 (big ring 2nd cog) or 50-15 (big ring 3rd cog) combo but the 50-11 combo is useful downhill. I ride this bike over 36 miles twice a week averaging around 18 mph on flat ground. On my Schwinn I have a 48/38/28 triple with a 11-25 9 speed rear. I run 48 -13 and 48 -15 on this bike usually for the same average speed pedaling a little harder.

To the poster that's asking what gearing to run on his bike... If you run a double front crankset with a 53/42 combo you're going to want to run a wider range rear like a 12-28 or a 12-34 so you can climb. If you're using a triple crankset you can get away with the narrower spacing of a cassette like a 11-25 because you have the granny gear up front. I prefer the triple front and narrow rear setup because I like the small increments between the rear cogs.

For tires I'm running 1.5" Specialized Nimbus on my daily rider and 1.25" slicks on my other drop bar

bobotech

Here is my latest thing. Got the basic bike for 10 dollars at a yard sale complete. I wanted it because it was a Cannondale. At first when I saw the yard sale ad, I wasn't interested in the bike because I saw the budlight logo and thought "Eh, cheap crappy branded bike" and ignored it. Got to the yard sale and discovered it was a Cannondale with all entry level LBS components (acera/altus etc). Bought it, donated the wheels and components to a local non-profit bike shop and used all my decent Deore components on the bike and changed the fork out for a threadless (i have a TON of threadless stuff). Used the widest bars I coudl find (44mm), a set of Dura Ace 9sp bar end shifters, cool blue/black bar tape I got from thrift store for 1.99 (new), and a set of decent mavic wheels I built up with Panaracers on them (1.75 I think). There is a lot of space between the fenders and tires because I set it up so that my 2.2 Nokian 297 studs would fit underneath them with no alterations. So if I swap out the wheelsets, no reconfigurations are necessary. Just swap wheels and go. Used a Topeak rack which is nice, I have 4 topeak racks with the sliding track so its easy to move my bag from bike to bike.

anixi

^Looking good, Bo!

Paramount1973 

Barend shifters, aero and cyclocross levers - what's not to like!

bobotech

Thanks!

Here is a better picture:

frantik

i recommend these tires to everyone. I have only gotten one flat in over a year of riding on my tservs, and that was a big staple. best weight vs flat protection vs cost that you can buy! They roll for days as well.. almost as good as the Compass tires and are slightly cheaper

Paramount1973 

Jan Heine reduced the price of the Compass tires to $57 per tire, Tservs can be had for $38 with free shipping on Amazon, the difference is about $19 per tire without factoring in shipping.