VanillaJunior

I purchased my first bike yesterday evening (2008 21" Specialized Hardrock Sport) and after two days of riding, I'm already sick of the stock knobby tires. I'm interested in purchasing a new wheelset and tires designed for pavement and light trails (hard-packed dirt and loose sand). I plan on keeping my stock wheelset and tires for when I decide to venture into the hills for some true trail riding. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

My Clydesdale Stats: 6'1, 260lbs.

SoCal Commute

Hmm, how often do you plan on going off road? If you plan on being on pavement most of the time then just buy a set of slicks and keep your knobbies in a closet somewhere and swap em out when you need to.

If you are looking for road gearing and slicks I'm interested to see what everyone else says, I've been wondering if you can stick road gears on a mtb myself.

Stumas

I'd agree with SoCal. I did the same thing several years ago with my Specialized Hardrock (which I still use for hard pack trails, etc) and more recently for a Cannondale Street Tandem whose stock tires were too knobby for my tastes. I still have the original knobbies from the Specialized but have yet to put them back on. Save yourself a lot of money and just get new tires.

I went with Schwalbe Marathon Supremes recently - a little pricey, but highly rated puncture resistance and low rolling resistance.

Be sure to get properly sized tires for your old rims, including appropriate width. Schwalbe's website has a nice compatability chart and other technical info:

https://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_in...dimensions#rim

txvintage

You shouldn't need new wheels, just new tires. If you feel you want different gearing, change out your cassette.

VanillaJunior

Thank you all for the excellent advice.

SoCal, I'm averaging 70% paved trail and 30% off-road (loose dirt, sand and hardpack).

I stopped by a local cycling shop today to check out the tires and they directed me towards a pair of IRC Mythos XC Slicks. Do you think they'll do the trick? Also, they did say something that struck me as being a bit odd - they said that I could go with the 26 x 1.95 tires even though the tires size that is currently installed is a 26 x 2.1. Are they correct?

Thanks.

txvintage

The 1.95's shouldn't be any problem at all. You can even use the same tubes you have already.

Wogster

My bike came from then factory with 26x2.25" tires, it currently has 26x1.4" tires installed, the key point is the rim width, for more then you ever wanted to know about tire sizes, I refer you to the patron saint of cylists, St. Sheldon go to the bottom of the article, and then back up to the red and green chart.