Hi all,

I'm quite new to technical aspects of biking and was hoping to get some recommendations for good tires to get for my mountain bike. I'm using a Mavic wheelset (559xx17), so I'm pretty sure I can go skinny on the tires. I use my bike to commute to work everyday (~5 miles). Due to the street layout, I'll be cycling on sidewalks which are mostly tarmac and occasionally on gravel/grass. The route I take has its share of uphills and downhills, and a portion of the journey involves cycling through housing areas. I do not intend to use the bike for any serious off-roading. The most intense it will get is probably grass and gravel.

Any suggestions for suitable tires? I was thinking of using skinny tires (1.5" or less) to maximize speed.

Thanks in advance!

Yeah, you can do that; Ritchey makes the Tom Slick -- last time I checked, in 26x1.0 and 26x1.4. Maxxis makes the Xenith in 1.5, a true slick. There are others, too. Check Biketiresdirect.com

If you are going to be going over gravel narrower may not be your friend and may not make you faster. When I went from 26 x 1.75 Schwalbe Marathon to 26 x 2 Marathon Supreme tires my speed went up. This was a combo of each tire being 1 pound lighter , but also being able to just ride through rough sections more easily.

I am just about to finish a MTB/Commuter.........one little rear cable stop (due Monday!!) and it's ready to go.

There is a great selection of 26" road tires here.

I found that too late and have these mounted to try.

They are at worst a low priced baseline to work from.

I've gone back and forth between 1.5" and 2.0" on my mtb commuter. Probably the reverse of what you may expect, I prefer the 1.5" for commuting and the 2.0" for longer rides / touring. I found the 1.5 to be more responsive on the stop and go and easier to spin up to speed, etc. However on the longer hauls, the 2.0 tires give more cushion. I bought the Forte 1.5 from Performance Bike and they are almost slicks and work just fine. On the 2.0, I got the Schwalbe Big Apple, which is a cut above the Forte (and 3x the price). Weight is also a factor, I think the Schwalbe's are half a pound heavier than the Forte's per tire, and also the increased diameter of the wheel makes them ride more like a 700c wheel with 25mm tires, so acceleration is slower, but bumps are smoother.

I'm actually used to a hardtail mtb with a rigid fork, so comfort isn't quite my top priority. In fact, the bike I'll be using these on is lighter and has a front suspension. I'm more concerned with speed; both acceleration (when I'm cycling through housing areas/city area) and top speed (for long stretches of tarmac sidewalks).

If I'm understanding this correctly, 1.5 or thinner will be ideal?

Lighter tires have higher rates of acceleration (neg and pos) because less rotational inertia. Even as little as 100g is very apparent if that weight is added or removed from the wheel or tire. The weight can vary amongst tires of teh same size a lot because of construction, flat protection, steel vs kevlar bead, etc. For example Panaracer Tserve 26x1.75 is 450g and the same size Crosstown is 1000g. The Tserv are pretty decent tires and when I went from 26x2.1 knobbies to Tserv 1.75, my bike was suddenly like a rocket.

Don't worry too much about the width. You just want something fairly smooth instead of knobbies if you intend to ride mostly on the street. Just don't go crzy on grass and gravel because smooth tires can't dig in and wet grass can be really slippery. Wet leaves and wood can be treacherous too.

I'd be leery of going as far down as 26 x 1.0 on a commute that involved a lot of sidewalks. If you have to bail off the sidewalk onto the road you are likely to get pinch flats. I pretty much lost all ability to hop off a curb when I rode 26 x 1 & 1/8th Continental Gatorskins. Not something I regularly do, but it is nice to have the option and not feel trapped.

For nominally 26 x 1.5 inch tires I can recommend:

Vittoria Randonneur Pro: These are great, not too heavy, super durable, very flat resistant. I run them at about 90 PSI. Can't go wrong with these and Nashbar has them on sale regularly. I run these front and rear on my vintage MTB turned tourer, and as a rear tire on my commuter. I love these tires.

Panaracer T-Serv Pro-Tex: here's where the "nominally" comes into play, these tires run a little small so the 1.75" labelled one is actually about 1.5". I prefer these for a front tire as they are a softer more rubbery compound and are at about 75 PSI. This gives a touch of cushioning for my all rigid citi-fied MTB over the rough roads I travel on. Very good flat protection, not too heavy.

Schwalbe Marathons: I haven't tried any of the more extreme versions of this tire (Dureme, Supreme, whatever), but I found the plain Marathon to have excellent flat protection, and this is coming from a 280 pound Clyde on roads that gave me 1-2 flats a day before I switched to quality tires. Frankly I don't see any point in spending more money for the more expensive versions of this tire unless you get an equivalent amount more miles out of them or they are significantly lighter. I got about 3,000 miles out of mine on the rear of my commuter before it got a couple of flats and I noticed there were a fair number of little cuts in it so I rotated it out for a Vittoria Rando Pro I had handy. Probably has some life left in it, but in my experience when a tire looks cut up and starts getting flats, even if it looks like it has a lot of tread, I'm courting regular flats. The Marathon was pretty heavy in comparison with the Panaracer T-Serv Pro-Tex and the Vittoria Rando Pro.

I just looked up the specs of the tires I have currently and it turns out they weigh only 388g (Kenda Small Block 8 26x1.75). Most tires I've come across are over 450g, even thinner 1.5" ones. In this case, would getting thinner tires necessarily result in a marked improvement in speed? Or at least will the improvement make up for any compromise in comfort?

The nature of the gravel AND your weight would make a difference. Deep, loose stuff or compacted tightly or???

The knobby tread on that tire is probably holding you back. The tire width won't affect your speed much whether you're using 1.75 or 1.5 of the same model tire but you will likely notice the difference in weight when starting or stopping. Once rolling there won't be much difference.

I'm a skinny dude at 150lbs, so I'm pretty sure I'm not straining any tires. Haha! As for the nature of the gravel, I've never really paid close attention to it, but I think the worst it gets is something like gravel that you find in a parking lot that isn't covered in tarmac.

Interesting. In that case, what are you thoughts on this:

I looked into the recommendations here and I really like the Vittoria Randonneur Pro. They're 1.5" and aren't knobby. However, they weigh 430g which is 40g heavier than my current tires. How do you think these will perform in comparison to my current tires?

My thought is that since the tire is smooth is will definitely roll easier compared to your Kenda knobby tire. The increased weight might mean you notice some slight difference in acceleration but the Vittoria should roll better once you get going and also less buzzing from the bike.

My default commuter tyre is the plain Marathon. I have used it for commuting, day rides and loaded touring and it does well under all conditions with good flat protection and durability at a reasonable price.
My 26" commuter came with 1.9" Big Apples which have a nice ride on rigid bikes, and served me well on a 2x6 mile commute. I may well replace with the same.

Check out the Michelin City Tire. It's like a poor man's Marathon or Marathon Plus. I've put over 10k mi on two sets and have not had a single flat. Can't say the same with the prior Performance brand tires than I had.

Going to slicks will definitely improve your speed and ride.

Vittorias have a pretty good reputation, if you want something cheap. For relatively cheap tires I personally use Panaracer TServ tires (but not saying they're better, I haven't used both side by side).

If you want the ultimate in a tire that's both fast and comfortable (at that size), the Schwalbe Supreme is the best you can get -
https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_ti...rathon_supreme

Obviously it's a expensive though.

"I'll be cycling on sidewalks which are mostly tarmac and occasionally on gravel/grass."

If your gravel and grass is truly occassional - like a short strip here or there, I myself ride 23c and 25c on grass and a crushed limestone gravel trail. It works fine. I ride across a grass field on my commute, actually - it's not a great ride, but with some bike handling ability I'd rather tough it out for that small section than have a fatter tire. It doesn't work for the crushed limestone trail if it's been raining though - 23c or 25c is just to skinny then, and a 1.5" tire would be much better.

If you have a short strip of really wishy-washy gravel, what I do is - slow the heck down. :-)

A 23c/25c is really horrible on a gravel road as well, a 1.5" would be much better, maybe even a 2".

It just depends on how much of your route is actually like this, and whether you bike in all weather or only good weather.

I've ridden on gravel some with my Vittoria Rando Pro's (1.5") they did just fine, but I imagine pretty much any slick that size would perform about the same. I did find them a little slippery on wet grass on a slope, but again, I think that would've been my experience with any slick 1.5" tire under those conditions.

Slick of course meaning largely tread free. Most of these tires have some vestigial tread, but it is pretty much just for show.

Quick question. Say I decide to use 1.5" tires, will I need to replace the inner tubes as well?

It's hard to say on the internet, usually the inner tube will fit a range of tires sizes, but it may or may not fit 1.5"...sorry, it's confusing.