<1.7 26" cross tire suggestion?
 

Hey all,
I built up a touring/cross bike this summer out of an early '90's Scott MTB (drop bars, bar-end shifters, cantis, etc.) and am having trouble locating good, fast, CX tires for it. I'm currently running 1.4" Ritchey Tom Slicks on it--they work great for pavement and easy dirt roads but I'd like to do a little more aggressive stuff with it--trails, mud, etc. Maybe even a couple of local cross races......

Can anyone recommend where to find something in the 1.0 to 1.4 inch range for a 26" rim that would work well for a little cross action? Smoothish in the middle with a few teeth on the side?? Any help would be great--I tried to search teh site but after 4-5 tries came up with squat.

Thanks!

John

Schwalbe (sp?) CX pro. I think they are 1.35 and I use them on my MTB for cross races. I got them from BikeTiresDirect.com

The schwalbe are not so smoothish in the middle, deep aggressive knobbies there.
I used them for cross last year and I thought they were pretty good, on very muddy or wet courses the tend to bring up a lot more stuff because of the high knobs, not so fast on pavement, and check for tire pressure because they are skinny and I got a flat from pinching the tube the first race.

The schwalbe cx pro's are decent - I raced with them on my cross bike (newly made! http://community.livejournal.com/bik...s/2931844.html) this weekend, they definitely weren't holding me back. They really lower the bike - watch out for pedal strike issues after you put them on!

Pedal strike? Huh? Not sure what you men as the heigth difference on a 2.1 and a 1.3/1.4 really isn't that much. If that is what you mean I am a pretty stubby guy anyway and run 170 cranks so...............

I'll check the Schwalbe's out if for no other reason than the name:)

John

It depends on your frame, but I found on my frame it was designed for wider tires. Going to the skinnier ones definitely made a difference, I definitely hit my pedal on the ground a few times. I've gone to 165 cranks which has helped.

get the specialized houffalize tire there about 40 bucks a piece but they are very knobby and have great traction