Raiyn

If you're going to be riding mainly on the road I'd skip anything with knobs. They're useless on pavement. I stick by my original suggestion of the Ritchey Moby Bites. I plan on getting a set myself to throw on my trailbike so I can do a little urban riding (stairs etc) as my access to rideable trails is rather limited right now due to scheduling.
Between MERTON, 53-11, and Toolbox we should have downed a whole can by now.

jallen

Merton Salt.. hahahahahaha

crank'n

Im using a tyre the same as that on the MTB bike,the tires made by
dunlop.A use full tyre for in the city or on the beaten track.

Joeagain

FYI there's a lot of good, in-depth info on https://www.sheldonbrown.com/ It's good because he writes about the "hows" and "whys" of things, which is the best way to understand things when you're getting back into cycling, especially fit in relation to aches and pains, etc. There's more technical stuff there, too.

The reason I mention it is because he has an opinion on that type of tire you mention, (bald in the middle, tread on the outside), and there is usually solid reasoning behind his opinions, (it might not be right for your particular purposes, but the reasoning is solid and always worth consideration). It's at https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html and scroll down to "combination treads". There's also a rationale behind his idea on using a combo tire in front, road tire in back, on the same page at "mixing/ matching tires". Best thing to do if you will do 90% plus of your riding on the pavement is to have treaded tires to switch on and off, or even better, different wheels for easier switching. Also, if you're concerned about hydroplaning with slicks you can find something about that on Sheldon's website. You won't have a problem with hydroplaning because of the shape of the contact patch of two-wheeled vehicles. The worst problem is slipping, laterally -- like when making turns at intersections where there are painted crosswalks and possibly manhole covers. In almost all cases on pavement, the more contact with the ground you have, the better (when the question is contact vs. "digging/ knobby" traction). Junk at the side of the road is different -- just avoid it. Treaded patterns "squirm" when cornering hard, and a friend of mine almost had a bad meeting with a tree last year because of that fast dropoff-of-control knobbies have when cornering hard on pavement.

I have two friends who bought mountain bikes thinking they'd do some offroading, but, as many people, they do 99% of their riding on pavement. One of them recently switched his tires to full time road tires, put on a rack, and is getting fenders soon. The upshot of what I'm trying to say is don't bias your equipment toward offroad riding as much as you may first think, since you will most likely spend virtually all of your time on the pavement no matter what your intentions.

Sorry for being so long-winded on that.


Joe

Raiyn

This is the section Joeagain referred to.

Quote:

Combination Treads

Many tire makers market "combination tread" tires, that are purported to work well both on pavement and dirt. Generally, they don't.

The usual design is to have a smooth ridge down the center of the tread, with knobs on the sides. The theory is that the ridge will provide a smooth ride on pavement, with the tire inflated fairly hard, and the knobs will come into play off-road, with the tire running at lower pressure (or sinking into a soft surface.) Another aspect of this design is that the knobs are intended to come into play as you lean into a turn.

In practice, combination tread tires don't work all that well. They do OK in dirt, but they're pretty lousy on pavement. They're much heavier than street tires, and if you corner aggressively, the transition from the center strip to the knobs can cause sudden washout. They aren't quite as slow and buzzy as true dirt tires, but they're much worse in this respect than smoothies.

If you mostly ride on pavement, but also do a fair amount of dirt, a combination tire on the front may be a good choice for you, with a road tire on the back.

Joeagain

By the way, you'll experience some discomfort that everyone has when getting back into cycling. It's best to ask those questions on this forum because:

1) everyone has experienced them and has a different solution, one of which will work for you and

2) certain pain just requires getting acclimated again, but other types are very bad, (like knee pain or finger numbness).


Joe

PWRDbyTRD

I'm just worried about going around any turn on a bike and wiping out riding on that super smooth rubber...Do they make like what would essentially be road tires for a car for a bike...not slick, but w/o knobs

slvoid

I got the perfect tires for you, both from specialized, very flat resistant and strong and can handle high pressures for an easy rolling ride.
Either the specialized Nimbus:

or the specialized hemisphere:

I used to use the hemispheres and moved over to the nimbus tires. Both very nice.
Being a bigger rider, I'd get the hemispheres.
And don't worry about it, knobbies means less contact with the ground. Smooth means more contact with the ground, hence more grip. Think about it, race cars use fat slick tires with no treads.

Joeagain

Slicks are the way to go if you plan on doing all pavement riding, but a slight tread like the Hemisphere mentioned above is good if you plan on occasionally doing rail-trail type surfaces, (crushed limestone, etc.). In your case, it's probably best to have some tread since you don't know what you'll end up riding in your travels yet. Schwalbe Marathons have a great reputation, but they're expensive, (their customer service is top notch).
https://www.schwalbe.com/index.pl?ber...=29&produkt=97

I made a mistake of sorts when I didn't specifically qualify the sentence in my above post that I was referring to wet pavement when I wrote, "The worst problem is slipping, laterally -- like when making turns at intersections where there are painted crosswalks and possibly manhole covers." What I meant was, "The worst problem, IN THE WET, is slipping laterally..." As far as cornering on dry pavement, slicks are the best grip you can possibly get. Any tire, no matter what tread pattern, will have trouble on wet crosswalks and manhole covers, though, so be aware of that (wet manhole covers may as well be covered with grease).

As slvoid wrote, race cars use slicks on dry pavement because that's the most possible contact they can get with the ground, and thus the most grip. They switch to rain tires with grooves in them because if they used slick car tires in the rain -- or any tires with a square contact patch, (the shape of the contact patch is the key here -- square for cars vs. a kind of pointed, extended oval for two wheeled vehicles) -- the water at the innermost part of the front of the contact patch will have nowhere to go so at a certain speed the tire will eventually ride on top of the water, which is hydroplaning. Their rain-racing tires have a groove every few centimeters to provide a place for the water to go. https://www.racegoodyear.com/sae.html (That's the principle behind the "Aquatread" that you see advertised on television. It's nothing new, they just got the marketing department to give it a fancy name). Bike tires and other two wheeled vehicles have a pointed contact patch (because of the rounded profile) that diverts the water before the main part of the contact patch gets there, thus precluding the problem. They're still riding on wet pavement but that's much different than riding on wet pavement and water. I'm sure you've seen every now and again a motorcycle in the rain on the highway, (I did it more than once. In retrospect, it was obviously stupid). They don't have a problem with hydroplaning but they do have to be careful about slick road surfaces of all types. I guess it's possible to hydroplane any shape contact patch if the speeds are high enough, since Sheldon's page mentions that airplanes may have this problem, but bicycles will never get that fast. (Edit: I just did a quick google check and motorcycles racers do switch to "wet" tires for wet surfaces, though I don't know if they race in the rain; I think that'd be crazy)https://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s180/st53429.php.

So the upshot of the previous paragraph is: depending on your riding style, slicks are probably the best tread pattern for pavement only cycling, whether wet or dry. You won't slip unless you ride irresponsibly, (wet manhole covers, wet painted surfaces, riding over side-of-the-road junk).

Anyway, here's Jobst Brandt's explanation, perhaps that's better:
https://groups.google.com/groups?q=hy....hp.com&rnum=1 To quote him: "I brought up the aircraft tire because it is the only other common tire that has a round cross section and is for this reason largely immune to hydroplaning. Due to its larger size, it is not as water penetrating as a bicycle tire but is used at a vastly greater speed, thereby emphasizing how unfounded bicycle hydroplaning claims are."

I switched one of my bikes from knobbies to slicks, and it turned like it was on rails. It felt like a different bike. The difference is profound. For further proof, look up the tires that cycle racers use -- they're virtually all slick. But you're probably best off with some type of treaded pavement tire, (not knobbies).

Just some personal preferences: You'll probably want to use as large a tire as you can fit inside fenders, (buy the fenders first, so you can be sure the tires fit), for comfort and prevention of pinch flats. Personally, I avoid skinwall/ gumwall tires since those sidewalls deteriorate faster than blackwall tires.


Joe

Raiyn

PWRD here's the reason slicks are better than tires with tread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sheldon Brown

Bicycle tires for on-road use have no need of any sort of tread features; in fact, the best road tires are perfectly smooth, with no tread at all!

Unfortunately, most people assume that a smooth tire will be slippery, so this type of tire is difficult to sell to unsophisticated cyclists. Most tire makers cater to this by putting a very fine pattern on their tires, mainly for cosmetic and marketing reasons. If you examine a section of asphault or concrete, you'll see that the texture of the road itself is much "knobbier" than the tread features of a good quality road tire. Since the tire is flexible, even a slick tire deforms as it comes into contact with the pavement, acquiring the shape of the pavement texture, only while incontact with the road.

People ask, "But don't slick tires get slippery on wet roads, or worse yet, wet metal features such as expansion joints, paint stripes, or railroad tracks?" The answer is, yes, they do. So do tires with tread. All tires are slippery in these conditions. Tread features make no improvement in this.

Ordinarily slvoid I'd totally agree with you on the Nimbus or the Hemisphere (both excellent tires), but while I agree that the Hemisphere is the better choice of the two due to it's size, the Moby Bite that I'm suggesting is a bigger tire than it's measurements would lead you to believe. It's also reminds me of a NASCAR slick (I live in the South it's an environmental hazard ) lot's of smooth reasonably sticky rubber.

As I said earlier I intend on getting a set so I can go bounce around on some of the urban terrain features here. Bear in mind that I'm 6'4" 255# and I'm also not the smoothest when I land stuff. I want a larger volume tire under me when I land because a higher pressure skinny tire like the Nimbus isn't gonna cut hopping much more than a curb at my weight without having more of an effect on the rim. In short the forces I exert on a tire screwing around should give our large (soon to be smaller ) friend a better idea of what he could do just riding around.

Once he drops a bit more the Nimbus's will give him more speed to go with his increased endurance, or he can keep the larger tire and have fun with obstacles.
That's my take on the matter.

cryogenic

I'm a lighter rider as stated in earlier threads, but I actually run the Ritchey Speedmax Pro 2.0's. They're a combo-tread tire but are very slick in the center so they roll pretty well. I'm actually the friend who he's referring to in his posts, also. Anyway, the idea behind going with the speedmax over the mobybite or tom slick was the simple fact that I wasn't sure if/when I'd be running into slippery/muddy conditions (wet grass, mildly muddy side trails, etc) so I figured I'd get something with SOME tread. I'm guessing with him being a heavier rider, something in the 2.0" or wider range would be preferred? Also, the LBS I do most of my business with suggested DH pedals or something similar along with a 2 bolt seat clamp? I'm thinking he won't be doing much curb jumping/hucking/etc, mostly just street riding on sidewalks, shoulders, and greenways.

slvoid

But he needs to be able to make right turns with those tires.

Hehe but seriously, I think the 1.95" hemisphere would do well for him. I've been on dirt trails and rock covered trails with them and they work, pretty grippy. Plus they're almost 2" wide and can be pumped up to 80psi. I agree though, the 1.5" nimbus at 100psi still might not be able to support him if he's 400 pounds.

PWRDbyTRD

Yeah...my point is I want to be able to go through the grass or ride while it is went and not slide off the road, which I have seen happen with people riding on the slick tires. I'm sure they'd work GREAT for dry pavement, but the fact is it's not always going to be dry. That's all I think I'll go with these:

slvoid

You might want to get the armadillo version. They're VERY hard and tough, virtually bullet proof, never have to worry about flats. I use em on my mtb in the rain and not worry about glass sticking to my wet tires and wearing a hole in em. Plus, people, granted people around 150 pounds, have been known to ride an armadillo flat in an emergency for a couple of blocks with no ill effect.
I've gone on grass and dirt and felt the back slip a little under power with my nimbus tires. But never the hemispheres cause they're wider and the contact patch is larger. Plus the small grooves in there bite into the dirt and grass a lot better.

PWRDbyTRD

I'm just gonna have to disagree with you. There is no way that a slick tire is going to hold the ground when it's wet better than a tire with some tread.

Raiyn

No don't go with those. You will undoubtedly screw your rims. At your size you NEED a wider tire than a 1.5. Period.
Also the "tread" on the Nimbus is a cosmetic feature it doesn't help with wet conditions in the slightest. (I know because I've had them for years.)
I ride in the rain almost constantly during the "rainy season" (Beautifull day all day then look outside at 4PM and it's raining.) and the ONLY times I've ever slid on pavement unintentionally in the rain are the times when I'm forced to brake hard on a painted surface.
Year after year in the Tour de France people crash in the stages that get rained on the BULK of these crashes occur at speeds you won't reach and normally after hitting a painted lane marker or other painted road feature.

slvoid

With all due respect, everyone around here probably has a lot more experience on a bike than you do. They ride thousands of miles through rain, sleet, snow, and hail every year and the advice they give is from experience and probably sound.
And also, while I'd really love to recommend the 1.5" tire, considering your weight, a better choice really would be the 1.95" hemisphere semi-slick tire along with a wheel with a high spoke count. We all understand the urge to just up and out get a high pressure racing slick but it's best to start with the 1.95" and work your way down, so to speak.

PWRDbyTRD

Mmk. Well I'm going to the LBS monday afternoon or tuesday once I get the bike pieced together and I'll go from there. I'll see how it goes. So I should definitely get something >2" in width for tires?

toolbox63

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

serotta

A suggestion to avoid a long drive. Talk to your LBS first, then if the LBS agrees, talk to Kona direct. Sometimes if there isn't a LBS that stocks a product, the manufacturer will allow a one-time order to try to get into that area. I did this with Kestrel many years ago, and got my LBS to order and take delivery of the bike rather than have to travel 100 miles to the nearest dealer. Kestrel advanced the same pricing to the LBS as they would to their dealer network.

PWRDbyTRD

Serotta...it's done and with as is so that's kinda out of the question. Bike is arriving at my house Monday about 10:30AM

Raiyn

Yes, that would be my recommendation. The higher volume will be an asset to you in terms of comfort and reducing possible damage to your wheelset. The tire I've been pushing is the largest slick on the market that I've been able to find and it's from a good company to boot.

slvoid

What the. How'd you go from a Kona to a Serotta? What kind of bike is it?

Raiyn

No No No the guy he was responding to is named serotta

PWRDbyTRD

Bahahahahaha! LoL. Yeah man...he was talking about getting a LBS to sell their stuff, and one used to, but they stopped. Who knows why...now the closest one is 1ish hours away driving in the fast lane.