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Road Tires for MTB
New member. Novice cyclist. First post.
Bought narrower tires for my MTB. I only use it to commute on Chicago city streets. So, I took someone's advice and replaced the 1.95" Bontrager Connections that came with the bike with 1.5" Continental City tires by Performance. Anyway, it seems that the bike goes slower now? Is that possible? Thanks. |
i would just buy slicks and run em high and stay away from 1.5's.you would be suprised how much faster you will be.
could it go slower now ,maybe if you run inapropiate psi. |
Thanks. Can I put slicks on the stock rims? Will I need to buy smaller tubes?
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what kind of rims ,are your stock rims?
you probably don't need anything .i bought some kenda k rads 2.3 ,and they run like a charm .they are not slicks but super fast and also give good tracktion on wet roads ,which slicks don't .they also have k rads in 1.9 on nashbar.com . i run them on 80 psi . the best thing about these tires is that they are also super cheap.i would buy those if you want to keep some benfits of the mtb but need to go fast . |
Originally Posted by monkey69
i would just buy slicks and run em high and stay away from 1.5's.you would be suprised how much faster you will be.
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I once bought a set of "City Slickers" that were great for Blue Ridge Parkway rides during deer hunting season. Now I just slap on an orange mesh vest & give it hell...
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I love my Ritchey TOm slicks, they are fairly lighgt at 350 grams and 1.4" wide. Fairly tough, ive run over glass with them without flats. And under 20 a piece
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Thank you all. The people at the Performance LBS here in Chicago didn't know what they were talking about. Are the slicks much faster than the "Performance City ST Road Use MTB Tire"? Is the general rule, the skinnier the faster and the less tread the faster?
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Yes to both... Also get the air pressure at the maximun level....
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Originally Posted by jkirley
Thank you all. The people at the Performance LBS here in Chicago didn't know what they were talking about. Are the slicks much faster than the "Performance City ST Road Use MTB Tire"? Is the general rule, the skinnier the faster and the less tread the faster?
Yes, less rolling resistance, also as mentioned, run higher psi. If the tires have tread, even on the edges they probably have a direction, make sure they are running correct. Most will tell you semi-slick no difference but there is if you are cornering and running the edge of the contact area and it has chevrons. The tire tends to squirm, more noticable with mtb treaded tires. With non slick, patterned tires, reversal may cause more grip on the ashpalt, again the mtb idea, often a worn tire will be reversed to get additional bite. Also tires do not require the same psi F\R, the weight is rear so higher psi to reduce the contact area, less front so that the ride is less jarring. I suggest try more air rear. To make my mtb faster I run a treaded XC tire front and a semi-slick smaller rear tire pumped high. |
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You mounted this tire? That is a slick tire with water channels, it won't matter much to change I think.
Smaller tire and more rim damage\flats. Try different when you run these out, the rear will go first -then try a smaller rear slick. Also IMO, running larger front to rear tire sizes works for incline frames. If you don't run a suspension fork -big up the front tire and lower the psi =a little shock absorption.And the rolling resistance is rear -where the weight is so having a larger front won't slow you down unless you stand over the bars and force your weight onto the tire. |
still i am not a friend of slicks.too dangerous when wet or you run through some slimy **** in the city .
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Originally Posted by monkey69
still i am not a friend of slicks.too dangerous when wet or you run through some slimy **** in the city .
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I use the 700c version of the Ritchey Speedmax tires on my fixed cross bike and cruise at over twenty mph on them. Here is the 26" version. http://www.rei.com/product/83736.htm
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http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=tale+tires
What I'm currently running and it is GREAT! And I do some offroad that is kinda hard with any tire. Plenty fast because of the points I posted and I still have most offroad abilities. |
jkirley..I have a set of the Performance Fast City ST/K tires, I keep them at max pressure (90 I believe) and they are fine. I ran a slick for 3 rides....wiped out on wet grass (which is better than asphalt) so no slicks for me. I see where the Ritchy Tom Slick (not a true slick) have a psi of 100...thats pumped and should really roll.
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Originally Posted by Mr. Shadow
I use the 700c version of the Ritchey Speedmax tires on my fixed cross bike and cruise at over twenty mph on them. Here is the 26" version. http://www.rei.com/product/83736.htm
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Originally Posted by monkey69
still i am not a friend of slicks.too dangerous when wet or you run through some slimy **** in the city .
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. http://img48.echo.cx/img48/6598/shelbrohydro4np.jpg http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html |
Slicks are not ment for offroad. I use my tom slicks for riding on the g rass but never more than that. I know how sheldon brown says that companies produce tires with very fine tread for appeal to the customer and honestly i think that is what Ritchey is doing with this whole "Vector Force Analysis" tread, i dont feel any difference or anything and i think the cutouts are too shallow for that. It rolls really nicely though
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While you would think it wouldnt' make much difference, what happens is your fork
becomes too wide for the wheel. Physically it works. ...ride wise?? Like the other guy said you'd be better off with the same width but a less aggressive tread. Ride on!! |
Thanks. Now that I realize that I bought the wrong tires, is there any chance of being able to return them to my Performance LBS? Do I need to switch to one of those SLIME or other reinforced tubes now that I'll be using a faster tire?
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Nimbus Armadillos by specialized increased my speed by 2mph versus 2.1" knobbies
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Originally Posted by PWRDbyTRD
Nimbus Armadillos by specialized increased my speed by 2mph versus 2.1" knobbies
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Originally Posted by jkirley
Thanks. Now that I realize that I bought the wrong tires, is there any chance of being able to return them to my Performance LBS? Do I need to switch to one of those SLIME or other reinforced tubes now that I'll be using a faster tire?
They ARE heavy. I use one only rear, I get more flats (used to) rear, it has more weight (things get pushed in with more force). |
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