rousseau said:
Thanks for the info. I'm a quick study. This thread interested me so much, especially the part about putting "slicks" on your mountain bike first to see if you like them, that today I took my hybrid into the LBS and asked about getting skinnier tires. They sold me a couple of Specialized 700 x 25 tires (kevlar), which I took home and put on myself. I think the last time I changed a bicycle tire was over 25 years ago when I was in my early teens. Fun!
I had an issue with tire pressure at the gas station, i.e. it would only go up to 60 psi, in spite of the fact that the side of the tires had a recommended psi of between 115 and 125! I can't be the first cyclist in the world to have discovered this issue with Presta valves/skinnier tires, so I'm sure a search through the archives will turn up the pertinent info.
I think I'm a budding "roadie" in the making. I really like how the thinner tires feel on the road (even at only 60 psi), and can't believe I spent my first four months back into cycling on the comparatively fatter hybrid tires that came stock with the Fuji Crosstown I bought. I daresay a more "serious" bicycle purchase may be in the works down the, erm, road.
Oh, you'll probably want to up the pressure of a 700x25 tire to be between 85-to-95 psi ... the tire will
deflect some (but, not all) road debris better if it is firmer ... closer to
95 psi is probably better than the amount of air pressure you have been riding on, recently.
When it is inflated to only 60 psi, the tire could have a tendency to shroud debris as you inadvertently pass over the
pointier "stuff" ... the sharp edged stuff could possibly work it's way into the tread with each passing rotation, subsequently become embedded ... eventually, it could pentetrate the tire's casing AND your tube! The result is a
mystery flat tire because it may occur at some point on the road beyond when the debris was encountered ...
You were right to be wary about filling your tires with more air at the gas station ... WHEN you fill your tires with air from a gas station, PULSE THE AIR INTO THE TIRE/TUBE ... otherwise, there is a potential for inflating the tires too quickly and potentially over-inflating/damaging them. Use a hand-held tire gauge to check the air pressure rather than relying on the gauge which may be on the station's hose (at least, the first time -- the station's gauge may have read 60 psi, but actually have been much higher). Most of the currently available "bicycle" floor pumps are "high pressure" and don't require as much effort as the ones you may remember from your youth; and, they will often have a built in pressure gauge.
FWIW
[someone has to say this ...]. Not that it matters what I think -- and, although I don't own one --
I'm a big fan of so-called hybrid bikes ... particularly, the hybrid frame concept.
Where some people see compromise, I see potential!
As delivered from a bike shop, hybrids may not be particularly good for today's mountain biking on trails which benefit from having a robust front suspension fork and/or rear suspension on the frame, but hybrids ARE good for paved roads & great for unpaved roadways (when fitted with 700x32, or larger, tires); and, as you have found out, they can be readily fitted with "regular" ROAD tires + fenders (if desired), too. And, the bars can be changed to road bars (for better aerodynamics), or left as-is. The potential versatility of a hybrid frame by it being capable of effectively morphing into a multitude of usable configurations makes the hybrid a great value for the money, IMO. The cost of making component changes is the only drawback; but, that is true with most bikes.
FWIW2. I know some roadie snobs who used to eschew the concept of hybrids because the slanted top tube was not manly enough for them, or something; but, they are now chattering about how their next bike will probably be a road bike with a slanted top tube ... or, they've got a "compact" frame on order! OR, they're thinking about putting "flat bars" on one of their old road bikes ... or, they have recently gone to "flat bars" and some have found that the limited tire sizes they can fit on their old bikes to be disappointing, now ...