MTB slicks.

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

Has anyone used these before?

Regards

Pablo

I put slicks (I forget the make, but can check tonight) on my
reasonably high-end hardtail a while back. Overall, I've got mixed
feelings about the experience. I found that while it picked up my
speed significantly, it was still a half step in the direction I was
going. First, it was slicks.
Second, it was a larger big ring
Third, I wanted separate wheels so I could switch knobby to street
fast.

The wheels were getting to be too much money to justify spending
trying to make my mountain bike something it's not. I ended up buying
a singlespeed converted road bike for 200 & putting the knobbies back
on my primary ride. As fast as the MTB with the big gear and the
slicks was, it still had nothing on a singlespeed road bike. The road
bike is also a touch heavier, oddly enough.

Bottom line is the slicks will be faster than the knobbies, but they
won't make your mountain bike a road bike. They do make the real
easy, high speed trail riding more interesting. YMMV.

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

Has anyone used these before?

Guy I know in the UK got the 700c version and said he really liked the
way they rolled. He ended up slashing the hell out of them pretty
quick. He's an accident prone clyde though.

380g for a city tire is on the light side, though certainly could be
durable.

I'd also consider some Shwalbe Marathons, which are legendary for
durability, have a cool reflective stripe, and cost about as much as
the Contis. For a few bucks less, consider the Pasela Tourguard. If
you live near an REI, they stock WTB Slickasaurus for $18. I got
plenty of flats with those, while my neighbor, who's a wisp of a woman
swears by them. Go figure.

I use my MTBs mostly as road bikes.
I've used Specialized Fatboys which are totally slick for more than 10
years. They're superb. They will take 100psi

Garry Lee said:

I use my MTBs mostly as road bikes.
I've used Specialized Fatboys which are totally slick for more than 10
years. They're superb. They will take 100psi

Even if the rider can't! ;-)

Quoted message said:

Bottom line is the slicks will be faster than the knobbies, but they
won't make your mountain bike a road bike. They do make the real
easy, high speed trail riding more interesting. YMMV.

Also quieter. These aren't totally slick but I like them a lot so far:
http://www.serfas.com/tires/CTR-15.shtml

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

I've got the SportContact 700x37 on my Cross bike, and they do exactly
what it says on the tin - plenty of grip, no punctures, long life,
comfortable.

However, for an MTB, I'd go for something wider than 1.6, unless you
plan to be going at really high speeds (>20mph average), at which
point aerodynamics might start to become an issue. The Schwalbe Big
Apple would be my first choice; I've got the 2.0 on my 'street' MTB,
but I wish I'd gone for the 2.3

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

Has anyone used these before?

Regards

Pablo

I have used several varieties of slick MTB tires over the years and they
make a lot of sense if you ride on pavement. MTB's make excellent city
and all purpose bikes. I love my road bike, but that doesn't mean it is
always the best choice. To be honest, I don't think it matters much
which brand you buy. Since they aren't competition tires, high thread
count and lightweight varieties don't exist for the most part.

asmotheus said:

Hi all,

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

Has anyone used these before?

The older Conti Avenue was as fast as the best road bike tires, so I
guess the Sport Contact will be good too. However I found the Avenues
too hard to get on and off the rim.

Matt O.

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

Has anyone used these before?

Regards

Pablo

Hi,

I have Conti Travel Contact's on my MTB. I have been seriously
impressed with them. They have a nice wide flat Kevlar Reinforced crown
and they roll with little resistance.

I am a Big Guy 107kg and have found the 26x1.75 has a more than adequate
max inflation of 80 lbs/in2. This ensures that drag on my rear wheel
is eliminated.

There are a few token nobbles at the edge of the tyre that help out when
you stray of the tarmac briefly.

Conti UK guarentee against a puncture within 12 months of purchase and
even supply the tyre with a free inner tube.

Sure the sport Contact may be a good choice if you want a total slick,
but the travel contact gives the best of both worlds without the drag.

Thanks

Glen

Barnard Frederick said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

Quoted message said:

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

Quoted message said:

Has anyone used these before?

Quoted message said:

Regards

Quoted message said:

Pablo

I have used several varieties of slick MTB tires over the years and they
make a lot of sense if you ride on pavement. MTB's make excellent city
and all purpose bikes. I love my road bike, but that doesn't mean it is
always the best choice. To be honest, I don't think it matters much
which brand you buy. Since they aren't competition tires, high thread
count and lightweight varieties don't exist for the most part.

The Conti is very light and supple and weighs ~380g. If you want
lighter, get a 1.25" Pasela that's 300g. Such figures for large volume
tires is very very light. Consider that a lot of 26" city tires can
weigh upwards of a kilogram.

So I'll take your claim as a, er, mis-type. :-P

I've used the conti sports contact, specialized fat boy and nimbus for
about 10K km each on my mountain bike. The sports contact and fat boy
were about the same in terms of durability and ride. I had small glass
punctures with both on average about every 1600km. The specialized
nimbus tires (which I'm currently using) went about 7200km before
getting the same type of puncture. I believe this is due to the
thicker rubber on the nimbus, which makes them a bit harder to
accelerate, but it's a fair trade for the improved puncture
resistance. However, I'm thinking of going to the schwalbe marathon
plus since I expect to be able to wear the tread out completely and
still have the substantial blue rubber barrier there to stop glass.
That should cut down on the cost of replacing tires.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I've finally had it with my knobbly tires for commuting on my mtb,
flats, and now a slash.... I mostly bike on pavement and cobbled
streets (ah, the old Amsterdam streets...)
Thinking of getting continental sport contact slicks for it 26x1.6.

Has anyone used these before?

Regards

Pablo

I highly recommend Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires for commuting. They are
extremely durable and puncture resistant. When combined with tubes
containing sealant (I use Specialized Airlock), flats should be very
uncommon. Their reflective side walls are also a nice feature for
commuting.

BobT

Per Barnard Frederick:

Quoted message said:

To be honest, I don't think it matters much
which brand you buy. Since they aren't competition tires, high thread
count and lightweight varieties don't exist for the most part.

I found a perceptible diff (actually quite a large diff, IMHO) in how well the
bike rolls using HengShin semi-slicks vs WTB Mutano Raptors. The WTB tires are
much larger than the HengShin's, but they roll better - both on pavement and
dirt. I suspect a lot of it is because the WTBs have a much higher thread
count.
--
PeteCresswell

Thanks to all for the information and tips.

I've decided to go for the conti sport contacts as planned, will get
them tomorrow and will see how they go.
Riding here (Amsterdam NL) it does pay to have a heavier bike as a mtb
as the streets tend to be cobbled and a road bike gives a bit too much
of a harsh ride.
The lower rolling resistance is definitely one of the things I'm
looking forward to.

Pablo

tiborg said:

I've used the conti sports contact, specialized fat boy and nimbus for
about 10K km each on my mountain bike. The sports contact and fat boy
were about the same in terms of durability and ride. I had small glass
punctures with both on average about every 1600km. The specialized
nimbus tires (which I'm currently using) went about 7200km before
getting the same type of puncture. I believe this is due to the
thicker rubber on the nimbus, which makes them a bit harder to
accelerate, but it's a fair trade for the improved puncture
resistance. However, I'm thinking of going to the schwalbe marathon
plus since I expect to be able to wear the tread out completely and
still have the substantial blue rubber barrier there to stop glass.
That should cut down on the cost of replacing tires.

Hi,

I have Conti Travel Contact's on my MTB. I have been seriously
impressed with them. They have a nice wide flat Kevlar Reinforced crown
and they roll with little resistance.

I am a Big Guy 107kg and have found the 26x1.75 has a more than adequate
max inflation of 80 lbs/in2. This ensures that drag on my rear wheel
is eliminated.

There are a few token nobbles at the edge of the tyre that help out when
you stray of the tarmac briefly.

Conti UK guarentee against a puncture within 12 months of purchase and
even supply the tyre with a free inner tube.

Sure the sport Contact may be a good choice if you want a total slick,
but the travel contact gives the best of both worlds without the drag.

Thanks

Glen

I don't have any problems with the rolling resistance of the nimbus
tire, it's just that it was noticeably slower to accelerate than the
sports contact/fatboys. Once I get up to speed, I can't tell the
difference. The travel contacts are about the same weight as the
nimbus, so they would accelerate about the same too.

What I'm interested in is getting the longest use out of a tire
without it becoming puncture prone. My experience tells me that kevlar
belts don't do much to stop glass, but having a nice thick rubber
tread makes all the difference. I estimate I can get about 5600-7200km
out of the nimbus before it becomes too thin for my preferences. The
nimbus will still have about half it's tread left at that point, so it
feels like a waste to take it off the bike. That's why I'm hoping that
with the marathon plus, I can use up the entire tread and still have
that massive chunk of blue rubber to stop any punctures. It's worth a
try at least.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

The Conti is very light and supple and weighs ~380g. If you want
lighter, get a 1.25" Pasela that's 300g. Such figures for large volume
tires is very very light. Consider that a lot of 26" city tires can
weigh upwards of a kilogram.

So I'll take your claim as a, er, mis-type. :-P

That's the great thing about RBT, there is always some dweeb arguing for
the sake of arguing. Light and supple are words not facts. In saying
supple do you imply that it has a thread count comparable to high end
road tires? Not unless things have changed since I did comparisons.

380g is not an impressive number considering that 2" knobby MTB racing
tires can be well under 500g. Also, Panaracer is notorious for
publishing generous estimates of their tire's sizes.

Yes, you can buy heavy boat anchor 26" slicks. Is there a point other
than demonstrating the stupidly obvious? Does it somehow disprove my
point that 26" slicks generally aren't lightweight, high end, or
competition oriented? No doubt to you it does.

Barnard Frederick said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

The Conti is very light and supple and weighs ~380g. If you want
lighter, get a 1.25" Pasela that's 300g. Such figures for large volume
tires is very very light. Consider that a lot of 26" city tires can
weigh upwards of a kilogram.

So I'll take your claim as a, er, mis-type. :-P

That's the great thing about RBT, there is always some dweeb arguing for
the sake of arguing. Light and supple are words not facts. In saying
supple do you imply that it has a thread count comparable to high end
road tires? Not unless things have changed since I did comparisons.

I ride the Panaracer T-Serv for Messenger tires (odd name, great
tire). While I admit it's hard to quantify, the tires DO feel like
"race tires" (at least the 25mm versions I ride - the 35mm version
feels darn nice for a fat tire, too).

Quoted message said:

380g is not an impressive number considering that 2" knobby MTB racing
tires can be well under 500g. Also, Panaracer is notorious for
publishing generous estimates of their tire's sizes.

The Pasela is listed at 280g on my distributors website. The 25mm
T-Serv is MIS-listed at 380 (the same weight as the 35mm version's
listing). I suspect it's really around 280 (never weighed one, but
they feel very light). I've also found that the T-Serv sizes are
quite accurate - especially when compared to most other manufacturers
(for whom 25mm is equal to 22.8mm).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

The Conti is very light and supple and weighs ~380g. If you want
lighter, get a 1.25" Pasela that's 300g. Such figures for large volume
tires is very very light. Consider that a lot of 26" city tires can
weigh upwards of a kilogram.
So I'll take your claim as a, er, mis-type. :-P

Barnard Frederick said:

That's the great thing about RBT, there is always some dweeb arguing for
the sake of arguing. Light and supple are words not facts. In saying
supple do you imply that it has a thread count comparable to high end
road tires? Not unless things have changed since I did comparisons.

380g is not an impressive number considering that 2" knobby MTB racing
tires can be well under 500g. Also, Panaracer is notorious for
publishing generous estimates of their tire's sizes.

Yes, you can buy heavy boat anchor 26" slicks. Is there a point other
than demonstrating the stupidly obvious? Does it somehow disprove my
point that 26" slicks generally aren't lightweight, high end, or
competition oriented? No doubt to you it does.

You both make good points. Panaracer's Pasela and TServ do in fact use
the same casing material as their premium 700C touring tires. With an
open sidewall, they're light in 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and yes, Pana tires run
smaller than the label size.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971