Slick tires madness :)

[Lars Jensen]

Hey !

I recently got my first MTB and had a few goes with it already; in the mountains - ahh great feeling. But I came to realize, that most often, I use it on-road rather than where I would rather be. Furthermore, I'm joining in on some 70-120 km touring trips.

I am therefor looking for slick tires, which is better for the asphalt surface. I done some search on the net, and found the Panaracer Mach SS tire, which looks cool. But I have no idea about price-quality ratio - any advice ? Bear in mind, that I am no pro and therefor do not require the absolute state-of-the-art equipment (but neither anything crappy)

Thank you in advance for any help,

 

[ireman_1]

The Michelin Sprints are pretty good. If this pair is going to be for road use then like you said you don't have to have anything crazy. You can always put your knobbies on when you get to hit the dirt again. I used to switch until I got a cruiser to schlep around town on. Have fun on the bike!

K.

 

[rek]

On a paved road, any slick is going to be way better than any knobby off-road tyre

I like the IRC Metro 26" slicks for MTBs.. very nice, completely slick, and available in narrow, light weights too. There's a kevlar belted version available as well.

IRC Metro Info: http://img.epinions.com/images/opti/3b/8c/bikeTiresAllMetro.jpg

I have also used Michelin Wildgripper City tyres; these are nice -- BUT, as it has a treaded pattern, small stones can sometimes stick in the treads, and also in these little holes that are in the middle of the tread for no apparent reason. If you are thinking of sometimes riding non-paved, somewhat gravelly (but not off-road) trails I would err away from these; if this doesn't concern you, they are a good tyre.

Wildgripper City Info: http://cycleus.webmichelin.com/tires/city1.htm
Wildgripper City Reviews: http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Tire/product_79577.shtml

My sister uses Tioga City Slicker tyres on her MTB for basic inner city commuting and likes them; though from some review reports, it sounds as though the sidewall strength isn't quite up to par

Tioga City Slicker Reviews: http://www.mtbreview.com/reviews/oldertires/product_23337.shtml

It might be worth a mention that tread patterns on slick road-going bicycle tyres have no effect at all with regard to aquaplaning and wet weather performance, like on a car tyre -- any tread patten is there for looks more than anything else.

 

[Lars Jensen]

ireman and rek >> thank you for your answers, I will surely look into them

and yes, going on-road with knobby tires are "fun" - went down a mountain with half-defect backbrakes today, that was "fun" *cough*

I'll go my supplier and see what they got on stock... I got two long roadtrips coming up soon, dont want to "knobby" those km's

 

[Rodney]

Why not run light (<=500g) semi-slick tires with hardly any knobs in the middle but only on the sides. That way they run smoothly on the road (I commute with my mountainbike) but your tires still have enough grip and still big (comfortable) enough to go off-road. Run them with a high pressure on the road and just let out some air (down to 40-50psi) when going off-road.

For a while I used Schwalbe Hurricane slicks but they where not very flat-proof, choose the DD version.