Tyre Question

i've had a few slicks....

my fave would have to be the Geax Roadrunner... reasonable priced and damn fast! but grippy enough too

I have used Continental Sports Contact 26x1.3 at 90psi on my former MTB, it was faster than my road bike across town!! 😎

My GF has Maxxis Detonator 26x1.25 @ 90psi on her Giant Sedona and keeps up with my road bike on our outings. :eek:

I started off riding heaps on the road on my MTB untill I discovered MTB racing.
In that time I did big rides (100kms+) as well as commute 20kms per day for 3-5 days a week.

I've used Continental Grand Prix:
Conti Grand Prix MTB tyre
They're OK but I didn't feel conforable with the skinny profile. Skidded a bit, & was alittle nervous about doing stairs & light grass/dirt going. Rolls really well but the low (small) 1.0 skinny tyre meant your gears were overall lower. Not my thing & replaced them before I wore them out.

Continental Town & Country.
Conti Twn & Cntry
Been around for ages. I loved these tyres. Used them everywhere, city, dirt you name it. Wore through 2x sets. Let alittle air out & you cna go dry-dirt no worries. Alittle rolling resistance, but at 80psi I did the 'Bay ride 3 time on them averaging 35kms/hr (MTB don't forget).

Specalized Hemisphere
Currently using them on my Apollo commuter. They're a big tyre 2.0, but I love 'em. Pump them to 75psi & I've done big road miles (150km+) no worries with them.
I like these tyres becasue they give a very feel of the road/trail, never slipped & I love to push them (ride like a yahoo over everything). Alittle rolling resistance (they hum too).

I use the Serfas Drifters on my mtb, they have a neat inverted tread that gives plenty of grip on the track and are nice and smooth on the road.
26 * 1.5", 80 psi (90psi no prob) and not heavy, cost approx $30- 35 ea ; the Serfas web site would have the data on them. The more psi the easier they roll IMHO. If you bike has no suspension the front end buzz may be an issue but the front suspension eliminates this as a concern.
Hate those tyres with the smooth in the middle and knobs on the side, sold as dual purpose but are just too dangerous for the fast sweeping bends on the road, are heavy and more like an accident waiting to happen, this I know from experiance :eek:. The full slicks such as the speciallized fatboy are 1.25" and 100psi and are a bit lighter but dont stop as quick in the wet and dont work at all off road, and are more expensive 😄. I basically worked thru a bunch of tyres I'm not that keen on anymore, thats life, take your pick.

It depends on what and where exactly you will be riding. For example, are you going to be taking shortcuts through the park, or down the stairs, or will you just be riding it on the road and bikepaths (as you would on a road bike)? Will you be riding when it is raining etc?

If you're just using it on the pavement, then most skinny slick tyres will be fine. My personal faves would be the Geax Roadrunner or the Ritchey Tom Slick. These are both as skinny as you can get for a MTB at 1.0-1.25" width. The Specialized Fatboy's are really fast, but don't expect them to perform as well when it is wet. They are completely slick, with no knobs/tread!

If you want a slick tyre that can do everything, then I really like the Maxxis Overdrive tyres. Cheap, 1.4" width, and has enough tread to ride on grass hills. Of course, it won't be as fast as the others, but that's where you have to decide.

Thanks for the tips guys.

Ended up going for a pair of 1.5" serfas drifters. Feel good to me. Not the best road tyres perhaps, but I do tend to cut across grass and dirt (old habits die hard).

Besides, that was what my LBS had in stock.

I figure that these tyres will make me work a little harder on the road too. As I'd gotten lazy and way out of shape this is no doubt a good thing.

Hopefully by mid next year I'll be reasonably fit again. That is my incentive as "she who must always be obeyed" says if I get fit she'll let me buy a good roadie 🙂

Once again, thanks guys.

BTW. I had a go on a bike with what I'll now refer to as suicide tyres (those with a slick centre and knobby sides). These are flat out dangerous. You can imagine what happened when I tried leaning into my first at speed corner.

Do people ever get used to these things?

Scotty

scotty72 said:

Thanks for the tips guys.

Ended up going for a pair of 1.5" serfas drifters.

An interesting phenomenon I ran into with my Drifters...

If you go onto a VERY smooth surface like I used to hit occasionally and bank into a turn, you will hear a rapid series of suction cup sounds as each of the little tread sections act like little suction cup as it contacts the surface.

I have only experienced this on extremely smooth (almost glass) asphault... It was unnerving when I first heard it, then I quickly got to the point where I would try to make the sound any time I saw blacktop that looked smooth enough in a place where I could bank into a slow tight turn. 🙂

dgregory57 said:

An interesting phenomenon I ran into with my Drifters...

If you go onto a VERY smooth surface like I used to hit occasionally and bank into a turn, you will hear a rapid series of suction cup sounds as each of the little tread sections act like little suction cup as it contacts the surface.

I have only experienced this on extremely smooth (almost glass) asphault... It was unnerving when I first heard it, then I quickly got to the point where I would try to make the sound any time I saw blacktop that looked smooth enough in a place where I could bank into a slow tight turn. 🙂

"old habits"

yeah, i love riding down steps, bunnyhopping up gutters... etc

it adds that extra dimension to urban riding

on my old apollo hardtail, i run super fat maxxis hookworms (26x2.5) on the front and maxxis oriflamme (26x2.0)... obviously heavy but fine once you are going... the combo feels indestructible

You should try and avoid those tyres with knobs on the side, as they do nothing to help you corner on the road. The side knobs get squashed and move about as you lean the bike in the corner, so the grip is not constant.

Similar to a car cornering with 'sports' tyres and then with normal treaded tyres.

Much better to get a slick tyre with a rounded profile too.

AzzaC said:

Much better to get a slick tyre with a rounded profile too.

True, but I needed a little bit of groove at least 'cause I'm still prone to cut across dirt a bit.

Drifters are good. Pretty good roll at 80 psi (little less at the front).

Haven't noticed the suction cup effect yet 🙁

Scotty

scotty72 said:

True, but I needed a little bit of groove at least 'cause I'm still prone to cut across dirt a bit.

Drifters are good. Pretty good roll at 80 psi (little less at the front).

Haven't noticed the suction cup effect yet 🙁

Scotty

Don't sweat the suction cup effect, it doesn't seem to impact handling as far as I can tell, it is just a strange auditory effect. And perhaps even at that, it may only happen with a very large rider like me. :o

dgregory57 said:

Don't sweat the suction cup effect, it doesn't seem to impact handling as far as I can tell, it is just a strange auditory effect. And perhaps even at that, it may only happen with a very large rider like me. :o

Don't worry I'm large enough. About 6'3.

More to the point, I'm showing the effects of a few years of sitting on my [censored] in a car.

Hopefully, in a few months, I'll start to get back at least halfway to my ideal weight. 🙂

Scotty

scotty72 said:

Don't worry I'm large enough. About 6'3.

More to the point, I'm showing the effects of a few years of sitting on my [censored] in a car.

Hopefully, in a few months, I'll start to get back at least halfway to my ideal weight. 🙂

Scotty

In a contest of largest cyclist, I have a distinct advantage... Only 6' but I make up for it in girth. 315 pounds... I started riding at 365 (after losing 55 pounds to get to that point).

When I lose another 105 pounds, I am looking forward to saying, "I am half the man I used to be."

dgregory57 said:

In a contest of largest cyclist, I have a distinct advantage... Only 6' but I make up for it in girth. 315 pounds... I started riding at 365 (after losing 55 pounds to get to that point).

When I lose another 105 pounds, I am looking forward to saying, "I am half the man I used to be."

ok, i admit defeat, I'm currently a little under 300 lbs.

BTW, if you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you to drop that 50 lb? How far do you ride? each day?

I'm back on the bike for about 2-3 weeks now, haven't noticed a loss of weight yet, but feel 100 times better though.

scotty72 said:

ok, i admit defeat, I'm currently a little under 300 lbs.

BTW, if you don't mind me asking, how long did it take you to drop that 50 lb? How far do you ride? each day?

I'm back on the bike for about 2-3 weeks now, haven't noticed a loss of weight yet, but feel 100 times better though.

That 50 pounds took a year or so... and I did gain 20 over the winter (I moved to PA where cycling is not a year around activity).

My problem that prevents quicker weight loss is that when I cycle a lot, I also build up quite an appetite.

In California, I used to do about 80 or 90 miles in an average week, I am just now getting up to riding every week again, and still haven't taken to riding before or after work. Last week I did a 30 mile ride along a repurposed railroad trail in the Lehigh Gorge park (almost 3 hours). It was gravel, so a bit less efficient to ride than a paved path. The week before, I did 23+ miles on a more distant rail line that was paved... a much nicer surface, but the scenery was slightly less exciting.

Like you, I do feel much better when I ride, even if the weight may come off slowly. I tend to focus on health, but as I get older, I know I will not be healthy unless I lose the weight.

For my first 100 pounds of loss, I did also attend Weight Watchers, and it helped me to get motivated to balance my diet and increase my activity level.

One caution, since I suffered for it after a couple of months of riding. Keep your cadence up. I tended to ride hard, and the area behind my knees was extremely susceptible to pain, when I would do something like was stubbing my toe. When I increased my cadence, this problem went away. I tend to cycle at about 80 RPM now, I had been doing about 50. I would suggest that people starting out pick a comfortable gear to ride in, and then go down one or two gears... 🙂 I suspect this is especially important for large riders starting out.

Cadence is not a real issue for me, I've always liked to be in the mid eighties. Even though I've had time off, I slipped straight back into the 80's. Even if I'm on a flat just doing 15 mph or so, I'll slip back some gears and do 80+. That was the first thing I learned years ago, Cadance is king.

I'm starting to commute my bike every (work) day. About 10 miles each way (basically flat). So I'm hoping that I'll start shedding soon. Like I said, feel better and my av speed is gaining too.

I'm lucky because 80 of the ride is off - road cycleway. And 90% of that is very good quality - so the excuse of dangerous traffic is out the window.

Scotty

scotty72 said:

I'm starting to commute my bike every (work) day. About 10 miles each way (basically flat). So I'm hoping that I'll start shedding soon. Like I said, feel better and my av speed is gaining too.

If you are maintaining weight, and doing better on the rides, I suspect that your body fat is decreasing, and your muscle mass is increasing. As your proportion of muscle increases, your metabolism will rise. The decrease of inactive tissue (fat) and increase of active tissue (muscle) will help you burn more calories throughout the day.