Tyres or slicks?
- Thread starter devansh
- Start date
Slicks ARE tires, a special kind w/o any (or with very little) tread pattern. Gives better traction on clean, hard surfaces when compared with tires with treads. They often offer lower rolling resistance too, although that is not a given.
Traction on soft/loose surfaces is often very poor.
Slick Tyre's on a mountain bike really does make a difference, some much less effort and more speed. If your not doing hardly any off road go the full hog buy some 26 x 1.0 or 26 x 1.25 Tyre's. Some decent ones on eBay. Personally I have 26 x 1.5 their great too, and you can still take them on light off road trips.
I have 26 x 1.95 only because I liked the thickness and yes they made a difference, my mates have 26 x 1.5s and they are even better. I just wonder if the slicks would be better than normal MTB tyres in the rain.
I'm not too fond of the really thin ones. As they usually don't take the same pressures of road tires you have to be quite careful when crossing curbs. As I often have a pannier on, and can't bunnyhop the bike like that I've gotten a few snakebite flats using 1.2.
WRT off-road capacity, it's not like the bike will suddenly take your head off. But they're really poor on loose surfaces.
On a bike you don't have to worry about aquaplaning, so they CAN be better. It's mainly down to the rubber quality, of both the intended slicks and of the knobblies you're comparing them to. Soft rubbers, like Schwalbe Qualifier Compound or the Continental Black Chili do just fine in the wet, while more hard wearing rubbers are more slippery. Not all makers will tell you what compound they're using for a particular model.
Tires with high tread patterns can be quite nasty on the road, as the tread will squirm and deform, particularly during cornering and braking.
I have two sets of wheels (26") for my MTB one fitted with 1.95 Specalized Armadillos for hardpack riding & the other with 1.25 slicks for road use. As both wheel sets are complete it's an easy swap job to select the most suitable tyres for the riding I intend to do.
Ideally I would like a full road bike but money, storage space & availible cycling time make this impractical so the above is the best option for me.
The 1.95 tyres made cycling much easier due to the reduced rolling resistance especially on the road. Only drawback against the 2.1 (flat top) chunky MTB tyres are on soft ground you do tend to 'sink in' the mud.
The 1.25 tyres are easier still to ride on the road.
One thing to bear in mind is the different circumference of the tyres, more noticable with the slicks, which effects the choice/range of gears.
To compensate for this I swapped the front chainrings from the standard 44,32,22 to a 48,36,26 set. You loose the very low gear & gain an extra high gear. The theoretical speed increase at a cadence of 60 is 0.5mph (lowest gear) to 1.7mph (highest gear). At a cadence of 90 this increases to 0.85mph (lowest gear) to 2.5mph (highest gear).
From what I have read, aquaplaning doesn't happen with cycle tryes so the ammount of grip depends on the contact area, road surface & tyre compound. All things being equal then a slick should have more grip than a treaded tyre as more rubber is in contact with the road surface. It has been said the manufactures put some form of light tread on some of their 'slick', not for better grip but to give the rider more confidence in them (car drivers are constantly told that bald tyres are dangerous then get on a bike with 'bald' tyres)
)...) All things being equal
My opinion is that anyone using a MTB only on the road would be bestter of with 1.5 or less. If a mix of road/hardpack or hardpack only then 1.95 treaded (not chunky tread). The difference tyres can make amazed me & my friend.
Ideally I would like a full road bike but money, storage space & availible cycling time make this impractical so the above is the best option for me.
The 1.95 tyres made cycling much easier due to the reduced rolling resistance especially on the road. Only drawback against the 2.1 (flat top) chunky MTB tyres are on soft ground you do tend to 'sink in' the mud.
The 1.25 tyres are easier still to ride on the road.
One thing to bear in mind is the different circumference of the tyres, more noticable with the slicks, which effects the choice/range of gears.
To compensate for this I swapped the front chainrings from the standard 44,32,22 to a 48,36,26 set. You loose the very low gear & gain an extra high gear. The theoretical speed increase at a cadence of 60 is 0.5mph (lowest gear) to 1.7mph (highest gear). At a cadence of 90 this increases to 0.85mph (lowest gear) to 2.5mph (highest gear).
From what I have read, aquaplaning doesn't happen with cycle tryes so the ammount of grip depends on the contact area, road surface & tyre compound. All things being equal then a slick should have more grip than a treaded tyre as more rubber is in contact with the road surface. It has been said the manufactures put some form of light tread on some of their 'slick', not for better grip but to give the rider more confidence in them (car drivers are constantly told that bald tyres are dangerous then get on a bike with 'bald' tyres)
)...) All things being equal
My opinion is that anyone using a MTB only on the road would be bestter of with 1.5 or less. If a mix of road/hardpack or hardpack only then 1.95 treaded (not chunky tread). The difference tyres can make amazed me & my friend.
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