MTB tyre advice

[Sharpshooter]

Hi all.

Im in the process of trying to lose weight. A combination of an injury, and quitting smoking 7 years ago saw me put on 4 stones.

So far ive lost 1 stone by just eating more healthily.

Im dragging my Mountain bike i picked up about a year ago from the garage, and its in need f some new tyres.

Now, bearing in mind i live on the marsh, which is dead flat. I dont need anything too aggressive. But if i wander, i dont want to be like a Jack Russle on lino.

My question is, what are the best compromised tyre. It has Michelin Wildtrekkers at the mo. I like the look of them too.

I need two. They are going on Planet x BMF rims, if it makes any difference. Is it worth going to wider tyres, like 26 x 2.10's.

Cheers Wayne. :lol:

[strapping young lad]

kenda blue groove
bontrager jones


personally i prefer the top one because they have better muddy grip and you what you dont want is spin when you are dangling over a flowing river ;)

mine came with the jones and they are fine, but the knobs didnt dig in when it got sticky and couldnt clear the muck so it just spun

[Mark_Solesbury]

My Specialized has some nice tryes on it.

I use it for road, track and mud.

They are 26 x 2.10, and have aggressive tread on the sides, but a solid line down the middle.

With the mud, i soften them slightly to aid grip, but on the road i have them hard - this means that the tyre sits on the solid part and the roiling resistance is loads less.

Well good.

[Sharpshooter]

Cheers guys.

Or do i go for something more aggressive to get me working harder??  :lol:

[Bush Tucker Man]

Click on pics to enlarge


I went in the opposite direction & fitted Specialised Houffalize to my Trek. (1.8" front & 1.5" rear)



The tyres that were fitted were big & fat 2.1" (Bontrager 'whatevers'), far too much drag & rotational weight.
I reckon that I ride fairly smoothly & could get away with the smaller air-chamber of a narrow tyre.
They also offer greater mud-clearance, that was extremely handy for the 'Cyclists verses Harriers' at Bingley last November!!!:lol:



(my old Pace Research used to wear Specialised Hard-Pack 1.5" for racing, no matter what the conditions/terrain was. That was between 1990 & about 1997)



Then again, mine was to be used essentially as a Cyclo-Cross bike
It's since been 'retired', in favour of a proper Cyclo-Cross bike, that I bought in early January

It's also up for sale too, due to extremely low use ;)

[Sharpshooter]

Cheers BTM.

I recently picked the bike up at a car boot sale. Its a SCWINN MESA GS i think. It has Planet X BMF rims and a couple of other nice bits. I paid £20 for it.

I took it to the local cycle shop to have the gripshifts changed to thumb shift, and the guy offered me £200 for it there and then.

Said he loved the SCHWINN range.

I declined. But said i would return soon to get then new rubber. :)

[boss]

i am out of the loop when it comes to mtb but when we used to race downhill we used nokian gazzaloddi tyres or we used tioga......nobbily ones i dont remember what they were called. but the nokians were similar to bfg mt( :roll:), there square, so good on road but really grippy in mud and sand and we never got punctures in them(running 55psi) but now the down side, there around £25 each! its why everey now and then we went back to the tiogas because they were £9 each! hope that helped :lol:

[Sharpshooter]

The tyres on it are expensive. A set of secondhand ones went on ebay for £40. But they are half worn. I might just pop to the local bike shop and see what they have.

[alaric]

Hi Wayne. how's it going?

You're getting into the mountain biking spirit already - the most common question on the mountain bike forums has to be "What tyres for..."...

If you're not riding at too high a level, you're tyre choice won't be too critical - just have a think about how much tarmac, dirt and mud you're going to be riding on.

All tarmac - look for a slick tyre, 50/50 dry dirt/tarmac look for a semi-slick, with a smooth centre and lugs on the outer corners. If you're going to be mostly on dirt go for a full on mtb tyre.

My personal prefernces for the UK are Panaracer Fire XC pro 26x2.1 for drier conditions and Panaracer Trailraker 26x1.95 for wetter conditions. Both offer good value for money, excellent performance and reasonable longevity. They'll be more suitable for Kent conditions than a lot of the alternatives that are more appropriate for rockier conditions.

Check out Chain Reaction Cycles and Wiggle for good deals.

Have fun!

Alaric.

[Sharpshooter]

Hello mate. Good to hear from you. Hows it going out there.

Well, i wont be doing anything too mad till i lose more weight. ut i want to get out.

I will check out that site, and the tyres.

Take care mate

Wayne.

[muddymart]

ive just bought a new claud butler for my sunday rides now and again, nice bike, ideal for my use,

so back to your thread, i do have 4 brand new mytho sxc mtb tyres 26 x 1.95 if your interested

[Sharpshooter]

Thanks for the offer. But im gonna go with something wide.  :twisted: :twisted:

[Bush Tucker Man]

Ritchey 'Z-Max' used to be a very good tyre, and light too!

Still available today, not too sure of a UK source though?


I still fancy one of Tom Ritcheys P21 mountain-bikes from the mid 90's

[Bush Tucker Man]

Ritchey 'Z-Max' used to be a very good tyre, and light too!

Still available today, not too sure of a UK source though?
I still fancy one of Tom Ritcheys P21 mountain-bikes from the mid 90's

Ritchey tyres

[Bush Tucker Man]

Click on pics to enlarge


I went in the opposite direction & fitted Specialised Houffalize to my Trek. (1.8" front & 1.5" rear)


Then again, mine was to be used essentially as a Cyclo-Cross bike
It's since been 'retired', in favour of a proper Cyclo-Cross bike, that I bought in early January

It's also up for sale too, due to extremely low use ;)

I meant the Trek's up for sale, not the cyclo-cross bike

[Chris Putt]

Nikian Gazzalodi are beasts, awesome in mud and wet stuff but I found them a bit too twitchy and slippery on anything vaguely hard!

I currently have a set of Panaracer Fire XC pro on mine and I am really impressed, I picked them up cheap from a mate who used to work at a bike shop (cant remember how much I paid) cant really fault them though!


Chris

[Niel]

Hi all.

Im dragging my Mountain bike i picked up about a year ago from the garage, and its in need f some new tyres.

Now, bearing in mind i live on the marsh, which is dead flat. I dont need anything too aggressive. But if i wander, i dont want to be like a Jack Russle on lino.

My question is, what are the best compromised tyre. It has Michelin Wildtrekkers at the mo. I like the look of them too.

I need two. They are going on Planet x BMF rims, if it makes any difference. Is it worth going to wider tyres, like 26 x 2.10's.

Cheers Wayne. :lol:

Hummm, Trek's on Schwalbe City Jet slick's, No.1 CBR's on Bont' Connection Trail's which were/are a pretty good compromise tyre, No.2 CBR's on Kenda's, others are on a mixture of whats cheap/off scrappers 'little' bro's parted out, boy's bikes are on the same and the cheapest half reasonable far eastern tyres towsure sell....I'd stick with std. width, higher rolling resistance might be good for loosing weight, but too much and you won't want to ride, BTDTWTTS, thats why the Trek's on Schwalbe City Jet's for road work and the No.1 CBR's on Bont's.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ are a useful ref. point.

Niel.
Niel.

[Bush Tucker Man]

I currently have a set of Panaracer Fire XC pro on mine and I am really impressed

I remember the Panaracer 'Smoke' tyres, which were a very aggresive 2.1"

Plus the Onza 'Porcupines'

[Range Rover Blues]

Ah, Panaracer smokes, brings back memories.

I stiocked up on tyres at one time, I still have loads of brand new ones that are no longer made, so I'm well oout of touch with what's good these days.

[Bush Tucker Man]

I'm well oout of touch with what's good these days.

I know the feeling, I bought the Houffalize on the recommendation of an old friend who uses them for 'challenge rides' & muddy racing
And so far, on the riding I've done with them, he's been proved correct.

Other 'oldies' of note include the Specialized Ground Control (& 'GC S'), the John Tomac designed Tioga range.

Who remembers the (carbon-sheeted) Disc-wheel that Tomac used to ride??
I can't remember if it first appeared when he was still riding a Yeti, or after joining Raleigh USA
But it was probably when he had 'drops' & (road) STI on the Yeti

[Ja1983]

Tioga Psychos (or for a bit more agression, the "edge" and "TT" as front/rear combo) served me well, pressure made a huge differance it the way they respond and preference would be a wide rim, as the big chunky side knobs tend to be a tad unstable on a thin rim.

....they were around £8/tyre too, which was nice!

michelin wildgripper! the green ones! - sweeet

my specialized is rolling on the standard tyres at the mo, but i have some chunky munkies, some slicks, some semi-slicks and some soft compound blue ones... depending on my routeplan......

The blue ones are i think kenda dart, and bear claw.... but didnt weather well, i seem to remeber that hard braking stability was an issue!

but i`d recommend something like a tioga psycho (if they still sell them) for a good allround cheap tyre.

[Bush Tucker Man]

Tioga Psychos !

I've got some old copies of Mountain Bike Action that have all the adverts in. They still make interesting reading (as do old 'Velo News')

michelin wildgripper! the green ones! - sweeet

The 700C Cyclo-Cross derivatives are well used, or so it seems

[Bush Tucker Man]

i`d recommend something like a tioga psycho (if they still sell them) for a good allround cheap tyre.

Tioga USA MTB tyres