Can I use hybrid/road tyres on my MTB?

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

alexthecheese

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Got a hardtail Scott mountainbike with some reasonably chunky 26x2.0 tyres. I've been mainly doing road riding lately, ~40 miles kinda thing over a few hours, and am figuring that I could go further on some more suitable tyres.

Would I be able to pick up any hybrid/road tyres and fit them onto the wheel, or will I need to get something specific, given the wheels I have? I don't know what size they are unfortunately.
 
The only limitation on which tyres you can fit will be the width of the rims, and how much clearance you have. Given that you've already got 26x2.0" tyres on there, clearance for slicks of a similar size won't be an issue. There is a lot of choice out there. For example, you could go for something like Schwalbe Kojaks in 26x2.0 or City Jets in 26x1.5 without any problems. You might have problems going more narrow than 1.5" though. Sheldon Brown has a handy chart which you can use to figure out which size tyres are recommended.
 
I've got some 26 x 1.125" Continental Gatorskin tyres on my mountainbike as I was just commuting on it, made a massive difference and they seem like excellent tyres grip and speed wise. No punctures in 2 months. (They were a bitch to get on though, had to use tyre levers and ripped two tubes in the process).

Really we need to know the internal width of your rim to know how thin you can go.
 
The 19 will be the width of the inner rim section in mm. 1.45 x this is considered to be the narrowest you should go in terms of tyre width, you should therefore be looking at tyres no thinner than 1.1".

How narrow you want to go depends on what balance you want to strike against comfort really. Anything from 1.125" - 1.5" would make a difference. Personally I'm obsessed with reducing rolling resistance as opposed to comfort as I mostly commute 6 miles on my bike so comfort's not a huge issue, so I went as narrow as possible.

Have a look at this website also http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3802, especially the section on tyre-rim compatibility (although a lot of the information is covered better by Saundie's link).
 
Right... I've just gone and bought some Continental Contact 26 x 1.75's, thinking that I shouldnt go any thinner than that. They're pretty smooth looking, so will be an improvement I'm sure, but do you think I should go even thinner? 50psi is recommended on these, 80 max.
 
Do you want comfort or speed? My initial reaction is that for 0.25" you might as well not have bothered, especially since you haven't really bought road tyres, you've bought semi-knobblies designed for on and off road :p.

Personally I would have gone much thinner and much slicker.
 
Hnnng... that's what I'm thinking. :o I'll give em a go this month, see what they're like and then go hardcore next month. Pumped up they're a lot less forgiving than what I've got at the moment, which is uber squidgy youknowthestyle MTB tyres, so they should be a bit better on road.

My wheels are actually 26 x 1.75's, so what does that mean I can go down to? Presumably even thinner?
 
I would probably go for Gatorskins in 26x1.2". I have Kojaks in 26x1.35 on my old commuter, they're pretty comfortable and grip surprisingly well in the wet considering they are completely slick. They were only £10 each :)
 
alexthecheese said:
My wheels are actually 26 x 1.75's
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You can definitely go thinner than 1.75. 1.125 will fit however I cannot recommend the Gatorskins on account of them being too small for a 26" wheel!

Saundie said:
I would probably go for Gatorskins in 26x1.2".
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It's weird how the Continental website lists those as 1.2" since they're actually 1.125".
 
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Just put some Schwalbe Land Cruisers on my MTB the other day. They have made all the difference in terms of rolling-resistance. Can't comment on other tyres, but I'm impressed with these so far.

As it's got the side lugs, you can still nip the bike off-road when the time calls for it.

Other than that, the Specialized Armadillos, Continental Travel, Panarace Crosstown, Continental Traffic IIs, and Schwalbe Marathon Kevlar (very good for puncture resistance) are worth considering.

A side note though, slick tyres can be a bit of a nightmare in the wet. The reviews for the Continental Travels have indicated that they lack grip in the wet which can obviously be dangerous which is another reason why I opted for the Land Cruisers.
 
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Continental Gatorskins are very good in the wet, even though they are slicks. It's a big myth about most slick tyres or at best vastly exaggerated.
 
Possibly. Without first hand experience, I can't really answer that. It was just a common theme I read in the reviews of the Travel, so it may still be that it's just that tyre.

Regardless, if it was raining bad enough for you to lose that much grip, I think your main concern is simply being seen!

Do you have any pictures of your ride with the tyres on Robbie?
 
Robbie G said:
Continental Gatorskins are very good in the wet, even though they are slicks. It's a big myth about most slick tyres or at best vastly exaggerated.
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From what I understand, having tread on the tyre reduces the amount of compound in contact with the road surface, which would in fact reduce the amount of traction you'd have over slicks, not increase it. The Schwalbe Kojaks I use are entirely slick, and I've never felt any loss of grip in the wet. The fact that they roll much better than the cheap Kenda tyres that the bike came with also helps.
 
Nix said:
Do you have any pictures of your ride with the tyres on Robbie?
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I didn't, but just for you ;) ...

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Conti inners too I take it? :p

Interesting. How many miles roughly do you think you've done on them now?

Personally, I don't think total slicks would look right on a full MTB - hybrids and commuters are perfect though, but that's just me.
 
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