29er road tires

schwalbe big apples are bullet proof and available in pretty wide sizes, I run a pair of those for kicking around the city and to save wear on my trail tires.

seems like i've read that the marathons ride faster though.

Ditto! These Big Apples are fabulous! Bullet proof is right! I ran over a nail on the street it entered the tire but did not penetrate the Kevlar lining and when I heard the clicking coming from the rear tire I stopped to investigate. I just knew when I pulled that nail out the tire would go flat! Wrong, still riding no problem and that was two weeks ago! Guarantee you will love them!

DezFX said:

What are some good road tires for my new 29er? Most of my riding will be commuting to and from work during the week, and some weekend rides, averaging about 75 miles a week. Wheels will either be 28mm Bontrager Rhythm 29 Disc, or Shimano M525 hubs with Bontrager Duster 29 Disc, 32h. What are some good options both tubed and tubeless? Any recommendations of one over the other?

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I'm glad you asked this. I've been thinking of getting some road worthy tires for my Arch rims. I know they will need to be fairly large for that rim. Big Apples tubeless may be the ticket.

Do you want fat tires? I just throw some wider road bike tires.

can these tires be used on a trainer for a 29er?

tazducks said:

can these tires be used on a trainer for a 29er?

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Anything relatively smooth for a 700 or 29" will be fine.

I'm running Schwalbe Marathon Supremes 2.0" on my road going wheelset. It's not light (800ish grams), but it rolls extremely fast and smooth.

duster rims are worthy of good meat, imho

advantages of this and that can go on and on, but there's a difference

Tinier said:

I'm running Schwalbe Marathon Supremes 2.0" on my road going wheelset. It's not light (800ish grams), but it rolls extremely fast and smooth.

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I agree with the Scwhalbe Marathon Supremes. I have them on my daily commuter. Mine weighed in a over 100gm less each. Not as fast as a true road tire, though, but loads of fun. And you can use a 700c road tire, if you are so inclined. Narrow probably wouldn't work so well with the wider rims, but there are a number of selections in the 700c touring range that are 37mm, and the Michelin city tire can be had 47mm wide.

I'm not sure about running them tubeless. My Stan's Arch rims recommend a maximum pressures of 55psi, 50psi and 43psi for 1" 1.5" and 2" tires, respectively. I generally run a higher pressure on my Schwalbe's so I run tubes. It might be entirely fine to run at a higher pressure tubeless, but I don't want to find out on the way to work.

What are your weekend ride? Are these road rides as well or are you going off road? Same tire? That may change your answers a good bit.

Most of my weekend stuff will be road and bike paths. I am in the market for a new bike so I'm looking for tires, too. As far as the tube/tubeless I will defer to my LBS for their recommendations. I'm mostly looking for what kind of tires to ask for.

+2 on big apples,

Alround fantastic, and reflective sidewalls so safer commuting.

The main advantage for me is I can still ride my MTB like an MTB when commuting.

jumping flights of stairs, hitting curbs at 20mph, hopping off stuff, not a problem on these the volume can soak it up.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I will be going with the Schwalbe Big Apples. I see they are listed as 29x2.0 and 29x2.35. Which one would be best for the 28mm Bontrager Rhythm 29 Disc wheels? I also see that on JensonUSA.com they list the 26x2.0 as steel and the 26x2.35 as wire. Would that be the same for the 29" tires? If so, what would be the benefits of one vs the other? Other than the obvious of one having a wider footprint...

try a 700x40 road tire from Schwalbe, still big enough to look right, but much lighter. I'm running Michelin City 700x47 that I picked up from speedgoat for $15/each on sale a few weeks back. 29x2.0 tires are equal to 700x50

I run the Halo Twin rails.
Good volume. Wide range of PSI possible. Strong side wall and bead. Low rolling resistance. Puncture protection. Great traction( and I mean great :yesnodon pavement that is wet or has some sand/loose covering. I have used them for 5 months on streets and bike paths of various coverings(cement, brick, blacktop, etc.) and they look barely used. And they deal with my 240lbs.

I have a suggestion for you. Get a second set of wheels for your 29er. Keep the knobbies on your Bontrager wheels, and then get a cheap set of road or cyclocross disc wheels and some wider road tires, like 32 to 42c. It is a pain in the a$$ to change tires frequently, and you will tire of it. Unless I read your post wrong and you are only using the bike for commuting, then disregard this post!

Mark

My marathon supremes 28x2.0 were both around 620g each. If my frame didn't have an already low bb, I'd probably have gone with the 40s, but I'm still happy with these. I have tried the Marathon XR's, and they are 800+g. Bomber tires, but not what I wanted for a quick commuter set up.

The Michelin City 700x47 are a great tire for the money. I saw them on madcap's bike and got a set for around the same price.

I've been running a set of Serfas Drifter 29x2.0s for over a year, and they're a fantastic commuter tire. Nice volume, but fast rolling. And very durable so far. I run slimed tubes and even with riding through the glass and goat head infested streets of South Tucson I rarely if ever get flats.

I wasn't really a fan of the big apples 29x2.3's. It was just too much. In my opinion they look about as cool as putting 24" rims on your honda civic. Something smaller, say 40c, just seems better to me if you need to have a big tire for pavement. They are big. And heavy. Is it really worth it? It wasn't for me. When I switched back to my kenda SB8s, I was really stoked on the difference in acceleration and overall feel. If I am on a mountain bike I would rather commute on low profile knobbies than those pigs. Plus they have so much volume I was constantly hitting my toes on the front tire. The plus side is I had no problem recouping my purchase price as people seem to really dig them. Maybe I am an anomaly.