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Anyone road ride their 29 mtb?

2562 Views 28 Replies 20 Participants Last post by GlowBoy, Jul 18, 2006

TigerRider

Discussion Starter · Jul 12, 2006

Just curious. I will be doing most of my training on a 29er with probably a 23 or 25c tire and wondered how well this works with mtb gearing. Also any issues with using that narrow of a tire on a dt 340 rim? I previously trained on 26ers without problems. tia.

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Cloxxki

· #2 · Jul 12, 2006

44x11 is close to 53x13 I think. That sufficed for all road roadies up till the 70's.

Why narrow tires? Don't you respect your hands and butt?
I commute my Fisher daily with 2.35" slicks, and I am certain it's plain faster between A and B. My bike computer comfirms this.
Building a 29" Monocog now for road duty : same fattie slicks, Midge bar, the works.

laffeaux

· #3 · Jul 12, 2006

TigerRider said:
Just curious. I will be doing most of my training on a 29er with probably a 23 or 25c tire and wondered how well this works with mtb gearing. Also any issues with using that narrow of a tire on a dt 340 rim? I previously trained on 26ers without problems. tia.

It should work okay. The wide-spacing gearing will make riding in a pack tougher, but it's not horrible. I have both a 12-27 and 12-23 for my road bikes, and for non-climbing rides the 23t cog is much prefered.

Narrow tires make a differnce when you start climbing. Light is good when you're headed up a hill.

frankenbike

· #4 · Jul 12, 2006

I ride my 29er as a commuter bike during the work week. I slapped on some 38c tires.

jasondean

· #5 · Jul 12, 2006

I used it...

I used my Dos Niner during the Mohican 100. There was a decent amount of road sections. I'd lock out the Reba and was amazed how natural the bike felt even with being used to using my road bike in training. Used standard 44/32/22 and Ignitors, can't imagine how it would feel with a nice pair of slicks. Good luck.

richwolf

· #6 · Jul 12, 2006

I have 25c road tires for my Dambala with a Reba up front and a thudbuster. Flat bars and bar ends. It makes for a great road bike. I run Sun CR18 rims and no problem with tire fit.
It is my only bike and must do MTB duty and road duty. Works out great.
During my trip this summer I spent some time in the Pyrenees with it and met a friend who I rode a couple of days with. He had the high tech sub 15 pound road bike. He was putting on big miles and I wasn't, so conditioning was the main difference on the up hills. On the downhills I was much faster. The more upright position the slacker angles and the front shock and thudbuster smoothed out the road while my superior brakes allowed me to scrub off speed better. It worked out a lot better than my 26 inch full supsension bike with slicks that I ran last year.
I noticed quite a few of the guys over there were using mountain bikes set up for the road. I think the riding position and lower gears worked really well for them in such a hilly environment.

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MendonCycleSmith

· #7 · Jul 12, 2006

I just had a custom Titus 29er built, and purposefully had a higher bb (which I like anyway) and rack, fender and extra H2O mounts so that I could have a first class tourer built in. Take the suspension fork off, put a rigid in, and off we go! The higher original BB allows for the smaller tires to not make the BB too low. I'm figuring about 11.5" with fat roadies=

ihatemybike

· #8 · Jul 12, 2006

I commute about 50% of thetime on my RL MC29er. One gear, knobbies, 18.5 miles each way, no problems. I've also done a couple 40 milers on the local rail-to-trails cause I was bored.

G

· #9 · Jul 12, 2006

i commute on mine. exis roll pretty nice on the road.

GlowBoy

· #10 · Jul 12, 2006

I did the 70-mile Portland LiveStrong Challenge last fall on my KM, with 700x42 WormDrive tires. Had no problem keeping up with the roadies. That said, last week I built up my cyclocross bike (after a 2-year absence) for road use because it's several pounds lighter with quicker handling. Doesn't roll any faster though.

Cloxxki

· #11 · Jul 12, 2006

My SuperCal. Not my favorite anymore offroad, but with the tires awesome on the road and beach. It's faster than it looks..

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ong

· #12 · Jul 12, 2006

I put some 700x23 Vittoria Rubino Pro slicks on my Dos Niner (which was a little scary, cause the rims are about as wide as the fattest part of the tire), but it rode like a champ... was doing nearly the same speeds I can do on my road bike, although I really missed having the extra hand positions, and it's tough to get very aero on MTB bars. Kind of nice to be able to unlock the suspension on rough bits, too! I did notice I was spinning out my biggest gears pretty regularly, though, and pretty much stayed in the big ring and the smallest few cogs.

mhemberg

· #13 · Jul 12, 2006

I am in the process of converting my Voodoo to a fixed commuter with moustache bars the only thing I noticed with commuting on my 29 is with small tires you have be extra careful of dragging a pedal on a corner.

Wormburner

· #14 · Jul 13, 2006

I've got a second set of wheels for road riding with 700x28's, but I think 700x25 would fit fine. I went with the 700x28 to soften the ride a little bit, and since I weigh in at well over 200 lb, the thought of hitting a pothole, etc. with too narrow a tire makes me a little nervous. I've done several long road rides and have so far been able to hang with riders on road bikes. With the lower gearing, I don't think my top speed will ever be as fast as it could be on a road bike, but I am more comfortable on a mountain frame than crouched over on a road bike.

Wormburner

· #15 · Jul 13, 2006

Forgot to mention that I've got the skinny tires on the Bontrager Superstocks that came on my bike.

GlowBoy

· #16 · Jul 13, 2006 (Edited)

mhemberg said:
I am in the process of converting my Voodoo to a fixed commuter with moustache bars the only thing I noticed with commuting on my 29 is with small tires you have be extra careful of dragging a pedal on a corner.

Good point! Last year I briefly ran 700x23s on my KM ... stood up out of the saddle while turning a bit and ended up bashing a pedal on the pavement. Went down hard on rough asphalt. Still have a big scar on my forearm.

The BB on a 29er with 700x23s is pretty much the same as on a standard road bike, but I'm just not used to it (and do not like it). I'll stick with 700x32 SpeedMaxes, thankyouverymuch. Besides, the bigger tires are also better for urban potholes, curb jumps and streetcar tracks (of which we have many here). I'd be just as happy riding 700x32 slicks, but other than the Panracer Pasela/Tserv there are hardly any that don't have momentum-sapping puncture belts and greater weight than the 330g SpeedMax.

TigerRider

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 14, 2006

Thanks for the replies, I'm running some 700x28c bontrager slicks now on my orbea. did a road ride this morning and was suprised how quick they felt.

BrandonMiller

· #18 · Jul 14, 2006

I like the hum of my XR's, I commute 25 miles round trip

long hazy daze

· #19 · Jul 14, 2006

I just built a Monocog, dinglespeed setup. I also have a 2nd wheelset with 37c Panracers on them to use for road riding. Quite effective. I can choose 32x18 or 36x15 gearing, though the latter is the only one I can see being of use for really getting aroung with any speed. Still not as fast on the road as my fixie road bike though...

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thefoxbox

· #20 · Jul 16, 2006

I too like the sound of my Kenda Klaws on the road. I ride my 29er to work and enjoy seeing some of the roadie's reactions to me as I "hum" on by. It makes me smile

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