[Marc2211]

Hi all,

After some advice on tires. I have a 10 mile each way commute that I do in all weathers/conditions. Over the last 9 years I've done it on a FS MTB, XC bike, CX bike and road bike. At the moment I do it on an XC 29er (Cube Reaction Race) with a Maxxis Ikon front and Rekon Race rear - they were the most 'XC' least knobby tires I could find.

The commute is usually 75% road. 25% gravel over hardpack, pretty flat, with the odd hill or gravel section thrown in now and again.

I have 2 wheelsets, so am considering putting a pair of 'slick' tires on the beater wheels (currently unused) and using them for the day to miles, and swapping in the decent wheels and tires for the weekends.

I am wondering just how much difference I'd see when using the slicks? Will it be quicker on the road, easier rolling etc? Anyone have any advice or experience on this?

I ws considering Schwalbe Marathon Almotion or similar.

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Marc

 

[gundrted]

Hi all,

After some advice on tires. I have a 10 mile each way commute that I do in all weathers/conditions. Over the last 9 years I've done it on a FS MTB, XC bike, CX bike and road bike. At the moment I do it on an XC 29er (Cube Reaction Race) with a Maxxis Ikon front and Rekon Race rear - they were the most 'XC' least knobby tires I could find.

The commute is usually 75% road. 25% gravel over hardpack, pretty flat, with the odd hill or gravel section thrown in now and again.

I have 2 wheelsets, so am considering putting a pair of 'slick' tires on the beater wheels (currently unused) and using them for the day to miles, and swapping in the decent wheels and tires for the weekends.

I am wondering just how much difference I'd see when using the slicks? Will it be quicker on the road, easier rolling etc? Anyone have any advice or experience on this?

I ws considering Schwalbe Marathon Almotion or similar.

Any help appreciated!

Cheers,

Marc

Check out Teravail. They started in gravel tires and have some 29er options that may work for you.

https://teravail.com/

Sent from my SM-G930U using Tapatalk

 

[Schulze]

I considered this, but stayed with the knobby tires. Reasons - they're loud and peds hear me, they give extra traction so I can jump off the road to avoid cars and danger, and really they don't wear much nor are they much slower.

 

[Marc2211]

Many thanks for the info and perspectives both, much appreciated!

I definitely agree that the versitility to go on/off road has a lot of benefits, as well as eliminating the need to stay to set commute roads and such. I guess in some ways it comes down to missing the commute speed of my road bike (which I sold last year), but I don't have any specific need to rebuy one.

 

[krankie]

I use almotions tubless and for me it's the best commuter tire I've owned. Between those and new dt hubs the bike seems to have no resistance. They're also good enough for me on packed dirt.

 

[bigflamingtaco]

I started commuting with 1.5" slicks (Geax Roadster), but ended up doing our fall 50 miler on 2.1" hard pack tires one year (Geax Evolution) because I was lazy and didn't want to swap tires. Found they weren't a hard enough push to matter, even though they max out at 25 fewer psi.

And they get a nice drone going above 16mph, remind me of rolling on tubulars.

 

[Hobine]

Hard to beat the Panaracer Gravel Kings for cost and performance.
I’ve got a pair of 700x38s mounted to a set of 29er wheels and they ride great on road, gravel and dirt. If you want a bit of a tread, there’s the Gravel King SK. Still rolls well on pavement.

 

[Random Dude]

I love the schwalbe g-one speed tires for road riding on a mountain bike. They are crazy fast. They don’t last long but it is worth it to me.

 

[Marc2211]

Thanks again everyone - just ordered some g-one in 29x2.35 tires. I was stuck between these and the almotion - Looking at the reviews, it seems like these offer a pretty fast ride, and retain some comfort.

I’ll report back with how it goes!

 

[Random Dude]

Did you order the g-one or the g-one speed? They are pretty different and the g-one speed has a much lower faster tread.

 

[Marc2211]

Did you order the g-one or the g-one speed? They are pretty different and the g-one speed has a much lower faster tread.

G-One Speed Evolution TLE, fingers crossed it'll do the job!

 

[Random Dude]

It will be night and day how crazy fast those tires are. It will be road bike fast other than the aerodynamics. I have a pair of Schwalbe ‘big ones’ that are discounted (now replaced by the g-one speed) model.

I read and article where schwalbe said the big ones had the lowest rolling resistance of all their tires.

 

[NordieBoy]

I do like Specialized Sawtooth's.
42mm on a 29er.

Can't use them on my Anthem though unless I gear up significantly from the 32t front.
Far to easy to spin out in top gear.

 

[MegaStoke]

The wire bead Vittoria Mezcal are another good choice for commuting on a mtb. Fast rolling, long lasting, and cheap AF.

 

[tweeder82o]

have you swapped wheels often?

I read from one thread that sometimes the brake calipers and the derailleur need to be adjusted when swapping wheel sets.

let us know if that's the case, or if it's indeed one wheel out and one wheel in.

 

[Marc2211]

I swap a fair bit, and for most of my bikes I do sometimes need to adjust the caliper (15 second job), but rarely the derailleur. But it does depend on the bike - I find SRAM to generally be more forgiving.

For this bike, I have a Hope wheelset and the standard Cube one - Thankfully they interchange seamlessly. In this case I'll put the G-one on the Hope set, and the Maxxis on the Cube set as it's one I'll use less.