Good Street Tires for a Mountain Bike

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Can you guys recommend some good street tires for my MB.

Need good street grip. Well made with good balance is VERY important. Price is a consideration, but I will pay for quality.

At 40+ mph, Ritchey knobs are insane and insanely unbalanced. They are also showing cracks, and some bulges. Dissapointed in the short life.

Thanks,

P
 
You can balance bike (motorcycle?) tires with fishing or other weights. Just hang them from the axle and give 'em a spin. If they stop at the same point each time add weight to the top.

Also you could use sticky weights, with tape to help secure, or spoke weights like these dealies:

spokeweights.png


halfway down the page here:

http://www.bevelheaven.com/stuff-for-sale-tools.htm

Am running the bell walmart cheapo semi-slick but only up to 30mph. Hit a huge pointy gravel rock, my fault, took out the tube but the tire's still doing great. Although in a bell box the tire is a cheng shin 1.95".

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Only wish I had a motor for my bike.
I've been wanting a motor for the past five years but parents don't want me to have one. Maybe next summer it will happen.
It isn't the first time I've heard no, they've said no to a scooter, bike motor, go-kart, pit bike and motorcycle. And mom says no to autocross.
 
Originally Posted By: TylerL

It isn't the first time I've heard no, they've said no to a scooter, bike motor, go-kart, pit bike and motorcycle. And mom says no to autocross.


I give you points for persistance.
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Continental Town and Country. They are heavy but have an inverted tread design for LIGHT off road use. Pretty high mileage too. Used to use them on police mountain bikes. We also used another Continental with a slick inside and outside knobs for cornering traction. The second set was rated to like 90 psi. You'll pay a good penny for either one.

I used the Performance or Nashbar house brand of road tire (Fast City FX or something like that). It was a 1.25 tire and fast rolling at 90 psi. It saw speeds to 47 (had a favorite hill) without issues. This one is avaliable in a larger size too I think. These are cheaper.
 
If this is a motorized bike, I'd make sure to use a tire with some type of flat protection scheme. Weight wouldn't really be the consideration vs safety.
Tread doesn't really make any difference. You don't hydroplane until something like 100 MPH+. (unless you run off a dock)
 
Good input guys. I just installed some Taiwan enduro type tires. A bit knobbier than I had in mind initially, but they have Kevlar plies. The price was right.

They balanced perfectly and the bike has no shimmy, vibration or wobble.
 
Conti makes a Gran Prix tire in mountain bike rim diameters.
But you need a very narrow rim to be able to use it as it is only 1" wide!!
It does have some siping for wet weather use.
IF you can and combine this with a light or latex tube, you will have about the lightest and least rolling resistence possible with a mountain bike sized wheel.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill Kapaun
Tread doesn't really make any difference. You don't hydroplane until something like 100 MPH+. (unless you run off a dock)

I beg to differ. tread is EVERYTHING on a bicycle tire. a fat knobby tire bicycle will be transformed w/ a narrow smooth tread. it's not hydroplaning that's a problem, it's rolling resistance.
someone else mentioned conti T&C, I concur. very nice durable heavy tire.
 
I bike commute full time at about 400 miles per month and while I ride a road bike, I think my tire experience and observations might help you with your mtn. bike.

I tried Serfas tires for about $20 each and experienced lots of flats. Otherwise, the tires performed OK, and for tires on the cheap they were pretty good. I could not deal with the amount of flats ~ 2 per week.

I switched to Specialized Armadillo elites at about $50 each. They are great but too spendy and the quality is so so. Very, very, flew flats and pretty compliant. A coworker and former bike mechanic who’s advice I trust loves Continental. His commuting tires were $40 each and after 6 months of full time commuting, he’s had no flats. Continental is my next tire.

In general, look for a Kevlar liner built into the tire if punctures are a concern.
 
Contis were always the toughest tires!

I remember WAAAAYYY back (mid 70s) when i first started using them, I had a set of properly aged Sprinter tubular (sew-up) tires I just could not kill!!!!
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This was despite them being only 220 grams in weight, and having a thin tread with a fine file tread pattern.
I even rode them in some dry condition/hard pack cyclocrosses and they survived!
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Last edited:
Originally Posted By: wantin150
Continental Town and Country. They are heavy but have an inverted tread design for LIGHT off road use. Pretty high mileage too. Used to use them on police mountain bikes. We also used another Continental with a slick inside and outside knobs for cornering traction. The second set was rated to like 90 psi. You'll pay a good penny for either one.


I went ahead and got these for street tires, even though I just bought a good set of Cheng Shin Kevlar enduros. I had a $25 Reward Voucher so the whole deal set me back about $21.

Ebay link to Conti T&C
 
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