Mountain bike wheel size ?

paulstung

paulstung

New member
Last week I bought myself a new M, bike, nothing too flash but very adequate, for my needs. It is awesome apart for one thing, the tyre's have a very high friction when riding on roads, and want to swap them out for low friction ones. So my question is, does the tyre width matter much ?

I have 26" x 2.10, currently on there, but the tyres I'm looking at are 26" x 2.20, or 1.75, will they fit. Here is the bike http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/mountain-bikes/carrera-vulcan-mountain-bike-large-20.

Cheers guys.

Another quick question whilst I'm here, the hydraulic disk brakes are great, and I have set them up, including bleeding and burping, but if, I'm stood up and the bike is moving from side to side they rub. When the bike is vertical they are fine, any fixes for that ?

I should add, up until last week, I hadn't been on a bike for nearly 17 years, and god they have improved technically loads. I was shocked how much bike I could get for £320. As always, I've got the upgrade bug already.
 
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So long as they are 26" diameter your golden. Obviously narrower the tread the least rolling resistance.. 2.10 is a touch thin compared to my monster 3.25 Schwalbes :P

Halfords are a little pricey when it comes to tyres, try chainreactioncycles

Do you mean disc rub from wheel flex?

EDIT: Just noticed you got the Vulcan, I have the Titan SE, but pretty much nothing on it is standard now. I got the Bug too.
biOyzdx.jpg
 
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That's good news, cheers buddy. So on the hunt for some thicker tyres too then.

Yea Halfords is pricey for tyres, I'll check your link out, I've got my heart set on Continental's I've forgotten the model number.

The disk rub when you go around a corner and tilt the bike then it rubs. Other than that they're fine.

I like Carrera's you get a lot of bang for your buck, I'm looking at a few upgrades, like the grips, and saddle, and I don't like the feel of the sprung front shocks, so I might get the Rockshox Solo Air, I've found a good deal with the button lock included for £140, I just need to remember the ETailer I saw them.

Your bike looks cool, I'm extremely jel, about the Fox forks. I've never got on with soft tails, you seem to peddle like the clappers only to bounce, then again after a day in Wentwood on the trails can totally see the point of road, maybe a self build in the future, I've always been partial to Orange frames, although they are a tad pricey for my blood, maybe one day.
 
Chain reaction cycles online it the place you wanna get your gear from, an yeah as wraith said anything that is 26" an your golden
 
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paulstung said:
That's good news, cheers buddy. So on the hunt for some thicker tyres too then.

Yea Halfords is pricey for tyres, I'll check your link out, I've got my heart set on Continental's I've forgotten the model number.

The disk rub when you go around a corner and tilt the bike then it rubs. Other than that they're fine.

I like Carrera's you get a lot of bang for your buck, I'm looking at a few upgrades, like the grips, and saddle, and I don't like the feel of the sprung front shocks, so I might get the Rockshox Solo Air, I've found a good deal with the button lock included for £140, I just need to remember the ETailer I saw them.

Your bike looks cool, I'm extremely jel, about the Fox forks. I've never got on with soft tails, you seem to peddle like the clappers only to bounce, then again after a day in Wentwood on the trails can totally see the point of road, maybe a self build in the future, I've always been partial to Orange frames, although they are a tad pricey for my blood, maybe one day.
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Depends on which Carrera you get some are Korean mass made and a select few like the Titan/Banshee/Vulcan/Kraken SE are made in Germany by the Italian bike company Merida who own Carrera coincidentally, they are the AMD of the cycle world.. I only got mine because of the frame nothing else ^_^ I prefer a full sus over hard tails and this was just a temp bike until I got the bike I want, rear shocks when set up properly should not bob when you pedal but you need a good shock to dial in with, not the SR crap that came factory fitted to it. My Foxes aren't new by any stretch the forks are 02' and rear is 99', there not even Kashima coated but there fully serviced and work perfect (eBay bargains).

My last bikes were pinched 5 years back, always been a GT nut and used to ride competition for my local bike shop on a GT STS lobo DH which I got to keep after the season was over, she was my pride and joy and my training bike was a LTS 3000 DS until some sticky fingered prick decided he wanted them, I do like Orange bikes but always found them a bit too heavy also had a dabble on the Kona Stab Delux but wasn't happy at the way the swing arm had flex in it when cornering hard.
 
I have used Wiggle and always found them to be very reliable and often they have free postage. If you sign up for their email subscription you can £5 off your order as well. I have some Continental GatorSkins on my MTB, but I mainly use it on the road.
 
So far i've got my choices down to these,

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/...,0-wire-87841?currency=3&delivery_country=190

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/big-apple-performance-2,35-wire-54241/wg_id-240

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/double-fighter-ii-semislick-1,9-wire-37355/wg_id-240

and http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/larsen-tt-2,0-wire-70a-27093/wg_id-240


I'm starting to notice that for the low resistance, or semi slick you have to sacrifice on thickness, I can't find many above 2.1, they're mostly around the 1.9, 2 mark

As for buying a 2nd hand frame and doing a build, I've just started thinking that way this morning and have started looking.

I should mention that most of my daily riding is on the streets, as our local bus service is about to stop, and need the bike to get back and forth to my Grandfather in the next town over, if I'm ever needed. And yesterday I completed in total about 28 miles, thinking about it that is the most I have ever covered in my life, not bad for 40.
 
I'm not sure exactly what balance between on and off road your looking for but I have had Specialized Fast Tracks for a long time and have probably used them about 50/50 they are a nice compromise of being free rolling on hard surfaces while still having enough grip to climb and brake well in various off road conditions. I put Crossroads on my second bike for the city and they were pretty good but really not up to any off road stuff. If you just want to use it on road why are you letting width concern you? Anyway I massively rate any of the Specialized Armadillo Elites they are fantastic, I don't recall ever getting a flat since changing to them. I haven't ridden much in a long time and sold my second bike now, really should get out there a bit before another summer has gone.

JR
 
I wouldn't go too slick with MTB road tyres, oil and pot holes are bad enough to contend with.
 
I'm not really concerned about the width really, I just think as far as looks go, skinny tyres, look a bit naff. For my day to day riding between towns will be on tarmac roads, when I go off road, I can easily swap them out, I'm planning on getting a second set of wheels, and discs for for an easy change, from road to off road.

Out of the 4 I mentioned, I'm leaning toward, the Continental double fighter 2 semi slick they look to have a good mix of nobbles, and slick, for my needs. Or even the Maxis Larsen TT. I'm torn between the 2, i'm going to research the 2 and decide from there.
 
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Continental Race kings are a nice balance between road/xc same thing with Panracer XCs or WTB Velociraptors or Nano Race.
 
I've just noticed that a few stores are selling 2 packs made up of 2 different tyres, with the front and rear being different. Is there anything in that or doesn't it matter ?

The Race kings were the first tyres I looked into, the latest grip design are apparently prone to a high puncture rate, not sure if there is anything in it or not, but best be safe than sorry.

I've all of a sudden found myself looking more at the Schwable's more the foldable, than non. It's like going into a shop and your mate says " grab me a bar of chocolate " what do you choose, we are spoilt for choice. I'm in no hurry, I believe in research, research, and more research.
 
Front and rear tyres share roughly the same wall nobles but the rolling area varies with the rear having more linear grip for acceleration and the front has more of a scattered rounder pattern for cornering.
 
I took the plunge last week and ordered a Hans Dampf, 26 x 2.35, for the rear, and is apparently one of the best rear all rouders out there ( ? ) and a Table Top, 26 x 2.25, both by Schwalbe. Fro a whole load of reading, and help from you guys, I'm happy with the out come.

They came on Monday, so I've had a couple of days, to give them a good thrashing. And my god, what a pair they are. My daily ride is just under 6 miles each way, and keeping the same pace I seem to be getting there a whole lot fresher, and hills I struggled to ride up before, I'm getting up there with ease now. And on the flat, there is hardly no woosh sound from the tyres resisting.

As for rolling down hills, on my route I have a 25 degree incline, so I devised a test of getting to 20mph,and at a certain point letting gravity do the rest, about 20 yards into the flat there is a bollard for a junction, I took my measurements from that point. With the old tyre's, I managed to roll about 30 feet, with the new dynamic due, I rolled about 60 ish, so just about double.

It's not very scientific, I now, but it's accurate enough for me. I'm finding the whole cycling thing more enjoyable, before I seemed to be peddling like the clappers but the tyres just didn't want to play fair.
 
Yep I couldn't be happier guys, perfect for my needs. I didn't think there would be that drastic of a change.

Time for some more up grades I think, handle bars, and a stem next I think, work on getting some weight off.
 
paulstung said:
Yep I couldn't be happier guys, perfect for my needs. I didn't think there would be that drastic of a change.

Time for some more up grades I think, handle bars, and a stem next I think, work on getting some weight off.
Click to expand...


yeah do all your points of contact, you really notice the difference ^_^
 
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