Road tyre on a MTB rim?

[Rich_AR]

I'd like to use my MTB for some daily road riding and before I blow package on new rims or a new road/city bike I'd like to fit some road tyres to the existing rims

The bike I've got is a GT Avalanche 1.0 (2012) with ALL TERRA AT17HP Disc, Doublewall 32H rims.

Does anyone know what road tyres I can fit? I assume I'll need tubes as well or can I use my existing ones? What is the recommended width?

Cheers!

Edited by Rich_AR on Monday 24th June 07:22

[noone986s]

Look on the side of your current tyres they will most likely be 26 x something. If so, you need a tyre in the same size, 26inch. I use Continental Double Fighter II in size 26x1.95 on the bike that goes on cycle paths, roads and light off road they are a good compromise. If you want something more road only look at something like Schwalbe City Jet in 26x1.5.

Take a look on the major bike sites (CRC, Wiggle etc) eBay or even Halfords they all have a good selection of these hybrid tyres.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mtb-slick-tyres/

Edited by noone986s on Monday 24th June 07:26

[yellowjack]

My youngest son also has an Avalanche 1.0

Your rims are 559 x 17c (where 559 is the wheel diameter in millimetres, and 17 is the width of the rim in millimetres). Bizarrely, although the rims are marked with this metric sizing, tyres (for MTBs at least) are sold in imperial sizes. The knobblies on my son's bike are 26 x 2.2 inches (or 56 - 559 in metric). Confusion has been built into the system because tyre manufacturers came from one direction, wheel/rim manufacturers from another. 56mm = 2.2inches ; 559mm = 26inches. Tyres are almost always wider than the rims to which they are fitted, as you can see if you compare the 17mm width of your rim to the 56mm (2.2inch) width of your tyre.

In short, any 26inch diameter "MTB slick" tyre should fit your rims. If you buy from a shop, you can check the metric size of the tyre, it will be stated (small)in brackets after the imperial size.

You may, or may not need to buy new tubes too. Tube sizing is again imperial, but a 26 inch MTB tube will come in a number of ranged sizes (1 to 1.3 inch, 1.3 to 1.75 inch, and 1.75 to 2.5 inch are typical) to suit varying tyre sizes. So, if you choose a 'slick' or 'semi-slick' in a similar width to the knobblies you currently run, you may get away with the tubes you have. The only way to know for certain is to remove your current tyres and find the size markings on the inner tubes you have fitted. Check the valve type if/when you buy new tubes (there are 3 main types )

I'll echo 'noone986s' with this... http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cycle/mtb-slick-tyres/

and add this... http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sc/tyre-buying-guide


If you've got a while, have a look at... http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html and http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html

(if there's ever a question you can't answer regarding bicycles, Sheldon Brown can probably supply the answer, or link you to somewhere that can)

Edited by yellowjack on Monday 24th June 09:55

[megaphone]

I put these Michelin City tyres on my 'street' MTB. Cheap, quick and no punctures to date.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...

[Rich_AR]

Thanks for the replies guys

The tubes I have are 1.75 - 2.125 (just found the box). So I could get away with re-using them with a set of 26. x 1.75 city/road tyres.

Cheers for the links

[megaphone]

Rich_AR said:

Thanks for the replies guys

The tubes I have are 1.75 - 2.125 (just found the box). So I could get away with re-using them with a set of 26. x 1.75 city/road tyres.

Cheers for the links

I used the same size tubes on the 1.4" Michelin City without any issues.

[SonicShadow]

I use these on my hardtail when I'm mainly on paved surfaces:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...

Much faster than the Conti MK's and much more grippy on anything that isn't loose or muddy.