26" tyres for commuting - slick or lightly threaded?

Turbulent Bill

Hi folks,
I'm currently using the stock 26" nobbly tyres on my mountain bike for commuting (25km round trip), but am thinking about changing them to improve efficiency, speed etc.

On the numerous useful tyre threads here and on Sheldon Brown etc. it seems fairly straightforward - the small contact area of high-pressure slicks means low rolling resistance in the dry and no need for threads to dissipate water in the wet. However, I think this assumes that the road surface is solid and uniform. Once you have sufficient frictional contact on this, the tyre is unlikely to slip. The problem is that my commute has all sorts of surfaces (tarmac, concrete, manholes, road markings etc.) with stones and general road debris on them, where some threads might be useful to give a greater contact area (less chance of having the area entirely on debris).

Would you recommend totally slick tyres or some small threads for this, and what models are good? Thinking about Conti Gatorskins for a mix between grip and puncture protection, but open to suggestions.

Thanks for your help.

fish-head

I reckon these tyres would sort you right out. They're renowned for being indestructable. I commute through all kinds of road surfaces on skinny road tyres, so I wouldn't be at all apprehensive about losing tyre tread. You'll enjoy your cycle much more.

penexpers

I run Marathon Runners on my fold up and I haven't had a puncture yet.

blorg

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

Would you recommend totally slick tyres or some small threads for this, and what models are good? Thinking about Conti Gatorskins for a mix between grip and puncture protection, but open to suggestions.

I would go for completely slicks, tread will not help you with traction. Gatorskins are a very good choice, they have a very slight side tread but I reckon it is largely cosmetic.

Gavin

Complete slicks as again Blorg says. Specialized Fatboys are decent. One or two punctures at first, but nothing in a while.


*holds fingers for no puncture in the pouring rain*

Turbulent Bill

Kojaks seem to be the way to go then. Thanks for the input lads.

blorg

I wouldn't discount the Gatorskins- good puncture protection, good grip, roll well, I use them on two of my bikes. They are actually slicks as much as the Kojacks, the tread pattern is minimal.

Civilian_Target

I have those Marathon Plus - and shards of glass pose them no difficulty, they're bombproof. Comes at a price though, what that site doesn't mention is that a pair of them weight in at almost 1kg of tyre for my 700cc x32/28

Also, they suck in rain. But they seem to outlast even Armadillos, I haven't bought a new tyre since last March!

Turbulent Bill

blorg wrote: »

I wouldn't discount the Gatorskins- good puncture protection, good grip, roll well, I use them on two of my bikes. They are actually slicks as much as the Kojacks, the tread pattern is minimal.

Thanks Blorg, I actually meant that slicks (no thread = bald = Telly Savalas = Kojak!) seem to be preferable to any threads. I don't think that there's a Kojak brand of tyre, though I might be proven wrong!

Will have to check out the Gatorskins.

blorg

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

Thanks Blorg, I actually meant that slicks (no thread = bald = Telly Savalas = Kojak!) seem to be preferable to any threads. I don't think that there's a Kojak brand of tyre, though I might be proven wrong!

Will have to check out the Gatorskins.

Ha, there is, the Schwalbe Kojak, I thought you were referring to this.

Turbulent Bill

blorg wrote: »

Ha, there is, the Schwalbe Kojak, I thought you were referring to this.

I stand corrected!

BostonB

I switched mine to Armadillos. I've already got one puncture at about 200k, small glass shard. I reckon the tread caught the glass, and on the next rotation it went through between the tread blocks. I'm thinking less tread would be better. I notice a lot of debris is flicked out from them because of the high pressure I assume (80psi). The Armadillos feel hard to ride on though. I haven't had any problems with them over varied surfaces, though I wouldn't corner too hard on them. They made a big difference in cycling effort, for me, I'm not fit, but I was able to stay in higher gears for a lot longer than I was on the original mtb tyres.

BostonB

Next time I'd go Gatorskins.

doozerie

My choice when using my mountain bike as a commuter for the last few years has been Continental Sport Contact. I have found them fast, very puncture resistant, and they last quite a while. I use the 26 x 1.3 version.

My good experience with those was one of the things that led to me ending up with Continental GatorSkins on the road bike that I have been using as a commuter more recently. I have generally been impressed by the Continental brand.

There are several reviews of the Continental Sport Contact on the page linked to above - I would agree with those that say these tyres are not bad in the wet, but wet manhole covers can be dodgy (but I have found that with all of my tyres to one degree or another). The Chain Reaction Cycles price of £17.99 seems like a good one as I paid about €28 each for mine locally - mine included a "free" tube in each tyre, and the tubes have been very good, but I don't know whether the Chain Reaction Cycles offer includes those.