What thread depth for a mountain bike tyres ?

worded

Something that I can occasionally use on the road 30 % of the time but
Will keep me vertical in the woods

At the moment I’ve very chunky tires and they are no fun on the road as they are too slow to cycle on and too slow even in Forrest’s

I won’t be using the bike to mtb in winter

Thanks

Lemming

worded wrote: »

Something that I can occasionally use on the road 30 % of the time but
Will keep me vertical in the woods

At the moment I’ve very chunky tires and they are no fun on the road as they are too slow to cycle on and too slow even in Forrest’s

I won’t be using the bike to mtb in winter

Thanks

Not so much about tread depth as width perhaps. You want low rolling resistance tyres - probably something like XC dry-weather tyres such as Continental Trail-Kings.

That being said, you'll notice a difference (for the worse) if you either need more grip in the wet/slop and on corners, resulting in less confidence on the bike. What sort of riding and demands on the bike are you doing?

Edit: also what tyres have you currently got mounted?

worded

Current tyres - will have a look in a moment and post back

It’s a full suss and I’m not enjoying it and rarely use it as a result of he tyres I suspect. Great grip but a slug

I realise the danger is I habe a few offs in the woods from less grip but I’m willing to risk that. Alt I will never use the bike as it’s a slog

magicbastarder

i know i've been left behind with tyre technology, but how about two sets of tyres, rather than a compromise which will detract from your enjoyment of the bike in both scenarios?

Lemming

worded wrote: »

Current tyres - will have a look in a moment and post back

It’s a full suss and I’m not enjoying it and rarely use it as a result of he tyres I suspect. Great grip but a slug

I realise the danger is I habe a few offs in the woods from less grip but I’m willing to risk that. Alt I will never use the bike as it’s a slog

If it's a full-suspension bike, it may not be the tyres that are the core of your problem but the sensitivity settings of your rear shock and the effects of "pedal bob" soaking up some of your pedalling efficiency.

How active is the suspension? If you are hammering the pedals does it feel like a pogo stick?


Edit: also: how much sag does your rear shock have? If you're not sure what to do,

• Put your bike up against a wall
• Measure the amount of travel available.
• Move the rubber o-ring to sit flush with the main body of the rear suspension
• Sit on it whilst wearing your typical riding gear whilst propped up against the wall whilst taking care not to 'bounce' the bike.
• Get off whilst again taking care not to bounce the bike, thus forcing the suspension to unduly move
• Measure how much suspension was taken up when you sat on it.

Ideal world says roughly 30%

worded

Tyre pics

worded

I’ve a 2.5 on the front and a 2.35 on the back
I’ve just noticed ....

Lemming

worded wrote: »

Tyre pics

Thanks. At 2.35" they're about average for MTB tyres these days, although you can go narrower. Maxxis tyre treads tend to be the conservative side once inflated on the rim from my experience. Did you catch the name of the tyres whilst taking those photos? I'm looking at Maxxis tread patterns to see which tyre it is.

Edit: having a larger tyre up front (at 2.5) is quite common and a lot of folks prefer to have a grippier tyre up front and allow the rear tyre to wash out a little but give better rolling resistance (i.e. less). You could possibly drop the width of the front tire to a 2.4 perhaps but depends on the tyre/thread patterns and what sort of terrain and conditions you want to ride in.

All of my bikes are set up with front-centric tyres, with the rear less so. E.g. my full-sus has a 2.4 maxxis minion DHF / 2.35 maxxis high-roller II combo, and my hard-tails are 2.4/2.35, and 2.1/1.9 respectively.


Edit 2: that second picture might be a High-Roller variant. Well regarded for use as a rear tyre at any rate.

Big Nasty

Have you locked out your shocks while climbing / cycling on the road?

What sort of mix would you be doing between on and off road cycling?

comanche_cor

Are you cycling to the trails?

Would you consider getting a 2nd cheap wheel set and putting slicks on it for when on the road?

C3PO

Most full suspension bikes are a pain on the road! What make/model is the bike? How much suspension travel has it got?

steamsey

You won't really see much talk of tyre thread depth - width, thread pattern and compound are the main talking points. There are tyres made for different types of riding so you'd want to focus on picking the right type as opposed to focusing on a thread depth.

As someone else said, sounds like you are looking for an XC tyre. I would not buy Specialized or Continental tyres - I've had them all at one point or another and the only brands I'd go with are Schwalbe or WTB.

Full suspension bikes absolutely do not need to be a pain on the road. A very simple trick is just pump up the tyres for the road portion of the cycle (say 30/40psi) then back down to riding pressures (say 25psi - tubeless) when you are actually mountain biking. Takes 2 minutes to do. If you are not going to be hammering around the woods in the mud, you don't need a very aggressive tyre - XC style should do the job and will roll better.

I ride my full suss on the road all the time with no issues.

Good idea to check your suspension as mentioned already - if not locking out, the bouncing around would be sucking all the power out of your pedal strokes.

Two sets of tyres not a good idea - you'll wreck the tyres or the rims taking them on and off. Two sets of wheels can work, but then you have to consider different wear rates between cassettes, chains etc.

The tyre in that last picture is fit for the bin - it looks really old.

Do you have a tubeless set up? What psi are you running?

Cee-Jay-Cee

I'm using Schwalbe Rocket Rons and Tough Toms on my 29er hardtail, find them great on the road, no sluggishness (until you start climbing and that has to do with bike/wheel weight more so than tyres) but they roll really well and I run fairly low pressure in them (40psi rear/34psi front)