Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

New to MTB & tire question

767 views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  ProjectDan35 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

First post. :thumbsup: I have checked out the forum here and there while researching getting a MTB. I'm new to mountain biking, well actually I haven't been biking for a few decades since I was a kid, but I had BMX bikes back then and did my share of pedaling.

Wanting to get into better shape, I bought a used Giant Warp to get some exercise with. It's basically stock with Hayes hydraulic disk brakes and Maxxis High Roller tires and different handlebars.

Since I am likely going to be riding quite a bit on pavement cruising the neighborhood along with some canal-side dirt road riding, I am thinking I should put some semi-slick tires on and save the knobby tires for later when I plan to check out some trails. I don't want to waste the tires that are on the bike for the kind of riding I'm likely to be doing at least at first.

First I was looking at some Kenda Kross Plus semi-slicks on Amazon that I came across and then was about to order some Maxxis High Roller SS from Airbomb, when I had a thought that prompted me to ask you guys and gals.

Since the (Maxxis) SS tires are about as pricey as the knobby ones, does it even make sense to pay for SS tires when I can instead just let the knobby ones wear down and spend the money on knobby replacements when I want to ride on some trails? The tires that are on the bike now still have tread, but I don't know how much more new ones would have and either style (knobby/SS) cost about the same.

I understand that there will be more rolling resistance from the knobby tires, but aside from that (since my point is exercise anyway), is there any advantage to SS tires over worn-down knobby ones?

I know the SS tires have some "texture" (tread) on the middle part that baldish tires wouldn't, but mostly I'm wondering about compounds, like if the knobby tires are softer than SS tires and are just unsuited for pavement even if you accept the fact that the tread will wear down fairly quickly.

Here's a pic of my bike from the seller. You can't make it out in the pics, but the brakes are different than pictured (they were Maguras before).

Please let me know what you think.
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#2 ·
i've been thinking about the same thing recently as it seems that all i've been doing is using my bike to get to and from school.

What I think I've decided is just to run the tires that I have to the ground because with my novice skills at biking anyways, i'm not going to be hitting anything that will require intense tires yet anyways. So, my rationale is that instead of spending a bit of money now for slicks, that I will just buy a new, lighter wheel-set and tires at a later date, and if I was really worried about it (not just wheels, but brakes and general wear and tear) that I would just pick up a $30 crap bike for a commuter instead. Not sure if this actually answers your question, but might help you rationalize it?
 
#3 ·
I hate semislicks with a hatred that normally I'd reserve for hybrids. But they go together.

Semislicks and knobbies share a handling problem on pavement, which is that the side knobs can squirm. Semislicks also have problems with straight line traction off-road, although they do perform better on-road than a full slick. However, if you're riding for exercise, and not with a group or on a schedule, you won't get a better workout from semislicks or full slicks than you will from knobbies, and getting the same workout on knobbies won't make you go as fast, which can be nice if you have limited space or are riding MUPs. The handling problems are really no big deal until you're carrying a lot of speed through corners.

Rather than dinking around on pavement on a mountain bike, though, why not try to ride some trails this weekend? It sounds like you haven't been on a bike in a while, so maybe the easiest in your area, or just some MUPs with a soft surface... but you didn't buy that bike to ride up and down a depressing strip of pavement with a bunch of stroller mommies. (Though some are hot...)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top