Slick or semi-slick tyres for mtb

Just thinking about buying some road tyres for my mountain bike (old Marin Bear Valley) as 99% of my cycling is now on roads or cycle paths and my current tyres are wearing thin. Was looking at these kind of things:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=180215334584&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=008
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=310022254620&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=021
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=110222959846&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=001
etc....

Any make better than others, or maybe a little tread better than slick?

 

I've got Continental Sport Contact slicks on my hard tail Kona as I only use it as a town bike. They pump up to 90 PSI and ride fine, though you need to be careful of ice / wet grid covers / wet road markings as they can on occasion loose traction. I'd buy another set though, they are good tyres. Massively less cycling effort than low pressure knobly tyres.

Tony.

 

They look really nice Tony, I bet they're a huge improvement on the road over knobblys. I'm not sure though if they might be a little bit too thin for me as I still do hop up and down the odd curb - do you think they're robust enough to cope with that? I think I'll pop into my local bike shop and have a closer look at them.

Thanks, Dave.

 

Yes, I think they'd take curbs ok, I certainly jump it down curbs and the odd step, but not up as I never developed the technique, and being an out of condition 44 year old I am unlikely to do so anytime soon.

Tony.

 

They'll be fine 90psi in 1.5"s is plenty air for jumping stuff.

 

Well I'm going to take Tony's Continental advice, but I'm going to plump for the Travel Contact instead of the Sport Contact. The 'Travel's have got a little bit of tread on the edges so that if I do venture off the tarmac there's a bit of extra grip, but on the road they're effectively slick. Supposedly they're pretty durable so worth paying the Continental premium I think.....

 

I have puncture proof ones on my bike, not armadillo (?) I will try and remember to take a look and let you know what make they are.

To be honest, I really notcied a lot more grip when I switched to these from the off road tyres.

I run mine at 60psi

 

90psi!!?!? Holy cr*p!!! I thought my semis at 60psi were fairly fully inflated - and the ride is like a boneshaking pennyfarthing ride of days of old over some of the excuses for streets Exeter has!

What kind of pump would you need to get up to that pressure??

 

That's not hard for a road bike, many racers / tourers are 110 PSI or so IIRC. I've got a track pump, but that's just because I'm quite remarkably lazy, a hand pump will do it just as well, i.e. get to 60 PSI and keep on pumping

The ride is a bit hard, but much of that is down to my front forks being pretty crap so I feel it in the wrists a bit. Nothing using gloves doesn't fix. I plan to stick rigid forks on it at some point as I reckon I waste a lot of effort making those tired old forks bounce.

Tony.

 

a decent track pump, Silca are solid and reliable.

re tyre pressure, i run my mtb tyres at 55psi, my road clinchers at 115psi and my tubs at 130psi.

 

BLOODY RABBITS!!

Just finishing off the front wheel and I looked round to see one of the pet rabbits munching through the brand new inner tubes I bought with the tyres :grrr:

Pesky bleedin' varmints.


Gonna make me a rabbit pie.

 

I can only get to about 60psi on my handpump - but then again, the bike shop recommended only going up to that anyway as the rims won't take much more, so I can live with that

115 psi on a roadbike though? That's scary!

 

that's what they are meant to have, no pointg buying anice bike just to have to waste all your energy pushing a soft contact spot around a tyre.