In a bit of enthusiastic bike trip planning I have managed to book myself in to do the London revolution ride two weeks before the wrt, ideally something best done on a road bike - but time and funds mean I will be doibgit on my in-bred 29er. But to make it a painless as possible I think I should get some more road worthy tyres - can anyone recommend some?

Or explain how I know which size I need in terms of width etc (have seen some pink ones that I like - yes I am a girl so I can base all decisions on technical stuff like colour!).

Ones that all reduce friction to nothing so I fly round the 180 miles would also be good or I may do the shortest wrt route ever :-/

Hi,
If you are looking for chubby tires then schwalbe big apples or super motos are a good bet, they come in sizes up to 60mm(2.35). (they are pretty expensive though)
http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/sch ... 2160-p.asp
Alternatively you could get some wide 700c tires (cheaper), I think they usually go up to 45mm ish http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=26232

Or just get skinny road tyres(since 29er and 700c is the same size) and you will fly. Just need to check your rim width isn't too big.

Joe

It was the width that confused me, had been looking today and there were all sorts of tales of deformed tyre and cracked rims from trying to run too high pressures on MTB rims.

As with anything im sure there are a few stories that exaggerate problems but just wanted to know how to work out to work out how wide the tyre needs to be - it's probably straight forward but something I never consider when buying MTB tyres

It depends on rim width. Sheldon Brown has a useful chart about 3/4 of the way down this page: http://sheldonbrown.com/tyre-sizing.html

Which rims do you have on the 29er? I had the clever idea of putting road tyres (tried 28c and 32c) onto my Arch 29er rims & regretted it! Firstly, they were a ***** to get on, but worse than that, practically impossible to remove. Even the local bike shop mechanic couldn't get them off. Only time I've ever had to cut a tyre from a rim.

i would go for a 32/ 35c tyre.

I'm currently running paneracer pasella 28c on my commuter on a mtb (19mm internal) rim and i wouldn't recommend narrower than that. i think i ran 25c on the same rim but i can't remember...

michelin world tour in 35c are cheap (bit heavy) but roll & grip well and recommended - mine have several winters commuting on & several left in them.

heavy tyres roll well but take a lot of effort to get up to speed. schwalbe marathons come in some large and light combos but are £40-50 per tyre.

specailized borough tyres are a idea as they stock tyre on speshes crosstrial altenatives are schwable marthon range. the cheapest are kenda key west ( i think thats what they are called) by far the cheapest

You want a set of these:
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYSCBIAPKGF ... ___regular

I run them on my spare set of wheels and they roll fairly well, pretty decent grip and these are cheap from on-one.

You can't go wrong with Schwalbe Duremes, they come in 28x2.0 and are bomb proof.

Will add those to my shopping list, a trip to Rotherham may be in order