We all know cyclists are much trendy, and from the latest trend, all cyclists come up with a common question: Can you put road tires on a mountain bike? Here, the trend seems to replace mountain bike tires with road tires because of saving money, enjoying mountain bike convenience with a commuting flavor.
Furthermore, purchasing a road bike is expensive; sometimes, you need to change your riding type for many reasons. For example, you used to ride for touring or pleasure, but you need to regularly use the bike for commuting. For this kind of case, purchasing another bike can’t be an option. There’s the idea that has come up to convert a mountain bike to a road bike. Let’s find out the convenience of putting road tires and how most worth it.
Why are Road Tires Convenient for MTB?
Are you on the to changing mountain bike tires to road tires? But what is the specific reason do you want mountain bike conversion to touring bike? In most cases, you don’t know how road tires or thin tires affect your commuting.
Raise the Rolling Speed
So, let’s evaluate the reason behind using the road or thin or sleek tires for commuting. We have already known most mountain bikes have big fat tires and road bikes have narrow tires. Most of the road tires seem inflated to almost 100-120 PSI. That’s why a thin or road tire doesn’t flatten much on the asphalt surface. So, it’s pure science, the less contact you will have on the surface, the less you’ll get friction. So, using a road tire on a mountain bike will give you a smooth and swift experience of riding.
Now another question can come, if thin tires are more comfortable for commuting, then why not mountain bike companies are adding this feature on their bikes. The answer is quite simple. MTB bikes are for riding on mountain terrain, rough and dirt trail. For those terrains, you’ll need more grip, which comes from fat MTB tires.
Easy to control
You’ll get more grip on the surface on MTB tires, but it will slow you down a bit, and MTB tires need more energy to be maneuvered. So, no need for an extra bit of grip on plain asphalt. A suitable amount of grip is perfect for riding on a flat track.
How to Measure the Right Size of Road Tire for MTB
Typically, road bike tires are slick and pretty thin. Most of the Road bike tires are suitable for 700c rims. But mountain bikes are coming with 20 inches to 29 inches. Specifically, we are popular with the 27.5-inch wheel size, known as 650b, or 29 inches, known as 29er. Both are way thicker than road bike wheels.
That’s why we need to know about our wheel sizes before buying a road tire for our MTB. I want to suggest you a road tire of 1.5-inch width would be suitable for 27.5 inches/650b rims. They are light in weight, durable, and you’ll get the speed eventually you need.
If you look for the ISO(International Standards Organization) sized tire, which ISO authorizes, you’ll get five different sizes. The common one is 700C or ISO 622. It fits most of the MTB. But the best narrow tire will be ISO 584 of 27.5 inch which is suitable for 650b wheels. Also, there is ISO 559 with 27 inches popular for the latest mountain bikes. But as we already told, the most common size of mountain bike tire is 26 inches. So if you search for the best 26-inch road tires for mountain bikes, you’ll find out some real good road tires.
Road Tires for 29er Mountain Bike
29er is a mountain and hybrid bike which has build for 700c/ ISO 622 mm wheels. 29er mountain bikes have a larger wheel and can rollover the larger obstacles quite easily. As the 29er wheels are 10% larger than 26-inch wheels, they can roll over 10% larger obstacles than 26-inch. Also, 29er bikes have more angular momentum, that’s it loses less speed to barriers. But 29er has some drawbacks too, among them less responsive handle control is the main.
It’s time to know about the best road tires for a 29er mountain bike. For replacing 29er mountain bike tires there, you can include tubeless tires, tubular tires, and clincher tires. Clincher tires are very easy to replace with 29er. The inner tube comes up with a separate casing. But the clincher tire is pretty expensive.
Tubular tires are also having an inner tube but have a difference from the clincher. Also, tubular tires need to be glued with the wheels. As a result, when it gets flat, the tire can be ridden. Finally, tubeless tires have no tube. But maintaining proper air pressure in tubeless tires is a must. Otherwise, the tire will be ridden.
Hybrid Tires for Mountain Bikes
Hybrid indicates a combination of various types of features. Same for a hybrid tire for mountain bikes too. It means you can use a hybrid tire on a mountain bike to make it suitable for riding on a smooth road. Yeah, you can use hybrid tires on the mountain bike rims, just like road tires. A hybrid tire will run on roads, rough terrain, paved bike paths, and dirt paths.
But you can use a hybrid bike on a mountain track because the frame and the whole structure of a hybrid bike aren’t suitable for riding in the mountains. Hybrid tires are eligible only.
What to Ensure of Road Tires for a Mountain Bike?
It’s not like you have bought road tires for your mountain bike, and after installing the tires, you must get an excellent and comfortable road riding experience. Yeah, so far, we have been saying road tires would make riding better for commuting. But first of all, there are some facts about road tires you should know.
Front and Rear Road Tires
Front tires are responsible for more control and maneuvering. So front tires should have to provide much control. In contrast, rear tires are more about getting speed and lifting weight. Try to find a road tire that has both capabilities of the act for both front tire and rear tire.
Pertinence of Rubber
The quality of rubber ensures the durability of the tire. Road bike tires are not suitable for tackling much weight. That’s why the tire companies come up with road tires for mountain bikes. So, don’t forget to ensure your mountain bike thin tires have a good quality rubber.
Ensure the Tires Width
Select road tires according to the width of your mountain bike’s rims. Proper width restrains tires coming off from the rims.
Defense Against Puncture
Though road tires are not for the off-trail eventually, they can get punctured even on the flat smooth track. You should find the tire that uses cotton or silk with high TPI (Thread per inch), which eventually reduces rolling resistance.
Tread Patterns
Before replacing the road wheel for a mountain bike, it is essential to ensure its traction, balance, and rolling resistance. For smooth asphalt, round-shaped tread patterns with closer spacing are good. In contrast, if your commuting road has damaged asphalt, then square-shaped patterns with more spacing will provide better traction.
Frequently Ask Questions – FAQs
Mountain bikes are suitable tour rough terrain. Yeah, it’s not like they don’t run the flat road. But the fat tires of mountain bikes provide much friction with the surface, and it slows down the bike’s speed, and riders need more energy to run. That’s why for comfortable riding experience, people are now leaning on the 27.5 road tires for the mountain bikes.
If you don’t want preciseness, then replacing MTB tires with road tires would enough to convert mountain bikes for the road. Changing suspensions, wheels, seats, and gearings will make the mountain bike perfect for the road.
So, Will You put road tire on MTB!
Using mountain bike tires, fat tires, narrow tires, street tires all depend on the terrain and the wheel’s size. The specialty of mountain bikes is that it looks better at all kinds of tires and suitable for off-road and both smooth road riding. If you want to change the tires only for short commuting, my suggestion will not to change the tire. But for long riding, you should change the tire for a better riding experience.
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