Road Tyre Size

[TJ]

I have 1.95 Knobblies on my MTB wheels and want to change them to Road
tyres.

Rim's appear to be 1.3" wide are there any rules on tyre width I have a
choice of 1.3 or 1.6 and would prefer the 1.6's

I use this bike for the short 5 mile commute to the office across epsom
downs and find that when descending I am unable to propel the bike as it
coasts faster than the gearing allows me to pedal and despite some pretty
big climbs I always leave the big cog on the front all the time and just use
the 4 outer (smallest) sprockets on the rear.

I'd like to know what to upgrade the gearing to so that I have a better
spread of much more useable gears do I just change the rear cassette, the
front or both and to what ??????

Thanks

TJ

[Peter Clinch]

TJ wrote:

> Rim's appear to be 1.3" wide are there any rules on tyre width I have a
> choice of 1.3 or 1.6 and would prefer the 1.6's

They ought to fit on, so get the ones you prefer.

> I use this bike for the short 5 mile commute to the office across epsom
> downs and find that when descending I am unable to propel the bike as it
> coasts faster than the gearing allows me to pedal and despite some pretty
> big climbs I always leave the big cog on the front all the time and just use
> the 4 outer (smallest) sprockets on the rear.

If you're doing big climbs on the big wheel and only the wee cogs at the
back it's entirely possible you're being a bit of a Masher. While MTBs'
smallest gears are for really daft things the middle ring and bigger
cogs at the back are more typically useful for big climbs on decent
surfaces at usual road gradients. You might find that upping your
cadence is a good idea as it's generally better for your knees and if
you do longer rides it generally gives you rather more endurance.

> I'd like to know what to upgrade the gearing to so that I have a better
> spread of much more useable gears do I just change the rear cassette, the
> front or both and to what ??????

Cadence increases aside, you can do either or both of the above to
fiddle the gearing. You'll generally need special tools to replace
either so usually easiest to leave it with a bike shop and have them do
the work.

My tourer has a good spread of gears, from walking pace up to
practically impossible to spin out. Big ring at the front is 52 tooth,
wee one is a 30, at the back it's 11-34. Your mileage may vary, but
that does just about anything I want.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

[Mark Tranchant]

TJ wrote:

> I use this bike for the short 5 mile commute to the office across epsom
> downs and find that when descending I am unable to propel the bike as it
> coasts faster than the gearing allows me to pedal and despite some pretty
> big climbs I always leave the big cog on the front all the time and just use
> the 4 outer (smallest) sprockets on the rear.

Sounds like you need to pedal faster and push less - use the middle ring
(assuming a triple). Your knees with thank you later...

> I'd like to know what to upgrade the gearing to so that I have a better
> spread of much more useable gears do I just change the rear cassette, the
> front or both and to what ??????

http://tranchant.plus.com/cycling/gears/

--
Mark.

[David Martin]

On 10/6/04 4:12 pm, in article ,
"Mark Tranchant" > wrote:

> TJ wrote:
>
>> I use this bike for the short 5 mile commute to the office across epsom
>> downs and find that when descending I am unable to propel the bike as it
>> coasts faster than the gearing allows me to pedal and despite some pretty
>> big climbs I always leave the big cog on the front all the time and just use
>> the 4 outer (smallest) sprockets on the rear.
>

That brings tears to the eyes just thinking about it. You must really hate
your knees. Practice spinning in low gears. Honestly.

I used to ride around there and the climbs are quite steep.

...d

[davek]

TJ:
> I'd like to know what to upgrade the gearing to so that I have a better
> spread of much more useable gears do I just change the rear cassette, the
> front or both and to what ??????

How many teeth are there on your big chainring? And what sprockets do you
have on your cassette?

I've been noticing recently that a lot of hybrid/mountain bikes people are
riding on the road have what look like very small "big" chainrings - small
enough in fact that spinning out on the flat is a likely scenario. If yours
is one of these then no wonder you can't pedal fast enough on the descents -
increasing your cadence *may* help, as others have suggested, but then again
it may not. Unless you can get your cadence up near the 200rpm mark.

The solution in this case would be to upgrade your chainset to one more
suitable for road riding. Or get a proper road bike and save the mountain
bike for going up mountains.

d.

[Zog The Undeniable]

TJ wrote:

> I have 1.95 Knobblies on my MTB wheels and want to change them to Road
> tyres.
>
> Rim's appear to be 1.3" wide are there any rules on tyre width I have a
> choice of 1.3 or 1.6 and would prefer the 1.6's

Definitely the 1.6" ones. They will have a better rounded profile on
your rims, and the bike will corner more easily - plus they're unlikely
to blow off if you put a lot of air in them.