Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questions

nismohks
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Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questions

Postby nismohks » Mon Nov 17, 2014 11:15 pm

Hi,

I know this question has been asked time and time again but i am a bit lost as to what i should do.

I have a trek superfly 2011 mountain bike that i want to get some road tires for: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/20 ... k/superfly" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However i am unsure of what tires to get, and in particular what width to get.

At the moment, i have Bontrager Jones XR 29x2.25[55/55] Front and Jones XR 29.2x20 [55/53] Rear

The intended purpose would just be road cycling as i don't do offroading at all and i've been confused as to what i should get and more importantly whether those tires can even be mounted on my rims which say Bontrager XXIX Series 6000 OSB TLR Tubeless ReadyERD 602

I ride casually with my friends who are all on road bikes.

Are my tires tubeless? Do the replacement tires need to be tubeless too?

Or if they are tubed, can i use the same tube for a new set of tubed tires?

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance

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SmellyTofu
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby SmellyTofu » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:41 pm

Forget tubs for casual road riding. Just get some robust (mostly Touring) 700-28c tyres (700c and 29er have the same diameter) and be done with it. I got a set of Conti Touring Plus tyres for the MTB as a road tyre. You could stick the 700-23c tyres but that'd look even more ridiculous but it'd work.

nismohks
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby nismohks » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:45 pm

Thanks for that
What are tubs? And what difference do they make?
I think my tires right now have tubes, do my rims support running tubeless ?
Also are 28 wide enough or should I go wider?
Thanks a lot, really trying to learn here, much appreciated :)

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KGB
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby KGB » Mon Nov 24, 2014 11:23 pm

SmellyTofu, you're a bit off the mark mate.
For a start, the OP is talking about tubeless tyres, not tubular. BIIIIG difference.
Secondly, many 29ers will have rim so wide you couldn't fit a 23mm. A 28mm might even be a bit sketchy.

To nismohks. Google tubular, tubeless and clincher to work out what the different setups are. I'm on my phone and want to go to sleep!
Basically you're looking at tyres designed for cyclocross, touring or hybrid bikes. Something like the schwalbe marathon in 700x40 would do the job and seem to get a good rap - haven't tried them myself. You could get tubeless tyres but considering you don't even know what they are, I think traditional tubes and tyres will be a bit easier.
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SmellyTofu
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby SmellyTofu » Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:54 am

29er wheels are typically not wider than your average 404's so why wouldn't even 28mm tyres not work? Heck, I just might try the 23mm this weekend just for shxts and giggles.

Like I said, 28mm works very well for me so until you've physically fitted it, ridden a couple hundred with them in varying conditions and speeds, and to be able to assess the real handling with them, then best staying at the keyboard to make more comments for which you reckon is sketchy without any basis on.

Btw, tubs is tubeless FWIW.

mick243
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby mick243 » Tue Nov 25, 2014 8:06 am

if youre not going to ride it in a serious offroad manner, some great road tyres are the ones that are on it already - the knobs will wear off super fast, and then you are left with a decent wide road slick tyre. you dont need a treadpattern on a bicycle tyre for road use. and if you do decide to do some dirt work, when your offroad tyres are too worn for offroad stuff, they again become ok for road use.

SmellyTofu - I'm pretty sure everyone else on BNA thinks "tubs" = tubular, ie stitched together, glue on race day tyres, NOT tubeless....

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barefoot
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby barefoot » Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:52 am

There's very little difference in width between a modern style "wide" road rim and a MTB rim.

29" and 700c rims are really only different in stickers. And weight.

I have a Stans Arch EX 29er rim on the back of my road bike. That's a "tubeless" MTB rim. I ride 25mm road tyres on it with tubes. It just works fine.

To the OP - any road tyre will be fine.
Road tyres are typically 23mm, 25mm or occasionally 28mm (bigger tyres exist, but meh). 23mm is probably too narrow for your purposes, but 23mm is probably too narrow for everyone.
You will need road tubes. If your 29er is tubeless, you can still use tubes on that rim (that's the usual way of fixing a flat on a trail on a tubeless MTB). If your 29er uses tubes, they'll be too big to stuff into little skinny road tyres.

Go to your favourite LBS (real or online), get a pair of road tyres and a pair of road tubes. Install and ride. Problem solved.

tim

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mitchy_
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby mitchy_ » Tue Nov 25, 2014 10:16 am

my newest road wheels are wider than my old 29er wheels... they are 25mm wide and "designed" for 23mm tyres.

given that a 29er isn't as aero as a road bike, i'd be going for a comfier tyre.. i'd go 28 as a minimum, but probably go with something in the 30-35mm range.

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il padrone
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby il padrone » Tue Nov 25, 2014 1:14 pm

A side question to the OP.

If you "don't do any offroading at all", why the fruit did you buy that* bike ???

* Great bike for riding trails; pretty crap compromise for road riding.
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mick243
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby mick243 » Tue Nov 25, 2014 3:47 pm

il padrone wrote:A side question to the OP.

If you "don't do any offroading at all", why the fruit did you buy that* bike ???

* Great bike for riding trails; pretty crap compromise for road riding.
I dunno, my 29er hardtail is quite well mannered and comfortable on road (granted, its not as good as my proper roadie, but close) its far nicer to ride on road commutes than my "road" commuter bike..... if I had to compromise and only have one bike, it would probably be a 29er (but maybe, just maybe a duallie with a lockout on the rear...)

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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby tcdev » Tue Nov 25, 2014 4:39 pm

mick243 wrote:if youre not going to ride it in a serious offroad manner, some great road tyres are the ones that are on it already - the knobs will wear off super fast, and then you are left with a decent wide road slick tyre. you dont need a treadpattern on a bicycle tyre for road use. and if you do decide to do some dirt work, when your offroad tyres are too worn for offroad stuff, they again become ok for road use.
Interesting you say that. I've been toying with the idea of getting road tyres for my 29er MTB ever since I bought it, but have noticed lately that the tread is starting to wear considerably, especially on the rear. It won't be much longer (1,000km thus far) before they are slicks.

What I have found, though, is that the thinness of the tyres results in a lot of punctures. I've actually had 5 in the last few weeks, after a disastrous ride in which both wheels punctured at once (fortunately one was a very slow leak that saw me home). And just yesterday a 15m jaunt across the grass due to a missed turn on the Cooks River cycleway gave me my 5th puncture. Definitely considering thorn-proof tubes in the very near future!

Out of interest, are road tyres more resistant to puncturing than my 'performance MTB' tyres?
2015 Giant XTC Advanced 29er 1 (2016 frame)
2011 Schwinn Sporterra Comp
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il padrone
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby il padrone » Tue Nov 25, 2014 5:02 pm

tcdev wrote:I've been toying with the idea of getting road tyres for my 29er MTB ever since I bought it, but have noticed lately that the tread is starting to wear considerably, especially on the rear. It won't be much longer (1,000km thus far) before they are slicks.
The problem with this method of getting 'slicks' is that they are very thin slicks (as you have discovered), and they are only slick in the centre. As soon as you bank for a corner you will suddenly be riding on knobs, and they will start 'walking' on you, leading to serious understeer and possible loss of traction.

Just go out and buy the slicks you need.
tcdev wrote:Out of interest, are road tyres more resistant to puncturing than my 'performance MTB' tyres?
Depends on which road tyres. Some are very resistant to punctures eg Vittoria Randonneur, Continental Gatorskin Hardshell (I've never used these), and some others. MTB performance knobbies are generally rather poor at puncture resistance as they are often designed for soft trail conditions with knobs to grip in and a thinner, compliant casing, so in between the knobs the tyre is quite thin.
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nismohks
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby nismohks » Tue Nov 25, 2014 5:51 pm

il padrone wrote:A side question to the OP.

If you "don't do any offroading at all", why the fruit did you buy that* bike ???

* Great bike for riding trails; pretty crap compromise for road riding.
I bought it a few years ago with different intentions.

Still a great bike but intentions changed so just trying to make the most of it with what i've got.

Thanks for all the suggestions, so far i have understood that i should get a tire at least 28mm in width but preferably 30-35.
For reference, am i correct in that my current 29x2.25 just correlates to a 57mm wide tire?

Any suggestions on Tires and Inner tubes?
Having a look at some tubes now and there are long and short valve tubes, any idea which would be suitable for me?
I know i need to get a tube with a Presta valve (as that's what i have now) with its dimensions same, if not similar, to the eventual road tire i will get.

Once again, thanks a lot for the help

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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby mitzikatzi » Tue Nov 25, 2014 6:04 pm

I rarely ride my road bike.

I like my Redline Monocog with Schwalbe Big Apples in 2.2". About 11k km and they are just about toast.

I also have ridden Specialized Hemisphere Armadillo in 2" to bald

I have a set of Continental sports Contact in 38/40mm for the 29er

I know have Schwalbe Marathons in 2"

Ride what you like. I like MTB and big tyres on road.

Off road I change to Maxxi Cross Marks / Ignitors

I race a bit of Cat 6 too :)

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barefoot
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby barefoot » Tue Nov 25, 2014 9:17 pm

nismohks wrote:Thanks for all the suggestions, so far i have understood that i should get a tire at least 28mm in width but preferably 30-35.
For reference, am i correct in that my current 29x2.25 just correlates to a 57mm wide tire?
Pretty much.

Somewhere on the tyre it probably has the ISO standard tyre size moulded in to the sidewall. Probably something like "622-57/62" which means a 622mm rim diameter (29er/700c), 57mm tyre casing with 62mm across the knobs. Obviously, road tyres don't have knobs; they're just branded "622-28" (or whatever size you choose).
Any suggestions on Tires and Inner tubes?
Having a look at some tubes now and there are long and short valve tubes, any idea which would be suitable for me?
Whatever. Long valves exist for use on deep-section aero road rims. If you don't have a long valve, it doesn't poke through the rim enough to get a pump on.

I have a fairly deep wheelset that I rarely use, but I just buy long-stem valves in bulk and use them on all my wheels. That means most of the time I have a big long valve sticking out of my rim. Meh. Doesn't do any harm.

tim

nismohks
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby nismohks » Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:26 am

still havent bought tires yet, but i've been looking at these:

Continental Speed King II 55-622 29x2.2
Continental Sport Contact II 700cx32/37c
Continental Gatorskin 32-622 700x32

Anyone have any experience with those?

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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby m@ » Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:58 am

Late to the party, but I'd caution against running 23C on 29er rims. The difference in width mightn't seem that significant, until you suffer catastrophic pinch-flat failure of both tyres at high speed (ask me how I know ;) )
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nismohks
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Re: Road tire for 29er Trek Superfly and other wheel questio

Postby nismohks » Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:01 am

Lol that would sound like a real handful....
Yeah don't intend to run anything below 28 and hoping to stay above 32.
Just need to find out which tires I should get now.
What did you end up fitting to your 29er rims ?

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