The cheap and cheerful slick tyre thread!

[Old Fisher]

Hi all

So I was made redundant a few months back and it’s been a tough time tbh, but anyway, finally looks like I’ve got a new job starting soon (yay!) and am thinking of using my 1997 Kona Fire Mountain to commute on.

The route is mainly road with the option of some towpath for a bit of it too. I reckon the original Scratch and Sniff tyres are overkill! So I’m thinking of grabbing a pair of slicks to make things a bit more suitable. Something easy rolling with a bit of puncture protection ideally.

Now to my question: I’ve seen lots of pairs of slicks on eBay etc but wondered if anyone had any experience with any particular ones?

I am guessing they’ll all be pretty dead feeling and heavy but as you’ll probably have guessed from my opening paragraph I don’t exactly have much to play with funding wise.

Thanks in advance.

 

[trailstar82]

Sorry to hear your woes and happy that things are looking up.

I ran a set of cheap Michelin city tyres on my backwoods with no issue but I wasn’t commuting on them just leisure, they were about £8ea from CrC.

If it helps, I have 3 schwalbe city tyres you can have for free. They aren’t new but two are Kevlar. Big apple and marathon 26x2.0 and another 26x1.75.

Send me a pm if interested, I’m in Essex but could courier them for you.

I think the Kevlar belt for added puncture protection is what to look for if doing a lot of gritty/grimy road riding.

 

[hamster]

Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard are tough and reasonably priced at around £20 each, especially considering that they are surprisingly excellent performers for rolling resistance. I have run them for years on my tourer.

 

[Old Fisher]

Thanks for the quick response

Wow @trailstar82 I wasn’t expecting that sort of offer and don’t want to take liberties etc. I’ll pm you

In the meantime, something like this?

Essential Commuter 26" Tyre

Buy your LifeLine Essential Commuter 26" Tyre - Tyres from Wiggle. Our price €13.99. Free worldwide delivery available.

www.wiggle.co.uk

 

[hamster]

Hmm, buy cheap pay twice. Honestly the Schwalbes are worth a few quid more.

 

[retrobikeguy]

I was running city jets for ages, they were like 15 to 20 quid a pair, punctures happened but that was normal... Then I discovered marathon and marathon plus.... They roll so much better and you have to really try to get a flatty ... Search the bay for Preloved ones, worth it.

 

[michael franks]

+1 for all the good things that have been said about Schwalbe Marathon tyres and they're very long lasting.