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?

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-essential-commuter-26-tyre

 

[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.