Can I put “Road Bike Tire” in my “21 inch Mountain Bike”?

Question

I have a 21-inch (Adult Size) Mountain Bike "Mongoose -DXR". (bought at Wal-Mart). However, mostly I ride on road, which gives me lots of resistance due to wide tire (26 X 1.95)

If I put a ‘Slick Tire’ (26 X 1), will it help in the following aspect?

1. Will it make my ride Faster, with 'Low Rolling Resistance'?
2. Does ‘Slick Tire’ (26 X 1) go "Flat" too often? (With rubber "wore out" too quick?)
3. Whether putting ‘Slick Tire’ in a Mountain Bike causes me 'discomfort' in riding (since mountain bike are made with different frame geometry, not for road but for ‘off the rode’ riding)?

Please advise me, since I have very limited knowledge on this.

Answer 1

I put slicks on my 21-inch Mountain bike w/ 26" wheels going from a 26X2.1 to a 26X1.5.

To answer your questions:
1) The slick will make it ride MUCH faster. It is like night & day.
2) The rubber doesn't go flat often. I pump my tires to the max PSI (as seen on the sidewall of the tire) and it takes a couple of weeks for it to get low enough for a refill. I've ridden the tires for quite some time and don't see any signs of wear.
3) The ride is much more harsh because there isn't as much tire to cushion the road. However, you're riding a full suspension bike so that will keep the ride soft. Don't let this sway your decision.

The only other thing that I noticed is that it takes a long time to pull off the thin tire. I could pull off my big tires in a minute, where the slicks take me 1/2 hour to work it off the rim.

The cheapest slicks I've found are at Performance Bike.
26X1.5 = $7 each + tubes
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=2311&subcategory_ID=5425

26X1.25 = $12 each + tubes
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=2314&subcategory_ID=5425

The more expensive tire is more puncture resistant and allows a higher amount of pressure to be put in the tire, reducing rolling resistance.

Answer 2

I don't know if you can put 1" wide tires, but probably you can put some 1.5 slicks. Several companies have tires like that, one of them is WTB, but they're not the only ones. They will help a lot, even if it's not 1".

The deal with narrower tires is that probably the rim will be too wide for a very narrow tire. But rolling resistance is not just because the width of a tire, but of the knob design and rubber, so you can improve a lot without going for road tires ( I doubt you could find road bike tires for 26" rims, but I have been wrong before).

Answer 3

I'm sorry you have a Wal-Mart bike, but putting new tires on it will double its value!

Your ride will be smoother, and you should probably inflate them to 60-80 PSI. If you only ride on the street, you should know how to avoid glass and other sharp things already. There is enough rubber on slick MTB tires that they will last YEARS, and you will probably have a new bike well before you need new ones.

Watch out for sand, as you will not have the same grip as knobbies did in loose stuff. The bike will also handle quicker, and if you have a cyclometer it will need to be reset with your new tire size to reflect your speed accurately.

Answer 4

If the diamater is the same it will fit, but since it's quite a bit narrower than the wheel is rated for, you might have some problems. Check out a local bike shop and they might have something that will fit properly and have a smoother tread.

Answer 5

English has a lot of this kind of thing. The shorter the verb, the more likely it is to be of German extraction, and therefore likely to be used with a preposition to give a variety of different meanings. Put, take, give, make, run, go, come, sit ... it's part of what makes English so very flexible, but such a nightmare for foreigners learning it.

Answer 6

You can modify any bike to what ever you want it to be. But remember a mountain bike is not made to be a road bike.