Wheels or Tires?

Fabio

Hi lads,

If you had to choose between getting new wheels for your bike or new tires what would you do?

I am thinking of putting slicks on my MTB for commuting but I have also thought that lighter wheels would be a good idea also. However I often carry heavy-ish weights on my bike rack such as:

- Laptop
- Books
- A4 pad
- Change of clothes
- Bottle of water

All of these add up to serious weight on the back of the bike so I am wondering if slicks are even worth it!!!

kona

Fabio wrote: »

Hi lads,

If you had to choose between getting new wheels for your bike or new tires what would you do?

I am thinking of putting slicks on my MTB for commuting but I have also thought that lighter wheels would be a good idea also. However I often carry heavy-ish weights on my bike rack such as:

- Laptop
- Books
- A4 pad
- Change of clothes
- Bottle of water

All of these add up to serious weight on the back of the bike so I am wondering if slicks are even worth it!!!

what bike do you have at the moment???
if it is decent get new tyres, 26x1.5 is what you want, pumped to 60psi, that wil easily take the weight.

now if its a cheap job with poor wheels, i wouldnt even bother id just persevere with the junker and save for somthing decent tbh, and a spoke key and cone spanners:D:D

blorg

Slicks will make a difference even with a fair amount of weight on the back, in particular on flats and downhill. Lighter wheels probably only make sense if your bike is decent and for when you aren't carrying stuff.

lukester

I had a commuter mtb hack, changed to slicks, made a surprisingly big difference. Probably the best bang for buck improvement you can make. I carry a fair bit of gear on the bike too.

Killgore Trout

lukester wrote: »

I had a commuter mtb hack, changed to slicks, made a surprisingly big difference. Probably the best bang for buck improvement you can make. I carry a fair bit of gear on the bike too.

Agree - changed the cráppy tyres to slicks on my hybrid POS and it made a huge difference.

Fabio

It's a Raleigh mtb....about 6 or 7 years old but it's tough piece of stuff. On going by what's being said here, I'll upgrade to slicks as it sounds like better value.