UKC

I'm building up a MTB and it'll be used a little bit on road and mainly on light tracks, only occasionally on anything serious, so I had an idea...

Well originally I was going to get some Panaracer Fire XC Pro tyres (1.8 probably), then I considered some Panarace Mach SS tyres as they're better on road and they'll cope of easy stuff maybe. Then I thought - wait a minute! Why not 1 of each. Most of your rolling resistance comes from the rear, so what if I put the semi slick on the back and the knobbly on the front! Lowish resistance, plus awesome grip at the front. Or will I just drift every corner I get to :-P

I'm going to assume I'm a genius. Please begin your applause. Or has this been done before?

In reply to Richard Carter:

You are indeed a genius if you want your bike to preform like the dog with the wagiest tail off-road!

In reply to Richard Carter:

so you risk losing the front on tarmac and the rear off road....

road and light tracks, what type of terrain, Fields? towpath? fire road?

change tyres if you are going proper MTB riding

In reply to Richard Carter:

That depends on if you like fishtailing at speed when you're offroad....

Been there on mtb tyres, changed them quickly.

In reply to Richard Carter:

Just put something with a baldy centre and side knobbles on.

In reply to Richard Carter:

Continental Double Fighters should do the trick for light tracks and road use.

For anything serious you'll have to judge them as you find them. I'd do it on a dry day, going slower, if it was just occasional. Or, as it is only occasional, get a second set of tyres for serious off-road if you don't get on with the Conti DF's.

In reply to Andy DB:

That does sound fun

Sadly I discovered online that it's a pretty common practice mismatching tyres

I've gone with 2 fire xc's in the end anyway.

In reply to Richard Carter:

In hard conditions I've run Kenda SB8 on the back and Schwalbe Nobby Nics (or even Maxxis High Roller SuperSticky) on the front. Fun. The SB8 is useless in any mud though.

In reply to Richard Carter:

My cheapish Kona that I bought about 8 years ago came with different front and back tyres as stock (same brand but different model).

In reply to Richard Carter:

Yeah, I mix my mountain bike tyres. Usually have a fatter tyre on the front than the rear.

Continetal do "front" and "rear" specific tyres, such as 2.1" explorer front and 2" escape rear (my current set-up. The lighter/skinnier rear tyre is great for climbing, and the grippier front means the back "usually" breaks out first, so is a bit safer. I used to run a 1.8 rear but kept pinch-flatting.

The Fire XC's used to be THE tyre of choice, so you should find them pretty good on the trails and hook-up pretty well in wet mud. A great "starter" tyre to set a benchmark with.

I'm looking at tyres for my road bike at the minute. I'm new to skinny tyres and find them quite scary to be honest, but looks like I'll be going for Continentals on the road bike as well.

In reply to Martin1978:

Can't go wrong with continental GPs on a road bike

I'm using Grand Prix TT's at the moment and they're pretty ace. Only got them because they were on offer, usually use GP4000S's which are almost the same.

In reply to Richard Carter:

I'm looking at Gatorskins, as I use it mostly for commuting, so want something reliable, grippy in the wet, but not too heavy as to spoil the ride.

In reply to Martin1978:

GP4000s are better in the wet than Gatorskins.
I've not had a puncture with them since 2009 either (YMMV!) :-D