Interesting bicycle question for those tyred of economics

[TimberWolf]

Though my bicycle is almost as fast on mud and grass as it is on road and pavement, it's a little slow on the road, mostly due to its wide knobbly tyres.

Should I :

• Buy new slick skinny tyres and swap them with the knobblies as required (probably only occasionally will I want to revert to the knobbly tyres, though I'm not sure yet)
• Go to an upcoming auction and see if I can pick up a second road bike cheap, so then I'll have two bikes. One for pissing about on and one for getting somewhere.

(I'm not really interested buying hybrid tyres at present, so that's not an option)

I blame Gordon Brown

[moorfield]

Interesting bicycle question for those tyred of economics

I can see what you've done there.

[DaveB]

New tyres and a spare set of wheels, assuming you have the quick release thingumies. Quicker and easier than changing tyres each time.

[Mich the Tester]

Does it wheely matter what we think? It's a bit unfair to saddle Gordon with the blame for your indecision about tyres.

[TimberWolf]

Does it wheely matter what we think? It's a bit unfair to saddle Gordon with the blame for your indecision about tyres.

[dang65]

Yes, change to slicks - Schwalbe Marathon or similar to almost eliminate punctures. You won't want to bother going off road again.

[bobhope]

More bikes -> definitely better. Then, if one breaks down, you have an immediate backup. Kind of like hot-swapping.

[gingerjedi]

(I'm not really interested buying hybrid tyres at present, so that's not an option)

Why rule out the option that was designed to accommodate your exact predicament?

[threaded]

Being someone who has looked into this in quite some detail: if you want to go fast on the road you need to get into a good aero position. Pushing the air out of the way makes a big difference. To me I can save up to 25% if I can slip-stream another rider. I have all sorts of gadgets on my bikes to measure these things, from speed and cadence counters to power meters built into hubs and cranks.

Nobbly tyres comes third after switching off the suspension as an energy waster.

I've tried slicks and they don't improve the top speed, but how long you can hold that speed.

For commuting I like a fatter tyre, basically because although they aren't so fast at the top end, they are less tiring so the overall average speed is better.

So, go get a bike for the job.

[TimberWolf]

Why rule out the option that was designed to accommodate your exact predicament?

I've heard hybrids aren't particularly good at accommodating either scenario.