How to Choose Bike Tyres

Choosing the right bike tyres, the cyclists can ride faster, safer, or corner harder. In addition, the right tyres can also help to make the cyclists ride more confidently when they tackling the different types of terrain. Are you the cyclists who want to avoid flats or who chasing for speed? To reach the goal, you may need different types of bike tyres. Here are the guides about how to choose bike tyres.



Road, Mountain or Hybrid

The first thing you should know about is that different types of bikes have different tyres. For road bikes, there are slick, skinny tyres for speed. Mountain bikes have wider and more knobby tires while hybrid bike tyres are usually the mixture of the road bike tyres and the mountain bike tires. The mountain bike wheels are designed to ride over the gravel and mud.

Bike tyre size
You can find the size of the tire by checking the sidewall of your current tyre. As mentioned above, different bikes have different types of tires. The following about how to choose size are divided into three groups: mountain bikes, road bikes and XC bikes.



Mountain bike wheels: If you found a number like 27.5x2.0, "27.5" means is the outer tyre diameter while the "2" means the width in inches.

Road touring and racing tires: You may see the number like 700x23 when checking the sidewall. The number "700" here means the outer diameter of the tyres in millimetres, and the number "23" refers to the tyre width in millimetres.

Cyclocross tires: The XC tyres have small knobbies. In addition, they are designed with the narrow-width 700 size which aims at fitting the geometry of XC racing frames.

You can also choose to use a wider tire than your current bike tyres, but you need to make sure that it is available to use another size for your future riding.

Bike wheel tread
The bike tyre tread is one factor you should consider when choosing the bike tyres. More tread usually not only means more grip, but also more rolling resistance. It depends on your need for speed with your desire for grip.

Slick bike tyres: Appearing almost smooth, the tyres are designed for the road, commuter, touring and mountain bikes. The type of tyres is designed with the barely perceptible tread pattern. With the almost smooth slicks, the cyclists can ride on the smooth surface road, such as the asphalt roads.

Semi-slick bike tyres: Designed with a smooth centre, the wheels are usually used in the mostly smooth surfaces. The tyres are designed with the aggressive tread that can be helpful when concerning. The cyclists can ride with the minimal rolling resistance to get the faster acceleration for speed up.



Inverted tread tyres: Compared with the slicks tyres, the inverted tread tyres are designed with more grip and rolling resistance, while the rolling resistance is less than the knobby wheels.



Knobby tires: The knobby tread styles are designed for specific trail roads for cyclists. For example, with the smaller knob, the cyclists can ride faster on the smooth single track, while the cyclists can ride well in the technical terrain with the taller knob tyres. There are different styles of knobby tread. You can choose them according to your requirement.

Front- or Rear-Wheel Tire Treads

When buying the mountain bike tyres, remember to look for the front- or rear-wheel specific treads. Front wheels are designed for front-end traction when cornering. Rear tires give optimal power transmission and rear wheel control.

Road tires are less complicated. Front- and rear-specific treads are often sold as sets. Because road wheels grip the irregularities in the pavement, you won't find as many tread variations as you will with the mountain bike tyres.

Bike Tire Valves
There are mainly two types of valves--- Presta valves and the Schrader valves. The former one is narrower than the latter. With the built-in valve caps, you can loosen to pump up the tire and tighten afterwards. The valves are usually seen in the higher-end bikes, especially the road bikes. The latter one is wider. The Schrader valves are often seen on the inexpensive and mid-range bikes. Remember not to use a Schrader valve to fit the Presta-size hole.

Specialty Tyres
Foldable Bike Tires

The tyres often use the Kevlar or other similar material to form an aramid-fiber bead rather than the wire bead. The feature makes the wheels lighter than standard tires. Besides, you can fold up the tyres so that you can get more spares when travelling.

Tubeless Bike Tires

The tubeless bike tyres have existed for years and now they are increasing in popularity. The tyres usually can be seen on the mountain bikes, cyclocross bikes and some road bikes. The wheels require lower pressure which down to 20 psi. Besides, the cyclists don't need to worry about the pinch flats. The tires are designed with lightness and low rolling resistance, which make the cyclists ride confidently.

Puncture-resistant

Are you the cyclists who want to avoid flats? The puncture-resistant bike tyres which made of the aramid fibers will satisfy you. But with the resistant wheels, you can't ride as speedy as the other standard bikes.



Soft or Hard Rubber

Almost every type of wheels mainly uses one type of rubber. Soft rubber is sticky, and it is grippier than the hard rubber. But the soft rubber may wear out easily so the cyclists need to replace it more than the hard rubber. On the contrary, the hard rubber is more durable than the soft rubber. Replacing the soft rubber bike tires would be costly. Whether to buy the soft rubber or the hard rubber depends on the budget of the cyclists. Generally speaking, if you need to do training or performance regularly, the hard rubber would be more economical.

Studded

The type of tires typically features steel or aluminum studs with carbide pins to provide greater traction for riding on the snowy or icy terrain.

You will choose the right bike tires if you follow the guide on the above. Choosing the bike tyres according to your own requirement and look at the guide, how to choose the bike tires won't be a trouble for you.