Questions - tyres and towing

I'm considering changing the tyres on my Marin Stinson comfort bike, it currently has Kenda Krossplus 26"x1.95". How can I tell which widths of tyre will fit?

I'm currently towing dd to nursery with my mountain bike (Specialized HardRock), which has very nobbly tyres. It just seems slower and slower on the road, compared to my Vita. I don't want to tow her with the Vita as the road surface there is so bad (potholes, uneven patching, cracks, road junctions at different levels etc). So if I went for a less nobbly tyre would I be able to ride a bit faster? It would only be until mid July, then I could put the nobblies back on for summer off-road rides. Another option would be to tow with the Marin, but it's such a heavy bike and I prefer the gearing on the HardRock.

Thanks again for any thoughts/experience.

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Originally Posted by hebe

I'm considering changing the tyres on my Marin Stinson comfort bike, it currently has Kenda Krossplus 26"x1.95". How can I tell which widths of tyre will fit?

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Whatever tire, um tyre, width you buy, it will almost certainly fit. The only exception would be really fat DownHill and snow tires.

Thank you! I was thinking of going for something less chunky so that's good to know. Sorry, I used the UK spelling :o

You can put slicks on the Hardrock. Does make a huge difference.

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Originally Posted by hebe

Sorry, I used the UK spelling :o

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Don't be sorry! It's quite fine for you to write that you "need some grey colour touchup paint 'cause you scratched your bike loading it in the boot of your car after you got a flat tyre when you went off the pavement to get around a pedestrian."

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Originally Posted by Kiwi Stoker

You can put slicks on the Hardrock. Does make a huge difference.

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Thank you! I shall look into that.

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Originally Posted by Laura*

Don't be sorry! It's quite fine for you to write that you "need some grey colour touchup paint 'cause you scratched your bike loading it in the boot of your car after you got a flat tyre when you went off the pavement to get around a pedestrian."

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lol! Luckily there aren't many pedestrians on the shared pavements I ride!

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Originally Posted by laura*

Don't be sorry! It's quite fine for you to write that you "need some grey colour touchup paint 'cause you scratched your bike loading it in the boot of your car after you got a flat tyre when you went off the pavement to get around a pedestrian."

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Isn't that tarmac, not pavement?

But to answer the original question, yes, you can put hybrid tires on a mountain bike.

Our pavement is your sidewalk. Our road is your pavement. Confused yet? :)

I need to think hard about whether I'd rather tow dd to nursery or drive her there and do an off-road ride on my own. It's less than 2 miles round trip so I really ought to be towing her...

I might have a plan. I could move the Kenda Krossplus from the Marin to the HardRock - they are fine for light (not too muddy) offroad and they are faster on road. Then I can put some less chunky tyres onto the Marin.

I've moved the less nobbly tyres from the Marin to the HardRock, and put a set of CrossRoads onto the Marin. Looking forward to Monday when dd goes back to nursery and I can give both bikes a quick ride on their new tyres :)

My son's preschool is a two mile round trip and I occasionally tow him there and have thought about walking him there, but I'm actually afraid "Mr Independent" will try to do it himself so most of the time I drive him.

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Originally Posted by Cynedra

My son's preschool is a two mile round trip and I occasionally tow him there and have thought about walking him there, but I'm actually afraid "Mr Independent" will try to do it himself so most of the time I drive him.

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It's a tough one isn't it? Small Girl could technically walk it, but she is so slow and easily distracted that we'd have to leave 20 minutes earlier. The route is part sidewalk (aka overflow parking for the business units and an unofficial over/undertaking lane :mad:) and part narrow country road with quite a bit of traffic but no sidewalk - so I feel far safer on the bike despite the poor road surface. Two miles on a cold engine is so bad for my car and so fuel-inefficient that I'd really like to cycle it more often.

Completely agree, it is tough choice. I do walk older son to his school bus stop. If the bus is on time, we would have just enough time to walk him to school. It is a fairly easy ride and we can make it in plenty of time generally. Neighborhood roads are narrow but little traffic. Big problem is the state road that we have to cross to get to younger son's school. Large semi trucks (walmart distribution center not far away, logging trucks, and rock trucks) use it in addition to all the speeding four wheelers. When he was still small enough to ride on the bike in the child carrier I was taking him on a regular basis but he outgrew it. I'm not sure I can pull him through the grass etc with either trailer.