Montague Paratrooper Mountain Bike Transformation (Part 2 - Tires)

The quickest and easiest performance bang for your buck when converting a MTB into something a little more roadie is to ditch the knobby tires and replace with street tires.  For this change you get higher pressures and lighter tires with lower rolling resistant tread.  There are several manufacturers of 26" street or touring tires ranging in price from $25-$60.

From the Bike Doctor shop in Vancouver I picked up a nice set of Continental Tour Rides 1.75" tires. These have a raised smooth centre tread for street rolling and some side tread for some gravel traction.  Added bonus is the puncture resistance sub tread.
All this for $24.99.  Perfect for this project!

Below is a close up of the old trail knobby tire compared to the new street treads.  Rolling resistant improvement for asphalt and hard packed surfaces is pretty obvious with the 57 psi max. touring tires.

While the wheels were off I took the opportunity to clean the hub and rims.  Free wheel was removed for cleaning.  The dust and lubricant combines a create a dried crust on and between the teeth which makes for rough shifting.