So, due to holidays, weather, punctures and a head cold I hadn't been out on either bike in almost 2 weeks. Seeing as my 'phone conferences had finished early, I took a later lunch and tried a quick blast round one of my usual on-road/off-road routes.
It's a nice simple route up to and round Thorndon Country Park. I certainly felt the fact I hadn't been out for 2 weeks, even had a stitch by the end. Ended up doing 7.37 miles in 40mins 12secs, top speed was 28mph. Not bad, but done that route faster before.
The interesting bit was the new tyres I ran on the MTB. The Kenda tyres than came with the bike seemed to be puncture magnets, so I decided to get some new budget ones. Plumped in the end for some Continental Mountain King 2.0s as they seems to tick all the boxes. They were a decent price (£17 each at Halfords, probably could have got them a lot cheaper online but I needed wanted them there and then), nice and knobbly for off-road and could go to 65psi to decent road rolling. Plus there some some good reviews online saying they were well suited to gravel tracks, trails and the like.
Had a bit of a problem getting them fitted - not the tyre's problem, just had a batch of bad Halfords inner tubes that decided to (a) deflate overnight continually and (b) explode at 30psi when pumping up. Those things are LOUD when they go bang. Anyway, I got them fitted and sorted.They were rather nice to ride on. Much less road noise than the Kenda ones, better traction at slow speeds on road too. The one downside was that they felt rather skittish one the loose gravel, which is odd for a knobbly tyre like this. Maybe having them at 65psi didnt help, I'll try then lower at 50 next time I try this route. They are good looking tyres too, if that matters to you, with a decent looking logo and lettering. The 2" tyre was a bit less than the 2.2 I had with the Kendas but I didnt notice the difference at all once out and about.
Better get the road bike out over the weekend then I guess....
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