Bicycle tires types in mountain bike and road bikes

Bicycle tire classification

Mountain

The subdivision of mountain bike tires is cross-country tires, slick tires, and semi-gloss tires.

Off-road bike tire

This is one of the most common mountain bike tires. This type has obvious deep tooth structure, and the distance between the ridges is also quite large. The grip ability is good, and it will also bring certain shock-absorbing effects. The ability to resist sediment is also good. It is a more versatile mountain tire tire. Can use in the mountain or road.

Slick tire

It is very small in texture, almost similar to a road tire, and its birth for speed. These tires have low resistance, speed up quickly, allow the speed of the mountain to reach its limit. If you are looking for speed and most of the roads are urban asphalt, slick tire is your best choice. Of course, slick tires have almost no ability to grip, and it is easier to crash.

Semi-gloss tire

It is no deep-tooth structure in the middle of the tire, and there are the cross-country tire structure on both sides. Semi-gloss tire has the characteristics of small resistance of the slick tire, suitable for riding on the urban road, and also has good grip ability. So if you are commuting in the city and going cross-country on weekends, semi-glossy tires are your best choice. (Of course, you can also choose the front-wheel slick tires, the rear-wheel off-road tires, it takes into account the two types of cycling conditions.)

Road Bike

There are three types of road tires, Clincher tires, Tubular tires and Tubless tire.

Clincher tires (embedded tire)

It is our most common bicycle tire, needs to be used with the inner tube.
Its role is to withstand the load of the vehicle, while limiting the size of the outer edge of the tire, protecting the pressure of inner tube, and also preventing the inner tube from mechanical damage. The advantage is that it is easy to repair when there is a situation such as a puncture leak.

Tubular tires

There is no traditional inner and outer tires. This high-performance tire is attached to the tread sleeve and then glued to the tube rim. It needs to be used with a tubular rim.
It's for competition.

Most of the professional cyclists also use tubular tires. The advantages are: 1. good cornering performance and more comfortable; 2. excellent shock absorption performance, less chance of single jump and deceleration on rough road surface; 3.the maximum inflation pressure is higher than clincher tires; 4. encounter high-speed downhill puncture, the tire will not fall off instantly, can avoid accidents, also let the cyclist continue to cycling and wait for support; 5. the tubular tire wheels is more lightweight.

Of course, for amateur cyclists, there are many disadvantages: 1. changing tires is more troublesome, whether it is a puncture or long-distance riding need to change a new tire; 2. repair is extremely troublesome, affecting the uses of life, so that the cost of use is much higher.

Tubuless tire

It also known as "low pressure tire" "inflatable tire", no inner tire. The tire and rim assembly is sealed by a special vacuum nozzle into the sealant or self-refilling. Most wheelsets also need a special vacuum tire pad. Since the fit between the rim and bike tire must be completely airtight, only certain rims are compatible with vacuum tires.

The advantage is that the rolling resistance is small. Because the required tire pressure is small, the comfort will be good, and some small perforations will be repaired. The disadvantage is that it is relatively heavy. It is very difficult to repair when it encounters a big problem. The low tire pressure also makes the speed discount.