Murray Missile 

I just took an old K-Swiss Northwoods Safari tandem MTB in trade on a bike I sold, it's appears to be a fairly low end bike but in like new condition. I was intending to flip it ASAP but my wife likes it and I have had it in the back of my mind we might like a tandem so it's staying, at least for awhile. I'm going to do some upgrades from my "excess inventory" on the saddles, drivetrain and brakes, especially the brakes! Since we're just going to use it to cruise around town occasionally and see if we like tandem riding I want to swap out the knobbies for something more pavement friendly. Would a decent quality 26 inch street tire be OK for this type of riding? I don't want to spend a lot on it at this point because we don't know how serious we'll get about tandem riding and if we do get into it we will most certainly upgrade to a better quality bike as I'm fairly confident the Northwoods isn't up to much more than putzing around town. TIA.

JTGraphics

Schwalbe Kojak Slick MTB Tyre 26x 1.35 or 2.0 $25

SCHWALBE STELVIO 26 X 1.10 $15 I have these on my Tandem Alls the Schwable tires are very durable exceptional puncture resistance.

Or look at the Schwalbe City Jet MTB Tyre

johntrev

Nashbar slicks on sale for $12 right now. Nashbar Slick City Tire

mibike

I looked at your link and it has "Take an Extra 20% off Tires & Tubes, Discount taken in cart". I put one in my cart and it came up as $9.59 I don't know how long this price is good.

Murray Missile 

I have NASHBAR tires on other bikes and have been very happy with them but I think we'll need something a little wider. These are only 26 X 1.25, it has 26 X 2.0 on it now and I'd like to stay close to that, it's a HEAVY bike even without riders. I don't expect to get a lot of miles out of the tires on this, I just want to make sure the tires are safe for the weight. It doesn't appear to have tandem specific wheels on it so we'll need to be careful with bumps and potholes too.

JTGraphics

I had some of those Nashbar/ Performance Bike tires they worked and were cheap I paid under $10 on sale when I got them but not as durable as I'd like, I can say the Schwables have some of the best puncture resistance around on all their tires. They are know for their MB tires in Europe.

nfmisso

I like Kenda's 26 x 1.5 100 psi Kwest tires 40-559. https://www.amazon.com/Kenda-Commuter...+x+1.5+100+psi

$20.36 each shipped.

merlinextraligh

To put this in perspective, a 1.25 inch tire is the equivalent of a 32mm tire. Lots of teams ride 25mm road tires, so 1.25" should be plenty wide. Only issue is whether it can take 100 plus pounds of pressure with the tire rim combination.

The Nashbar tire for example is rated for a max 85lbs psi. That might lead to pinch flats for a big team, and a heavy bike.

Also the wheels are probably more sturdy than you'd think. 26 inch wheels are stronger and stiffer than comparable 700c wheels with the same number of spokes.

waynesulak

The bigger the load the more I would look 26 x 1.50 wide tires. I don't know what the pressure rating is and wider tires generally have lower pressure ratings but also can safely run on lower pressures without pinch flats. The problem is that handling gets pretty bad at really low pressures. All told our load is only 300lbs or so but we run expensive tires about 1.50 wide (38mm) and we have used 50 lbs psi on occasion. Actually we could probably not pinch flat at 30 psi but the handling would be unacceptable.

Murray Missile 

Thanks everyone, my wife and I combined probably weigh about 375 and I'm guessing the bike to weigh around 50 Lbs. I have a nice pair of 26 X 1.75 city tires I took off one of my MTB's when I put studs on it for this Winter, I'll go ahead and use them.

JTGraphics

Schwalbe Stelvio 26 Inch High Pressure Tires 26x1.1 Folding Bead (28-559, 115 Max. PSI, 250 grams)

SlowJoeCrow

I've got Bontrager Hardcase 26x1.5 on my tandem and the do fine, but may be a little pricey.

B. Carfree

Good call. Having switched from 26 X 1.25 (100 psi) to 26 X 1.75 (45-50 psi) this year, I heartily endorse going fatter with lower pressure. It's dramatically improved the handling for the captain, the comfort for the stoker (me) and reduced the rolling resistance. Okay, we bought nice tires that were expensive, but they last so long they are cheap per mile you may not get the same decrease in rolling resistance with cheapies.

bajajoaquin

This is what I just put on my tandem to replace some perfectly good semi-knobbies that were only 65psi. I am really happy with them. They ride nice, have some cushion still, and have less rolling resistance. I didn't buy them from Amazon (shocking, since I get everything else there), but my local shop ordered them, no sweat.

Murray Missile 

I had the city tires on my old beater when I first put it together and the difference between these and knobbies for rolling resistance was like night and day. They were on sale at NASHBAR last year, they handled nicely and have fairly thick tread, best part, I already have them. I have 26 X 1.25 slicks on my wife's MTB which works great for her, I just couldn't imagine them on the Northwoods, the thing is a behemoth.