Tires for a Trek Multitrack 7600
 

Hi All,

A friend just gave me a Trek Multitrack 7600 as gift. It was set up for speed, so it has very thin tires. I would like to put on wider, more sturdy tires for road use, so I don't have to worry about if I have to jump a curb. The current rims are Matrix Vapor - ERD 610 and the tires are Matrix CD3 700x25C. Can someone suggest or point me in the right direction to what kind of tire I can put on these rims. They are thin, so I'm concerned about finding a wider tire than the existing one.

Thanks!

Any 700 c tire will fit, if you have the right size tube. Is Matrix still in business? I have not heard of them in many years.

When you say "sturdy", do mean flat resistant, or just more sturdy because it's wider? Because there's a whole range of 700 c tires that go from thin casing and light, to thick casing and heavy, depending on how much flat protection you need.

This is strictly for road use, it sounds like. Are you in an area that has a lot of puncture vines, or would you be doing city riding over glass and debris? If so, you would go with a thicker heavier tire. If you're out of thorn country and just riding on good smooth roads, you can get away with something much lighter and faster.

Thanks for your reply. I don't think Matrix is still in biz. I guess I'm looking for a good general purpose tire that is fairly flat resistant and wider. I'm in the suburbs, but some of the roads I ride on are a little rough and there are occasional glass patches. I was not sure if a wider tire would fit the rim, since the existing tires are so thin. Do you think a 700x32 would fit these rims? I think that's the width that i want.

i swear by Panaracer by panasonic. I prefer the Tourguard Plus, you can fit as wide a tire as your forks are wide and as your rear seat stays are wide. you should leave a little bit of room on either side for those rare instances when your rim is out of true and when you hit a bump or pothole, because your tires will get a little plumper all around when they get depressed by the bump. they are like a balloon, if you push down on a balloon on one side, the opposite side will bulge out

Definitely 32's would fit. How much you planning on spending? Continentals are pretty popular if you don't mind spending $80 or so a pair. Those are pretty much all I use if I need a high performance tire. But everyone has their own brand preference, Even something that's $40 a pair should be decent for most purposes. I think Conti has some Super Sports that are around that price, or used to cost that much anyway, last time I bought any.

EDIT: Looks like those run around $50 a pair these days. Good tires though.

I was looking at the Continentals on Nashbar. They have the "Continental Sport Contact II City Tire" for $19.99 and the "Continental Contact City Tire" for $31.99. Do you know of these tires? I'm looking in the $50-60 range. Where do you buy your tires?

No place in particular, I just go on Ebay and see what they have there, and compare prices. Sometimes you can get better deals on 2 tires sold together, especially the folding ones.

ERD is the effective rim diameter used to with measurements from the hub to determine spoke length. The ETRTO number is the bead diameter and inner width (distance between the rim beads). 700C wheels are 622 mm. Trek shipped many of the multitracks with with 700x35-38C tires. I have 43mm wide tires on my 720 MT with room to spare, though with newer 622x21 rims. The width of the rim is more likely going to dictate the tire width than the frame.

Matrix was the house brand of Trek's rims. After they killed bought Bontrager they grouped all their OEM house brand under that name. Matrix rims were pretty good for the time.

Thank you, everyone, for your input, greatly appreciated! I went with a pair of Conti City tires 700x32. Cant wait for them to arrive! Happy riding...

For all of our help, we're are expecting a book report from you now. :)

Seriously though, have fun with the new tires, hope they work out awesome for ya. And if you get a chance, report back on how well they work out for you, I can't try out for myself every type and brand of tire that's out there, so it's always good to hear real (non-spam) impressions as to whether the tires are any good or not, though most Contis are very good from my own experience.

Ok, so finally got my new tires in the mail and had my LBS mount them for me. I ended up getting the Continental Contact Plus tires, which are a city tire. I picked them because sometimes I ride over glass and lots of potholes. They fit perfectly and are nice and solid. My only complaint is that they are harder than I expected, so the ride can be a little rougher than if I had softer tires. But overall I'm very happy. Thanks for everyone's input. very helpful for an amateur like me.

If you are finding the ride too harsh, you could try lowering the air pressure. You don't need to pump the tires all the way to the max sidewall pressure, unless you are heavier than average. Try lowering the pressure a few pounds to see if that helps. You don't want to go too low or you could get a pinch flat when you hit a pothole.

Good suggestion Pompiere! I'll give that a shot...

I have 43mm Panaracer Gravel King SK on my 7500, with fenders. They are extremely supple lightweight folders that roll quite nicely at 30 psi. Should be quite flat resistant with the tightly spaced small knobs and low pressure.

We don't have goatheads here, but glass is a problem. With a low pressure tire you don't force the rubber against the glass with enough force to embed it in the rubber. With glass, most flats occur after many revolutions have slowly pounded the shard through the tread and casing. Most of my bikes don't have clearance for 43s so I usually ride (no longer available in 32mm but I have a stash) Michelin Dynamics. Very thin tread, but so supple I run them at 35-40 and I've never gotten a flat with them.

My lack of flats may also be because I never ride w/o 2 tubes and a pump, as a sign of respect to the Puncture Fairies.