1989 Nishiki Ariel - original tires
05-15-22, 02:24 PM
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1989 Nishiki Ariel - original tires
I am the original owner of a 1989 Nishiki Ariel 20” frame MTB. The original wheels/tires were called Farmer John’s Cousin or something like that. Now it has road tires. Any suggestions what to put on it now that is good for road and trails?
05-16-22, 08:53 AM
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What sort of trail are you asking about? Smooth hard pack trails are very different than ones with loose gravel and rocks. More difficult trails require tires that will not work well on smooth and paved surfaces
05-16-22, 09:31 AM
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There is not a lot of selection of 26 inch tires. Continental town and country tires are pretty good and reasonably priced. I like Maxxis DTH but they are more expensive. Panaracer Gravel Kings are also a good and more expensive choice. Schwalbe Big Apple and Marathons are good choices as well.
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05-17-22, 12:09 PM
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What alcjphil said. For most trails with either hard-packed dirt or occasional gravel that isn't too deep, street tires will work just fine. You only really need to move to knobby or deep-treaded tires if you're going through thick mud, deep sand and gravel or lots of rocks. Many folks these days seem to think that you need specialty equipment (gravel bikes, knobbies, suspended mountain bikes, etc) to ride on trails and are unaware that much of that is driven by marketing. Back in the day we used to ride trails all the time on what are today called "road bikes".
05-17-22, 01:47 PM
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Here's a C&V page about the original tires: https://www.bikepro.com/products/tires/tioga_john.html
