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So as not to totally derail the fuel protests thread I will continue this enquiry here.........

Kwackerz, I am fascinated now.

What size tyres ?

What special rims ?

Are you talking semi slicks here as few tyres ( if any) are any good both on and off road?

2.30 inchers. nowt too special apart from them being mudpluggers. The course we ride on tuesday PT mornings is a deeply rutted very muddy track and the standard sort of profile tyres just spin up in the deep mud, hence the need for something at 2.30 size and decent at mudplugging so it grips and I actually get traction forwards instead of just wheelspinning. I run em low pressured for that particular morning of the week.
When it comes to normal days on the road toing and froing from work and thursday's PT sesh it's down harder tracks and roads so put the pressures back up to 35-40psi to help reduce the drag (and also tyre roll/flex) The bike itself is a heavy dual suspension jobbie, an '05 Viking SDS2 Targa. Nice bike to look at, although bloody heavy when youre trying to keep up with hardtailed MTBs that i ride with on an 8 mile run. It wins back on the muddier days out though.

When i needed the new rear, it was over a weekend (trashed it on the thursday run) Ebay had none listed and there were none in the shops bar these ones in Halfords. Tried the local bike shops but they had none either. had 3 normal profiled tyres sat in the shed from old MTBs so tried one of those (well 2) but when pumped up they just kept popping off the rim, which is thinner in width than normal 'standard' cheap MTB rims. Not by much, but talking to the lads in Halfords (they have a MTB team guy who works there) He agreed that with the smaller diameter profile tyres they would continually pop off the rim and that the 2.3's were what i needed to put on. Theyre tubed tyres, and it's something to do with how the tube inflates. the smaller profile tyres, the tube forces the tyre off the rim at road pressures where as with a 2.3 tyre, the tube doesnt. I dunno I just ride it.
I have experimented with swapping the wheels off one of my old MTBs onto it but doing that requires the brakes to be changed on the front from disc to normal V brake caliper (which it doesnt have the mounts for) and the muddy morning run the bike is complete dogtoffee on the smaller profile tyres (lack of brakes aside) like i said before. That muddy run is about 2 miles long and flat, so the big tyres really help there.

I fekkin hate it but the bike cost me 100 quid instead of 299, looks the part and apart from needing constant attention to the rear end suspension, isnt too bad. Sadly no twat has bothered nicking it and I cant afford to buy another at the moment so Im stuck with it.

I think the formula might need to take pies into account.

Cheeky...

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B0528.html ... d=RDCAcxxN

Thats the spec sheet for it, although I notice the price has dropped quite considerably from the ticket price I was discounted from

I've never tried 2.3" (assume you meant 26") tyres but always run 2.1" on my bike. I'm sure you have been wisely informed so won't argue but will just say.....

I always believed that narrow tyres 1.8 or 1.9" were best for mud as they 'cut through' the gloop. However if they won't stay on your rims then that's not an option.

I am not aware of any extra narrow rims. In fact I would have thought that 2.3" tyres are 'downhill' biased and downhill rims tend to be wider leading me to assume that wider tyres fit better on wider rims ( and therefore vise versa??) It would be necessary to use a narrow tube for narrow tyres.... perhaps a fatter tube is helping to force narrow tyres off the rims?

Anyway - you're sorted for now but for future needs have you looked at http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Default.aspx .

Excellent shop - free post - good prices.

Oh, and seeing as you're only riding 8 miles it doesn't much matter what the bike/tyres are like

Yeah. I read off the rim for the 21", which clearly means something else completely! Tyre size was off the tyre tho'

I'll have to have a look at the tube the thin tyres were using (wasnt the 2.3's one) would make sense if it was the wrong size. I'll have to investigate before the next tyre change is needed (cheers for the link btw)

Know what youre saying about the gloop cutting. fks. The fatter tyres work better for me when run low pressured I suppose it squishes the mud out the way!!!

8 Miles is a lloooooooooooooooong way when yer a shortarse, the seat is uncomfortable, youre slightly rotund *coughs* and youre trying to keep up with racing snakes who arent losing loads of forward momentum thru the flippin suspension!!

Actually 8 miles in the mud would seem like a very long way on that thing!!

Resin pedals !! are they still going?

Save up and replace it

Yeah the pedals have been replaced once at the shop's expense. they fell apart within a week of having it. The replacements are doing ok though.

Definately going for a hardtail next time... and definately not something made by Viking Ltd. a few nice components linked in with the rest of it being complete dogtoffee. That promax front disc set up for instance... bloody caliper is rubbish. stays locked on if youre trying to stop in a hurry. crap design, the cable enters the caliper arm at completely the wrong angle.

I think you'll find 1.9s will fit without falling off.

I got about 3k miles out of my last set of tyres (admittedly not off road which tends to be harder on them)

BTW there are a lot of hard wearing tyres about, have you tried Wiggle? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/default.aspx?ca ... =googwigcy they are who I buy off when they have a sale

Theyre quite expensive

May be worth a look when they do have a sale on, but their currently discounted MTB XC tyres are more expensive than the one I bought

Shall keep an eye on 'em

I'm keeping my eye on their Focus road bikes, the 2007 models should drop another £200 or so