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I purchased a mountain bike and I ride on the road most of the time and I was looking at slicks for my bike. My tire size that I have now is 26x2.00 and the rims. I have on are AT-550 26inch what size slick tire would be good for me to purchase?

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    The determining factor is mainly the rim width. Even if you have 2" tires the rims may only be 1" or 1.5" wide, and tires can be as narrow as the rims (but generally no narrower). Do be careful, though, since "26-inch" is not a single size -- the diameter of the rim may vary. You need to get the actual metric diameter off the sidewall of your existing tires and make sure any new tires have the same metric diameter. As always see Sheldon Brown.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 4:04

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Everything you could want to know about tire sizing is here, including recommendations of how wide a tire should go on how wide a rim. In your case, you will look for tires made for 26" rims (ISO 559), but generally, narrow rims should have narrower tires than wider rims. These tires will be marked 26 x decimal number (by decimal number, i mean a number written with a decimal point).

Schwalbe makes a 26 x 2.00 inch Marathon Plus which would probably make a good replacement (the fatter the tire, more cushioning), as well as 1.5 and 1.75 inch variants. A bit smaller of a tire will technically reduce weight (and lower the bike slightly) and give a bit better handling. If you go down to your bike shop, they probably have a bunch of tires which work for the road well. Look for kevlar belting for puncture protection.

Also, if you're pretty much always on the road, and are running a suspension fork, you may want to swap it out with a suspension corrected rigid fork, since you don't really need suspension beyond the tires on the road unless you have a back problem or something.

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  • 2" is very wide, if you're looking for a road tyre. On the basis that narrower is more efficient (in terms of resistance), the narrowest I've seen are 1.125" (Conti Gatorskins). But you still have the issue of the rim being suitable.
    – PeteH
    Commented Mar 9, 2014 at 8:07

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