I have an XT600E, see http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?p=114248

I'd like to get some knobbly tyres for it and do some green laning, but the bike needs to be multi-purpose. Is it fairly easy and quick to change tyres once you get the hang of it? Or would I be better buying another set of wheels and just swapping wheels about?

What about balancing, when you put the road tyres back on (I'd use something like Avon Distanzia's on the road), would I need to rebalance every time, or would I just need to ake sure I put the tyre back on in the same place on the rim each time?

Would tyres get damaged continually taking them on and off.

I think I know the answer is going to be buy wheels if I am honest with you and myself, but I just wanted to see what other guys on here do?

If you can get hold of some wheels it would be better and quicker. If you went green laning on a sunday and want to fit your road bias tyres back on for riding to work on monday, you also stand more chance of pinching the tube when refitting the tyres.

Spare set of wheels every time. Or get use to riding with knobbies on.

__________________
:tenere:

Mods, Oxford heated grips, Givi Rack and top box, Stage 2 DNA filter and top, 02 sensor eliminator, Metal Mule taller screen, Seat hump trimmed off, .KEVS FUEL MOD (THE 1ST ONE FOR THE TENERE) , Extra fuse box, 12volt plug in socket, Zumo550 sat nav, , Barkbusters


What Bill Clinton REALLY said to Monica Lewinsky was: "Sack my cook"

Sadly Bike now sold 11/6/11

Don't take this as definitive, but I seem to recall reading that taking tyres on and off also weakens the side wall, not a huge amount but if you are constantly swapping them about they will weaken.

Spare wheels or (with the cost of new wheels) spare shed of a bike for your main green laning tool. In this months TBM there was an article on Talon producing a range of budget wheels for trail bikes, no idea if any of the sizes that they are doing would fit straight onto the XT, but they may be worth a look, unless you are e-bay shopping (which would be way cheaper).

When you say 'green lanes', what type of surface are you riding? As you are asking the question I am assuming that your are at the begining of your learning ?

I ride with Eduro tyres on the lane bike, but I don't think I could live with them every day due to the noise and vibrations, although off tarmac they are brilliant!

If I were you I'd forget the wheel and tyre changing for now, and get some good dual purpose rubber - TCK's for example. Ample off tarmac grip and reasonable on tarmac grip.

Having two sets of wheels means, brake discs, chain set, bearings, pads and all the hassel in changing them. Changing tyres will quickly leave you rims marked and scuffed, even with rim protectors you'll see a change if you change them often. I'm not sure on the tyre beads, but I'm fairly confident that aren't made for multiple changes, and you don't want it to fail on the road.....

You soon get used to riding with knobblier rubber, it's realy not a problem - in fact my enduro tyres have better dry road grip than any of the dual purpose ones I've tried - although if I get 1000 miles out of a rear I'm doing bl00dy well!

__________________
>-------<

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Thanks for all the replies guys, I thought changing tyres all the time was a no no.

Good post, thanks.

Your right I am a newbie, so much so that I have NEVER been "green laning" as such in the UK.

When I was a kid I used to run about off-road a lot, but then it was round local farm tracks, forestry land and mucking about at trial events, usually where I knew the farmers and the loggers as I used to pitch up and pitch in during my school holidays, either call it "work experience" or free child labour, but I got to drive land rovers, quad bikes, tractors, so I enjoyed it and did it through choice. You could never have a kid working on a logging site or farm nowadays due to health and safety.

Similarly I believe you need to find BOAT's nowadays too. In those days if you were riding somewhere you shouldn't have been, you only had to worry about getting shouted at by the farmer, now you can get done by the Police. So for that reason, I actually have no idea what surfaces I'll be riding on until I find out what my local BOAT's are like. I have friends who go down to Salisbury plain quite regularly so I'll be joining them in the new year.

On my holidays in Spain and Portugal I will be doing mountain tracks and loose rocky surfaces, but all dry, so the tyres that are on it will be good enough for that and I have a weeks experience of that too from a previous holiday. It's getting stuck in mud in this country that concerns me. Here are links to vids & slideshowand an album of some of the stuff I've done before in Mexico, but this stuff is easy (other than the heat!), did this with one had on the throttle and the camera in my left hand.

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/d...t=CIMG3568.flv
http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/d...t=CIMG3572.flv

http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/d...t=3fdb78ed.pbw

Google'd the TKC tyres you mention though and had a look at them on Continental's website. They certainly look like they will provide more off road grip than I have the ability to use, so I'll probably get something like those and leave the tyres and wheels alone.

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

Ralph, while not always correct about the legal rights in a route, this website is not a bad place to start looking for lanes. http://www.trailwise.org.uk/gmaps/gmap.htm

Other options, Ordnance Survey Maps, you are looking for routes like this one http://www.bdcc.co.uk/XMarksTheSpot.htm?g=SD9345583969 this is a BOAT. The problem with OS maps is that they aren't updated regularly enough for you to 100% rely on them, just because a route is shown on an OS map it doesn't mean you can ride on it. It may have been closed as a result of a TRO (Traffic Regulation Order).

The other, and best, option is to join your local TRF group. They will show you loads of legal lanes that you can ride.

Your local County Council has a legal obligation to produce a document called 'The Definative Map', you are permitted to view this map free of charge.

Some, more progressive councils put this on-line (Cumbria & Northumbria for instance) while others (Yorkshire) try to keep it locked away in the hope you'll give up.

The Definative Map must show all legal rights of way (footpaths, Bridelways, restricted bridelways and Byways Open to All Traffic - BOATS). So if it is on the Defiative map as a BOAT, you can ride it.

This is just the start of a long and somewhat strained subject on what you can and can't do, also what the Police can and can't do, what they try to do, why some TRO's aren't actually legal, the fact that to have a TRO it has to be a highway in the first place yada yada yada....

__________________
>-------<

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.