Hello, I'm new-ish to biking and hoping for some suggestions on useful customizations for starting to trail ride on my bike! I ride a 1992 Specialized Hardrock with Hybrid tires. I live in NYC and mostly ride the prospect park bike loop with my dog. I'm hoping to start biking more of the NY State rail trails + Catskills routes. While most are paved quite a few are gravel as well as a few natural dirt paths.
- Is this a good frame for high volume tires?
- Are high volume tires even the move for this type of riding?
- If I switched over to high volume tires, could I still ride my bike the 15 minutes to prospect park? (NYC streets)? Or would it harm the tires/bike in some way?
- any other useful customizations for starting to get into trail riding?
- Thank you so much for any info!!!!!!!!!
by Tiny_Road207
4 Comments
1) just do a visual inspection to see how much tire clearance you have. What size tires are you currently running? You could probably go a bit bigger, but it looks like you might already have 26×2.0 tires in there, which is plenty.
2) I think your tires are actually fine. I wouldn’t change them for now. Hybrid tires are exactly that. You can ride them pretty much anywhere except maybe snow or deep mud. But gravel will be just fine. 100 years ago, people used to ride gravel on much skinnier and more fragile tires. Just look at the very first tour de France. All off-road pretty much.
3) yes you can ride whatever tire you like on the pavement. Just check out r/xbiking and you’ll see what I mean lol.
4) the only thing I’d change is get a better seat
Your tires look fine, just make sure you keep them at the right pressure. It makes a huge difference in efficiency.
I’m a lot more concerned about the wear in the gears and the positioning of the seat. Worn gears are definitely a safety concern, the seat just looks wildly uncomfortable – at least set it to be level.
Tbh I think you’re really over thinking things. Your bike is a hybrid ^((by modern terms)) and is basically ideal for street riding and perhaps light off-roading. Your tires also seem fairly large, maybe 26×2.0 or thereabouts. They could be fitted with knobbier tires for dirt trails but would suffer on the street, or with smoother tires that wouldn’t be as good on trails. But what you already have looks like a good intermediary.
Basically, just keep it as-is. It’s totally fine.
Your bike is entirely sufficient for riding rail trails and gravel paths. Learn how to fix a flat and bring a spare tube. Don’t overthink it and just enjoy the ride