I have a Surly Conundrum 24" on the way and it currently has a Hookworm 2.5 slick on it. I also bought a Nokian Gazz 3.0 knobby for it since I eventually plan on riding it mainly single track & off road/gravel.
I would assume learning to ride initially, I would want to stick to the current slick and then switch over to the knobbies once I feel confident enough to take it off road. Is this correct? Or should I learn with the intended tire I plan on using most?
Experience: lifetime of riding bikes and riding a lot. BMX, mountain, road, I dig them all. This is my first uni though. So far my only uni experience is watching how to videos on YouTube about riding & mounts.
I would learn on the Hookworm. You won’t have to mess with changing the tire for a while as the Hookworm will be fine on dry trails. When you start riding primarily off-road you can switch to the Gazz and you’ll probably adapt to the new tire pretty quickly.
The Hookworm is not slick. Great tire for learning and practicing on pavement or even dry packed dirt and light gravel.
Hookworm will be far easier on smooth hard surfaces. Knobblies can be hard work to keep straight on that sort of surface.
The hookworm is a lot of fun to ride.
My rule of thumb is
to ride the stock tire until it stops working for me.
I got it yesterday, and what a blast! The kids and my hubby even climbed on it and tried it out in the hallway of our house. I can see that the hookworm will be fine for quite some time as you guys are right, it isn’t quite a slick so it should be fine for a variety of riding situations.
I practiced for 2 hours last night and could get down my 30ft hallway without dabbing at the wall with my hands towards the end. Not too terribly far but I was happy for my first day’s progress.
Can’t wait for some free time today!