Putting road-style tires on your mountain bike is one part of making it a "hybrid" bike--a bike designed for commuting and around-town riding. Hybrid tires are smoother, easier to ride in the city and often narrower than mountain bike tires; 1 1/2-inch wide hybrid tires are common, compared with the common 1 3/4- to 2-inch off-road tires. Using hybrid tires is cheaper and easier than buying a separate road bike; some riders even prefer hybrid tires on a mountain bike frame for long-distance trips.
Ease of Conversion
If you already have a mountain bike but need a bike better suited for city riding, there's little easier conversion than putting smoother (called slick for smooth, road-bike style tires and semi-slick for tires with some tread pattern) tires on your mountain bike wheels. If you frequently ride city streets and mountain bike trails, consider having two sets of wheels, one with semi-slick or slick tires, and one with knobby tires, for easy switching between the two modes. Some riders choose to have separate bikes for city and off-road riding.
Better Road Handling
Hybrid tires are smooth like road tires, perfect for the generally paved and smooth road riding conditions of many cities, suburbs and countryside roads, as well as bike trails. The wider tire size is more rugged than road tires, capable of handling more debris or bumps in the road. Many city riders prefer the more upright position riders have on a mountain bike frame to the leaning forward position used by riders of road bikes.
Better Gearing
Mountain bikes typically feature a wide range of gear sizes, with both very low and very high gears on the rear wheel. Using hybrid tires on a mountain bike makes riding in hilly cities easier than on many road bikes, especially older ones with a limited number of gears and a limited range of gear sizes.
Terminology Note
Many bicycle manufacturers and distributors use the term "hybrid" to describe casual city and road bikes with 700c tires, and "comfort" for casual city bikes with 26-inch tires. Mountain bikes have 26-inch tires, and this size is not interchangeable with 700c tires.
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