900-1000g 36" tire, anyone interested?

[saskatchewanian]

Walt (of Waltworks Bicycles) is gaging interest in having some lighter weight knobbier 36" tires made.

Here is his thread on mtbr

Here is the lowdown for those who don't want to click on the link

-900-1000g weight
-*Probably* sealant-ready for tubeless use
-A tread pattern in the small-knob (think Kenda Small Block 8) or medium knob (think Maxxis Ignitor) range.
-2.2 or 2.3" size
-Cost of somewhere around $100/tire. That might come down some depending on interest, but it's probably not going to end up much below the cost of the Nimbus. If there's enough interest for a second run (or more) of tires, that cost will drop dramatically, of course.


So how many around here are interested? I know I would buy one.

[MuniAddict]

Originally Posted by saskatchewanian

Walt (of Waltworks Bicycles) is gaging interest in having some lighter weight knobbier 36" tires made.

Here is his thread on mtbr

Here is the lowdown for those who don't want to click on the link

-900-1000g weight
-*Probably* sealant-ready for tubeless use
-A tread pattern in the small-knob (think Kenda Small Block 8) or medium knob (think Maxxis Ignitor) range.
-2.2 or 2.3" size
-Cost of somewhere around $100/tire. That might come down some depending on interest, but it's probably not going to end up much below the cost of the Nimbus. If there's enough interest for a second run (or more) of tires, that cost will drop dramatically, of course.


So how many around here are interested? I know I would buy one.

Wow, that's only about half the weight of the 4lb nightrider tire! Which tread pattern would be best for paved roads, where there would be intermittent camber? Oh, and the tire combined with my FOSS tube, it would shave more than 3 pounds off rotational weight!

[scotthue]

I'm in. I REALLY want a light weight rim and road tire, but if a muni tire is going to be made... Also, depending on how it's going to look, I might want to get 2 of them and shave one down to make it a road tire...

[GizmoDuck]

I'd be interested in both versions, but if pushed, I'd go for a roadie version.

The current treads are fine for the sort of off-road that you can do on a 36" anyway. If it's custom run, I think people would be prepared to pay a lot more than for a Nimbus. It took me a few hours to shave down my Nimbus Nightrider, that's a lot of effort that would be cheaper to pay for.

[johnfoss]

My vote is for a road-friendly tire. But if there are bicyclists involved in this project, they probably outnumber us and will drive the choices. Who's using 36" wheels on bikes (besides Lloyd Jonson)?

[MuniAddict]

There a lot of posts about these tires on the mtbr website, in fact more than here, and that thread was posted just a short time before this one. According to their poll, about 70% would buy this tire. Interesting. I have more 4,000 miles on my nightrider, and it's still got plenty of tread, but I would swap it fast for a lighter road tire!

[DavidHood]

Thanks for the mtbr link. I don't get over there very often any more. I had to dig up my old password to add my vote and write a short post to let them know that unicyclists are chomping at the bit for a light weight 36" tire as long as it is fit for riding paved roads. I've never known any tire other than the Nightrider but it seems to have the perfect knobs and be the right shape for riding on the road. It's just the darn weight! Like others, I got the 30% lighter Nimbus FOSS tube on my geared 36er. The overall weight savings is probably negated by the heavy hub. But, as Terry said, rotational weight savings are more important. I ordered a 2nd FOSS tube for my Impulse but it turned out to be defective (UDC, of course gave me a full no-questions-asked refund.) in that it was fused together (on the inside) around the straps and in 2 other spots. My LBS said they could not do anything with it. They did replace the green rim strip (which was beginning to buldge through the drilled holes in my rim) when they reinstalled my old heavy tube. Now, instead of the green rim strip, I can see the back side of duct tape. Who knows how much weight that added and how long it will hold up? I can't help but feel I paid the early adopter's tax on that gimmick (I mean, how much weight did those holes really save?) rim. I like the Stealth2 Rim on my geared wheel much better. At any rate ($100 does not seem out of the question) I would definitely purchase a lighter tire to try it out.

[jogi]

5x
for me and riders here

[Daytripper63]

Count me in for a couple

[mbeardsl]

Thanks to all for the input on the MTBR Poll - Keep it coming!

Originally Posted by scotthue

I'm in. I REALLY want a light weight rim and road tire, but if a muni tire is going to be made... Also, depending on how it's going to look, I might want to get 2 of them and shave one down to make it a road tire...

We will be working on a rim next assuming we can get this run of tires produced (and sold), but we're not sure if that translates as well from bicycles to unis as we'd be looking for a 700-800g rim. Would that be strong enough for uni/muni?

I think if we could not lose money on a run of off-road tires we could start looking at doing a decent road tire as well for unis and a very few bikers who use their 36ers more for commuting than off-road use (I'd prefer a fat slick like a Big Apple for beach cruising). But that's getting a bit far ahead at this point.

Originally Posted by johnfoss

My vote is for a road-friendly tire. But if there are bicyclists involved in this project, they probably outnumber us and will drive the choices. Who's using 36" wheels on bikes (besides Lloyd Jonson)?

I think you guys outnumber us bikers any day. There are probably 25-30 of us worldwide at this point. We're simply driving the choices because the Nightrider weight sucks much more with 2 wheels

[adelman]

Originally Posted by mbeardsl

Thanks to all for the input on the MTBR Poll - Keep it coming!



We will be working on a rim next assuming we can get this run of tires produced (and sold), but we're not sure if that translates as well from bicycles to unis as we'd be looking for a 700-800g rim. Would that be strong enough for uni/muni?

I think if we could not lose money on a run of off-road tires we could start looking at doing a decent road tire as well for unis and a very few bikers who use their 36ers more for commuting than off-road use (I'd prefer a fat slick like a Big Apple for beach cruising). But that's getting a bit far ahead at this point.



I think you guys outnumber us bikers any day. There are probably 25-30 of us worldwide at this point. We're simply driving the choices because the Nightrider weight sucks much more with 2 wheels

There are some of us that want a roadable tire with some tread for off-road use. I think the idea tire would have a
"smooth" 3/8" wide center band that would make contact with flat road, but knobbies on the sides to grip in softer
material like mud. The smooth, center, part would keep the knobbies quiet on pavement.

Regarding a rim -- keep in mind that the hub choices for unicycles would dictate that the rim be 36 hole.

How about a nice set of double-butted spokes in this length? 2.0/1.8/2.0mm

Ken

[DancesOnH2O]

Originally Posted by mbeardsl

We will be working on a rim next assuming we can get this run of tires produced (and sold), but we're not sure if that translates as well from bicycles to unis as we'd be looking for a 700-800g rim. Would that be strong enough for uni/muni?

Definitely interested in one or two of the tires, and regarding the rims... what type of cross-section are we talking about... a conventional double-walled box rim? Also, any expectation of machined braking surfaces? (disk brakes are just starting to approach moderate popularity amongst unis).

Oh, on the tires, the more road-friendly the better... fine knobs at most, but center ridge or smooth even better. I don't have too many concerns about camber, because I have countered that with ever-so-mild wheel dishing (wouldn't work so well if I were in the UK or other left-side-of-the-road countries).

I'm not too wide but hold my weight in my height if ya know what I mean, but I would take a chance on a lightweight rim for road use. The design dynamics would be important to me however, as any failure point under normal use would hopefully be gradual. Does anybody remember the Araya single-walled rim designs that showed up on mid-range oem's in the early '80's? They were especially prone to suddenly assuming a taco-shape to earn a siesta from all that spoke tension. Not the kind of upd that I would want to be having on a uni.

Thanks for all the work on this, and I hope that we unicyclists support enough demand to help it come to completion.

[saskatchewanian]

Originally Posted by mbeardsl

We will be working on a rim next assuming we can get this run of tires produced (and sold), but we're not sure if that translates as well from bicycles to unis as we'd be looking for a 700-800g rim. Would that be strong enough for uni/muni?

There are way more on-road than off-road 36er riders in the unicycle world. A lighter rim would be great for the roadies except for one problem, on todays frames the magura brake mounts are set up for a rim in the 35-48mm width range (don't quote me on those numbers but it is something like that). If it is much skinnier than the current rims (which I imagine it would be) than the rim may be limited to those who ride brakeless or with disks. I say leave the braking surface plain.



For the tire tread here is the pic that was just posted on mtbr

I hope option A is not inflated and will round out like option B. A should be a decent all-round tread.



sidenote: A and B are our choices at this point of the game so this is moot but I despise most smooth centre rib/ aggressive side knob patterns. They tend to suck at both on and off road. The problem is the transition between smooth and knobbed. I like consistent grip across the whole tire profile, a ramped micro-knobby will roll just fine.

A 1.75" road slick would be great in the future though.

[scotthue]

Eric, you can only see that picture if you're also logged into MTBR...

For everyone else, 36er tire options:

[MuniAddict]

These are the Mtber.com poll results as of 6:40pm, PST. Notice the 4th choice for "multiple sets" includes unicycles. And obviously not everyone who has pledged to buy a tire (or more than one) on our uni forum, has not participated in the Mtber poll. You should, since the more interest there is, the better the chance off them being made!