i have a 2.6" Kenda Muni tire and i was considering getting a 3" Duro tire on my Dx. Does the 3" make that much of a difference for downhill/trails?
I would recomend you against it. Unless you really wat to get serious in more technical muni.
A 3" tire absorbs more impact, is better for drops and loose dirt/sand and snow. But it also makes the uni a lot heavier and less manuaverable if you ride on something else besdies dirt.
The Kenda Kinetics on the DX is a nice tire, and is a little more rounded than 3" tires.
id say get a 3.0 when your 2.6 is worn out enouph for a new tire. But really its not much bigger than the 2.6, if someone who didnt know anything about the tires looked at them they would think they are both the same “bigness”.
3" is about 15% more than 2.6". That’s significant.
In my experience, for comparison, a 2.4" is an entirely different proposition than a 1.95". A fat tyre helps so much with just rolling over stuff. I would extrapolate that a 3" would be even better at rolling over stuff than a 2.4".
My limited experience is that super fat tyres also help with bouncing. On the other hand, the extra weight will be a factor with changes of speed and direction.
To my mind, the most important aspect of a tyre is its cross section: rounded is good, squarish is bad. As I’ve posted elsewhere, the change from Gazz to Holy Roller was an eye-opener for me. Virtually the same size (2.3" and 2.4") but the HR is 100 times easier to ride.
Ultimately, your tyre choice must depend on your experience, your riding style, your likely terrain, and so on. How much mud? How many rocks?
Be prepared to make purchasing errors, as you strive to build the perfect unicycle for your riding style.
would a 3" help for down hill because right now when i try to slow myself down my uni just slides down the hill without me:( so i was thinking 3" would give me more traction. My back yard is like Downhill City so thats prob what im gonna be doing the most.
I’ve been riding a Gazz 3.0" for a couple of years now, and recently got a Kenda 2.6" on a new unicycle (KH XC). The biggest difference I notice between the two is that the 3.0" is more solid on loose stuff, scree and deep gravel especially. The 2.6" also has to run at a somewhat higher pressure to keep from bottoming; I run the Gazz at 17-18 psi, while if I’m doing any technical stuff the 2.6" has to run at more like 22-24psi.
The main advantage of the 2.6" uni is that it’s noticably lighter; that makes it more manuverable on technical stuff, as well as less tiring to push up unrideable stuff.
For 80% of my riding, the difference isn’t really noticable. I’m probably going to put 170mm cranks on the XC and bring it to Moab this year, just for the weight savings (there’s a lot of steep uphill on Slickrock), and I probably will not swap out the tire.
I think (but correct me if I’m wrong), that the 24" rim and 3" tyre were developed in mountain biking (2 wheel version) precisely for downhill stuff?
I’ve used mainly 3" tyre (duro) and found it very nice on a 24" wheel, it doesn’t feel particularly heavy and makes for a smooth ride.
I found with 26x3" that the tyre did feel a bit too heavy, and, had I persisted with a 26" rim I would have been inclined to try out a 2.6" tyre.
As for 3" tyre varieties, i initially went for the Duro as it was cheaper than the Gazz, but subsequently have seen a lot of posts on this board saying that, in many ways, it has other advantages over the Gazz (slightly lighter, rounder profile etc).
[QUOTE=The Bruiser]
would a 3" help for down hill because right now when I try to slow myself down my uni just slides down the hill without me…QUOTE]
This doesn’t sound like the tyre. I think it’s the eccentric nut on the saddle that’s the problem here.
When riding a unicycle down a hill, there are two options:
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Maintain tight control from the very beginning. This may mean using long cranks, and a good strong handle. You keep plenty of back pressure on the pedals, and allow the unicycle to go down the hill at a controlled pace. Here, a small difference in tyre size will make little difference to grip. You only lose grip if either you try to stop or steer too suddenly, or if the ground is slippery, or the tyre has inadequate grip.
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Spin out. This means letting the unicycle “have its head”. This may mean slightly shorter cranks (easy to spin), and lots of confidence. A fat tyre might give you more confidence, because it will cope better with bumps and rocks. You are less unlikely to lose grip using the spin out technique. You will either stay on or fall off. It’s that simple.
If, as you appear to be saying, you are finding that your unicycle is continuing down the hill without you, this is a technique problem. Either you are trying to maintain tight control when the conditions are too difficult for you to do this, or you are starting to spin out, then losing your nerve and trying to regain tight control. (I am speculating, but as I have made that mistake plenty of times, I don’t see why you should have avoided it.)
A basic rule of unicycling is that if you fall off the back then you have got it badly wrong. If you fall off the front, you have simply fallen off. A subtle distinction, you might think, but a valid one.
By temperament, I am a “tight control” person. I learned a lot on a ride last summer with Rob Northcott, who is a “just go for it” person. Since then, I have worked on being more confident at letting the unicycle have its own head, and have had some rewarding results. The one thing that doesn’t work is letting the unicycle have its head, then trying to regain tight control. That way lies madness.