After 4000 miles, the King George tire on my G36er is getting a little worn down. I was about to order another one when I noticed that the Niterider Lite is a fair bit lighter. Looking further, I also saw that Vee makes a 36" tire too - the T-Monster - but it appears to be more suited for rougher terrain.
Are there any other options I’m missing? Also, for those of you who’ve ridden with different 36er tires, which do you prefer?
The Trax monster is rated poor for road riding, as it is extremely sensitive to road camber. Same for the King George, although for some, camber sensitivity may not be as noticeable. The NR lite is the lightest 36er tire available, and, when new, camber sensitivity is minimal with adequate tire pressure. Cambered roads start to become much more noticeable as the center tread wears flat, creating a more square profile. I solved this issue using a tread doctor tire groover, by reshaping and removing excess rubber from the outer knobs, restoring a round profile.
After thousands of miles on a (non-lite) Nightrider and more recently a Lite Nightrider and King George I selected a King George.
Two reasons:
The rolling resistance seems to be less then either of the Nightriders. The tread configuration would seem to support that with the tread on the King George narrower and less aggressive.
The King George is kind of self steering and easier to maintain sidewise balance and it is much easier to make smooth uniform turns by just leaning into the turn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvm_vs-Jd1k
Light King Georges is a little bit lighter than the light NR I guess
This is so cool! Two legends of the unicycle community, with polar opposite opinions on the subject. I’m lucky to have such interesting discourse in my response to my humble tire question
@UniGeezer, I read your thread on rounding the Nightrider crown. You’re a skilled craftsman. I’ve always noticed a need to lean hard against road camber, but without any points of comparison, I just figured it was a 36er thing.
@JimT that is a smooth turn! When I turn on my King George tire, it looks way more like the turn in your Nightrider clip. What tire pressure do you use? I’ve been running mine at 45-50 PSI.
I think I’m going to go with the Nightrider Lite for this purchase. Admittedly, the King George Ultimate being out stock everywhere right now is making the choice a little easier. I’m excited to see what the camber resistance feels like on the NR lite.
The Nightrider is the only tire I know so far, but in my instance I haven’t had any issues with dealing with camber yet even with ~2500 miles on the tire. YMMV of course
My 2p worth on the discussion.
The King George and the Night Rider are made in the same factory and have 3 of the 4 tools being the same. Hence have the same theoretical volume.
The profile of tyres are generally not rounded. This is done as they do not handle well on corners. Tyres generally have a flatted round section as the rolling area. This helps with cornering by helping the tyre regain vertical. As has been noticed, if the tyre wears then that flattened round section becomes too flat.
I run about 50 psi but also let it gradually reduce over a few months to about 35 with no noticeable affect except for a little more rolling resistance.
I’ll add, another difference in tires. I also have a Coker non-skid tire on my Coker uni that is not impacted at all by road camber. However it does not auto steer at all just by leaning left or right. Comparing the non-skid to a King George or worn Nightrider, I ride down the road like a drunken sailor on the non-skid with a much greater effort required just to maintain balance.
I bought my King George from Goudurix in Canada and see they still have them in stock.