Anyone tried a Duro “Beach Bum” (26x3.0/70-559) tyre on a 26" Nimbus Muni

Unicycles and Equipment
1

Recently I have been using my 26" Nimbus Muni as more of a road machine for commuting, while my 36"er is out of action.

It has actually worked quite well and is pretty fast by my standards. I already switched to Nimbus Venture2 ISIS 102mm cranks and currently have a Schwalbe “Fat Frank” (26x2.35/60-559) tyre but would like to try something bigger.

The Fat Frank is smaller than the Duro “Wildlife Leopard” (26x3.0/75-559) tyre that the unicycle came with but it has much less rolling resistance, so is faster on a smooth road.

I’ve had a look around and the biggest tyre that I can find which would likely fit within the Nimbus frame is a Duro “Beach Bum” (26x3.0/70-559). I must admit, I have ordered one already (the black with whitewall variant) but I’m just curious:

[LIST=1]

  • Has anyone already tried this tyre and what was their experience?
  • Is there another 26x3.0 road style tire I missed, that I should have considered? [/LIST]

    P.S. I have already noticed the Kenda “Flame” tire (26x3.0/68-559) but it is fractionally smaller and I am not keen on the look of the flame tread pattern.

    • 2

    I’ve been thinking the same thing.

    3

    Well, I’ll let you know how it goes then. If I am totally honest I am kinda expecting that the beach bum will make very little positive difference, if any. 10mm to the radius equals 20mm to the diameter and 63mm to the circumference. That is in perfect conditions, which they obviously never are. Manufacturing variation and PSI being two obvious things that will affect the size.

    Also, this (until proven) theoretical small increase in distance per revolution could easily be countered by other factors that would slow me down by just as much (or more), e.g. weight, increased rolling resistance, grip, etc.

    Schwalbe make great tyres in my experience and so it is pretty likely that the Fat Frank is as good an option as any, unless I can fit a much bigger tyre and somehow have it still clear the frame. That all said, I am curious to try and in the grand scheme of things, it is not that expensive. Also the whitewall look might be interesting (they also make them in red and blue, with and without whitewalls). So even if it is only as good as a Fat Frank it could still be a fun option.

    4

    You need to get that 36’er rolling again. Is it the bearings? I have spare bearings if you need it. You can pick them up in Schweigaarsgate if you let me know a day in advance.

    6

    Thanks, very kind but I do have a new set. The problem is not the lack of bearings, the problem is that when I removed the damaged one it broke up leaving only the inner race. There is not enough of an edge to grip this and remove it. I have tried with a nimbus bearing puller and brought the unicycle to a local bike shop who tried with two other types of bearing pullers and tried a few other different methods. Neither I, nor them managed to move it even a fraction of a millimetre. It is really stuck on there.

    The next option will have to be to cut it off via a dremel like tool. A friend of mine has one I can try and use but due to holidays (his and mine) I have not had a chance to meet up with him and arrange this.

    7

    I should also add that even when I get the 36"er working again I would still like to try this 26"er in a commuting like setup. I would probably primarily use the 36"er for commuting in the spring, summer and autumn but it might be nice to occasionally use the smaller wheel. This is handy if I need to go somewhere else after work (since it is easier to bring it on a bus, tram, etc.). Also good to have if the 36"er is out of action for any reason. And finally, I sometimes go to Iceland or the US for work and it would be much easier to bring the 26"er along with me. If I take it apart and deflate the tyre I could probably get it in my suitcase along with all of my stuff. That would be a little tricky with the big wheel. :wink:

    8

    Did you try heat? Heating up the remaining race by a hot air gun and a propper puller should solve the issue.

    9

    That is not something I have access to

    10

    The 36"er is fixed now based on jtrops advice below:

    Regarding the 26"er. The Beach Bum has not yet arrived. I’ll update when it does.

    11

    So the Beach Bum arrived. I must say, so far I am disappointed in the tire. It does not handle nearly so nicely as the Fat Frank. It feels heavier (it is but I did not expect to notice it so much) and it goes where it wants. By this I mean it does not turn so easily or freely as the Fat Frank, thus is it much more affected by camber and it is much harder to do nice, smooth sweeping turns. I went for a little route I sometimes do around my neighbourhood and timed myself and I was quite a bit slowly that I normally am on the same uni with the Fat Frank. I put this down to fighting with the tyre.

    I’ll try playing with pressures but I don’t hold up much hope of it being as good as the Fat Frank.

    That all said, I don’t feel bad for trying. I was curious to try another semi-fat road tire and I do like the whitewall look. If I hadn’t bought it I would have been left curious. So I will play with it a little more but my gut feel is that I’ll be switching it back to the Fat Frank. :wink:

    12

    For the sake of completion, here is how it looks

    918×1632 403 KB

    13

    Here is a previous photo with the Fat Frank for comparison (yes I also changed the seat post since then)

    679×1200 103 KB

    14

    Shame because it has a pretty nice look for sure!

    15

    Well maybe it will still pleasantly surprise me when alter the pressure. It is pretty high, right now. Though, to be honest, I don’t hold up much hope.

    16

    We have a saying in Germany: “Wer schön sein will muss leiden”

    translation is > who wants to be beautiful must suffer :smiley:

    17

    I tried lower pressure and it was almost unrideable, so I bumped up to its rated max (36psi/2.5 bar) and suddenly it’s fine. It’s not better than the fat frank but it’s not bad. It turns nicely and is no longer overly affected by camber.

    The fat frank on the other hand works well on a wider range of pressures and has a much higher rated max (60psi/4 bar), plus it’s lighter. It’s also much easier to come by (at least in Norway).

    I think the fat frank would therefore be a better option in most cases but if you are willing to have it pumped hard and want something with a different look (the beach bum comes in a range of colours, with and without white walls) then this tyre could be an option.

    Since its working ok for me now, I’ll leave it on a little longer so I can sport a new look. :wink:

    18

    Ok, I think I might have jumped the gun and judged the “Beach Bum” too harshly. I went out for a longer ride with my daughter and it felt great now that it was fully inflated. I also tried my short reference route again at speed and actually got around it faster than I ever have on the 26”er (or my 28”er for that matter).

    Hmmm… though that could also just be that I am getting quicker with practice, added to a placebo effect causing me to ride faster because I expect to ride faster.

    With regards to size, I feel that I can actually see that it is visually bigger than the Schwalbe “Fat Frank” (26x2.35/559-60).

    I should start by saying that the Duro “Beach Bum” 26x3.0 cannot really be considered a true 3.0”. This is given away by it’s listed ETRTO size of 559-70. Obviously, 70mm is actually 2.76” (rounded to two decimal points). And you should also consider that this unicycle came with another Duro tyre, the “Wildlife Leopard” 26x3.0, which has an ETRTO size of 559-75. So Duro, Is 3” 70mm or 75mm? :stuck_out_tongue: Clearly they are just playing around with marketing, as is often the case with tyres.

    Anyway, that aside, a 559-70, should have a “theoretical” total diameter of 699mm—(70x2)+599. I figured I’d try and check this and attempted to verify the diameter with tape measure (not the most accurate I know, but it’s what I had to hand). Sure enough, in this particular case it does appear to be pretty close to the 70cm mark.

    For comparison my 28x1½ (635-40) wheeled Pashley unicycle (with a Schwalbe “Marathon”), should have a “theoretical” total diameter of 715mm.

    This would put the 26” with a Beach Bum at 98% of the size of my 28” with a Marathon. That also helps to explain the relative pace, as the 26” also has shorter cranks (102mm compared to 114mm).

    So, I tried a quick visual test by putting them side by side and I think you will agree, 98% looks believable.

    1077×606 217 KB

    So what is my final take from all of this. The “Beach Bum” is actually a pretty good road tyre after all… and… I have probably just made my 28”er redundant. :o

    19

    If you are still thinking along these lines, another option is Vee Tire Co.’s 29x2.8 (70-559) “Plus Size Speedster”. I haven’t tried it but based on the ETRTO size, it is just as big as the Beach Bum and certainly looks interesting. Though it doesn’t come in the range of colours that the Beach Bum does (if you care about that, at all).

    20

    I have changed my mind… again…

    The weather has finally turned nice enough, and my primary cycle to work route is clear enough, that I dropped the spiked Kenda “Klondike XT” 26x2.35 and went back to the Beach Bum.

    It (the Beach Bum) is annoying again. I kind of adjusted to it last time but it really should not be this much effort. I don’t want to try so hard and would rather be relaxed when commuting in. I actually really missed the Klondike XT, which is a nice tire for mixed conditions of (a little) snow and ice, while still handling well on bare asphalt.

    For tomorrow, I’ll go back to the dependable Schwalbe “Fat Frank” 26x2.35. Smaller yes but lighter and requires no fighting.

    In my depression over the unsatisfactory cycle in on the Beach Bum, I had another look around at fatter road style tires and found a nice selection on https://classic-cycle.de. They are all kinda heavy since they are aimed at cruisers bike, where the look is more important that then weight. Nonetheless, I am still interested in what is out there. Since I know that I like the shape and tread of the “Fat Frank” I attempted to find something similar. Visually the closest would appear to be the “Super Brick” (26x3.0/74-559), so on a whim I bought one.

    I’ll probably regret that too but what the hell, I am curious and in the grand scheme of things it isn’t that much. Though I am amassing quite a selection of tires now. :stuck_out_tongue:

    21

    Helpful info. Let us know how it works.

    Your latest order, the tread pattern is almost identical to my 30 year old Schwinn (the original 20X1.75 tire)