I have been riding with a 3" Duro for a while, but mostly in the dirt.
after doing some road riding, I noticed that my unicycle is much more sketchy, squirrley, harder to control.
I find I am always having to correct myself, it feels as I am angled to the side as I ride.
The only diff I can picture is the tire, my Gazz died recently.
Think it’s this particular tire? Any issues like this from other people using them? Is this the $50 difference of a Gazz?
My seat is positioned correctly
I used to get that but I dont know now because I havent riden my muni in awhile since I’ve had the 170s on the coker.
Which way are you running it? I know you had the gazz backwards. I have my duro backwards.
I tried out my friends new Muni that had the Duro tire on it and, yes, I would say that I noticed it being very squirlly when riding on the road. I also noticed I would drift to the right for some weird reason when riding on the road. But it’s fantastic on the trail.
I know what you’re talking about I’ve started riding the 24" a bit more “enduro” style on pavement around my fair city just pounding through. (something I should have done before Lifestylez… but oh well…) and yeah, I feel that weird pull to the side sometimes and it feels like I’m riding crooked but my seat-post is straight.
meh, doesn’t matter that much… but it doesn’t help when carving.
Hello Brian!
I expect your talking about a Coker, and not a 24" Nimbus muni tire, but I felt the same way when I changed from the original ‘Duro Racing Wildlife Leopard 24 x 3.0 DH Tire’ to a ‘Arrow Racing Wide bite 24x3 DH tire’ two weeks ago. I’m still wondering when I’ll be able to go straight down the road again.
Naw, it’s my MUni I’m talking about…the smaller, 24" MUni
maybe now you’re going to too straight and you have to convince your body to ignore the Duro lean?
I’ve never noticed… I find I’ve a harder time going straight off-road 
What kind of pressure are you guys running in the Duro? I prefer to Duro to the Gaz for grim Muni because it’s rounder and turns better. But with too low a pressure all fat tires are squirley, especially on the street.
JL
Re: Duro 3" tire ‘sketchy’ on the road?
Did you switch to a premium brand of beer?
The gaz is probably more squared off than the duro. It will take some getting used to, but rest assured, it is very possible to ride in a predictable and straight fashion on the duro tire. It will just take proper air pressure and getting used to. If I pump the duro much further beyond 23 psi or so, it will start to get more squirrely for road riding. Just find the right pressure that lets you turn easily enough, and good for hopping. You will be fine, just give it some practice…
It’s probably because you’re used to turning the gazz which takes much more effort than a rounder profile tyre and doesn’t go out of line so easily. This is nice because it’s easier to flick around quickly, but makes it a bit more likely to get turned around by road camber and you have to compensate slightly differently.
You’ll get used to it pretty soon, it just rides a bit differently, a lot of people seem to prefer the duro on road over the gazz.
Joe
I run a duro (or Contra, as its called in the uk) on my 24" muni.
I find that on the road, it pulls to whatever side the grass/gravel is nearest. When on the grass/gravel/mud (basically not road) it goes faster and is more controllable.
I put this down to the tyre being alive and not wanting to be ridden on the road.
When I’m riding it it says to me “look, there’s some mud/gravel over there. Lets go ride thru that instead of along this flat boring road!”
So I try not to ride it on the road at all in order to keep it happy. Plus the road wears it down super-quick.
T.
Thanks, I’ll fiddle with the air pressure some more first.
Premium beer? They still make that?? People still buy it???
I doubt the direction of the tire would make any difference, as directional tires are based on high rpms that bikes are able to produce, I’m very skeptical of anyone saying they can notice a difference when trying different directions on a unicycle. * Those who do are probably just assuming they are because they have them set that way thinking it’s advantagous.
There’s a Duro Leopard on my Nimbus 26x3 and I don’t find it bad on the road - but then I’ve never had anything else on there. I probably run slightly higher pressure than some people do in Muni tyres, because my usual ride involves a couple of miles of road at either end, and the off-road bits are very stoney so I don’t want to prang the rim (it’s probably at something like 20psi, but I haven’t actually measured it for ages).
Perhaps it’s worse at lower (or higher) pressures, or perhaps I’m just used to it.
Pressure. Small variations in pressure determine the cross sectional profile of a loaded tire. If the pressure is too low, the tire forms an oblong cross section at the tire patch contact point. This oblong cross section is unstable and will allow the rim to move from one side to the other while maintaining a constant tire patch contact surface area. It is less noticeable on irregular surfaces like dirt where you expect constant and rapid surface changes and are ready to correct for them. The dirt is also softer and contours to the tire cross section.
I have seen a change from 18 psig to 20 psig make a Gazz go from squirrely on the road to controllable on the road. That running pressure and pressure differential may be different for your tire. On the Big Apple 29er I needed about 60 psig to make it stable on the road.
I’m running my duro at ~18-20 PSI, and it seems to track straight. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to it since I’ve reduced my pressure over time… When I first got my muni I couldn’t go up a paved hill with the pressure less than 50psi (too much rolling resistance) but as I got more used to the muni vs my old road uni, as well as got better at off-road conditions, I’ve dropped it to where it is now. I was actually thinking the pressure might be too high now, until I pranged the rim while hopping
The only “squirrellyness” I’ve noticed with it is hopping to the side (or parralel to an incline) where the tire seems to spring in the opposite direction of the hop… But I assume this is common for most tires under these conditions (low psi, etc).
Brian,
I recently received an 05’ KH24” with the Duro tire. I’ve got the identical problem which means that the tire is a looser. There are too many great tires out there, why have to get used to a lame tire when there are great choices. I’ll keep it as a spare being I use my 24” on and off road it doesn’t work for me.
Adam
Sounds like an entire batch of lopsided tires if you all are having the same problem.
JL
I’m still having problems with the tire pulling to the side on paved roads with a crown.
I had ‘Duro Racing Wildlife Leopard 24 x 3.0 DH Tire’ ~$20 which worked WITHOUT any pull. I wore that out.
Then switched to an ‘Arrow Racing Wide bite 24x3 DH tire’ ~$40 which pulled.
I then bought a Gazz $80, and it pulls just a badly as the Arrow.
(Replaced the rim, pedals, and seat by the way. Still pulls. )
Observations:
It seems if I ride with high part of the crown on my left it’s bad, while riding with the crown on my right it seems much better.
I have adjusted the seat, even tried setting it a little right or left.
Have Played with air pressure, I like 22 psi in the Gazz to avoid the quirkier sideways/twist when hoping.
Rides fine off the street.
Could it be that since I had been riding my Sun 28 a lot which has little or no feel of the crown, maybe I notice it now on the 24" than I used to?
I liked that cheap Leopard which I wore out. (NOW they are back in stock at UDC.US.)
It is annoying. I’ve been known to tell people that this pull feeling would go away with more riding. It went away when I first got my 24", but now I can’t lose that feeling.
Man, I’m amazed that you guys run a Duro or a Gaz at 18-20 lbs. I weigh 210 lbs, but I can’t imagine that makes that much difference because I run both a Duro and a Gaz (which I’m running now) at 27 psi, and even then I rim out on rocks in Santa Barbara or when I’m “tractoring” over curbs et al on the street. Harper broke down the science of a mushy (low psi) tire as only Harper can, and it’s no mystery why turning is troublesome with a psi below 23 or so. I also find that on forward rolling drops a low pressure will rebound something fierce, whereas a harder tire is harder on the bones but easier to control. But maybe I’m just used to running it high. I do blow out tubes, however (today).
JL