Got a new unicycle for Christmas. A 29 inch Nimbus Muni with the Duro Crux tire. Also got a more “road friendly” tire…the Vee Tire Speedster 29 x 2.8.
No problems with the Duro Crux 29 x 3.25. Normal/average camber sensitivity (from my experience).
Put on the Vee Speedster and camber sensitivity was so bad that it made riding no fun. I was constantly correcting for it even in cases of very minimal camber. It was acting more as a camber detection device! I tried with pressure at 30 psi, 40 psi (max is 30, but I figured I would try it for a short while) and also with pressure around 17 psi (I weight 200 lbs, so it was pretty squishy at that psi). At all pressures, the camber sensitivity was extreme.
This tire has a very round profile and has minimal tread particularly in the center. I also noticed that it was very squirrelly, but I attribute that mostly to it being smooth and relatively low resistance.
Anyone else try this tire or have a similar experience with another tire?
This is the fattest smooth tire that I have used any any uni besides my 36 with the nightrider tire. On my 26 I have used the stock Wildlife Leopard 3 inch tire and a WTB Ranger 3 inch tire. I have also used a Schwinn 2 inch hybrid tire. None of those have had excessive camber sensitivity.
Thorofareken,
Your experience matches what I have read and experienced first hand. The “road friendly” Vee Speedster type tire is really only road friendly on a bicycle, not a unicycle. I find that the more off road type tread the tire has, the less sensitive to road camber it is. It seems that with the off road tread there is more flexibility between the tire casing and the road surface. With less flexibility between the tire casing and the road surface as the Vee Speedster, it handles road camber poorly. Even with the off road type tread, when the tread gets worn down the flexibility between the tire casing and the road surface will decrease and it will handle road camber more poorly as it wears down.
I see that same effect on my 36" tires. On the Coker Non-skid off road type tire there is essentially no impact due to road camber. On my Nightrider tire as it gets worn down, the camber effect has gotten worse over time.
JimT, that sounds right, that the casing flexibility is the issue (or lack thereof causing more sensitivity to camber). I also imagine that a more narrow tire would be less sensitive to it.
I ride a lot of payment so I don’t want to keep the Duro Crux on there since it will get worn down quickly and I want to save it for offroad. I put on a 2.35 Maxxis Icon which is quite knobby, but I don’t have any other use for it so I don’t mind if it wears down. I’m thinking that it will be pretty average with regard to camber sensitivity.
I can stand some sensitivity, but the Speedster was just extreme. Quite remarkable really. When I had the whole road to play with, I could either just ride in the middle or just keep correcting on the sides, but it made it quite dicey when a car was passing and I was forced to stay to the side on the greater camber. Very difficult to keep within a narrow path.
Went for a 7 mile ride on the 29 x 2.35 Maxxis Ignitor (I mistakenly called it the Ikon above) and did not notice any particular camber sensitivity around 30 psi. It is reasonable on pavement, but I would still prefer a smoother tread.
Always had problems with road camber on my 20-24" Unicycles but when I upgraded to the Nimbus 29" with Crux 3.25" I didn’t notice it at all. My 36" doesn’t have a problem either. Guess I won’t put a road tyre on my 29", but that’s fine I have the 36" for road I’ll just keep the 29" for all terrain riding.
My 29 road wheel is a Maxxis Torch 29 x 2.10 on an old 38 mm KH rim (no cutouts). Excellent grip, very stable, very low rolling resistance and low camber susceptibility.
I don’t know well how it would go on a wider rim.
Mine has a wire bead but they seem to only make the foldable bead now.
The Duro Crux is 60 TPI while the Vee Tire Speedster is 120 TPI. In my understanding the higher tpi makes the tire more susceptible to camber, as the tire better conforms to the road’s surface.
The is no consensus among unicyclist about what properties of a tyre affect it susceptibility to camber. Some opinions are diametrically opposed.
My guess is that it depends on the interaction between factors and the style of the rider.
My own take is that the ability of the tread to move laterally without putting a strong sideways force is important. Hence flexible sidewalls seem better to me.
For a tyre to be predictable and go when you point it, it needs to hold it’s shape. Hence why camber sensitivity is (generally) worse on ultralight, low pressure tyres.
I’ve found squarer tyres better because they tend to deform less than round profile tyres. When I cut down the sideknobs on the Nimbus Nightrider tyre, it became much more camber sensitive.
I was wondering if anyone has tried a foam tyre insert (eg. Cush Core or Nukeproof ARD) to see if it makes any difference? You have to go tubeless and they may not be deep enough, but they may help with sidewall deformation.
Different types seem to have different profiles so it might take a bit of experimentation.
I tried a 29 x 2.2 WTB Slick Comp tire tonight on a 9.5 mile ride. Inflated to max pressure of 65 psi. Low camber sensitivity. Enjoyable ride. I seem to have found my road tire. I was hoping to find a 2.8 to 3.0 inch road tire just for the increased diameter, but I’m satisified with this one.
Not sure which characteristic(s) of this tire is giving low camber sensitivity but here are some observations:
Round profile, with no tread in the center most used part. At 65 psi, there is no way in normal riding that I would be using any part that wasn’t slick.
Side casing pretty flexible and tall. Side casing felt slightly more flexible without air than Vee Speedster tire.
It is narrower than the Speedster tire…2.2 vs 2.8. Even mountain bike riders comment on fat tires having “self steer”.
No spec given, but I imagine based on cost, the WTB Slick tire is a low TPI tire.
The Vee Speedster does have a smoother center part and than somewhat more knobby toward the outside. The knobbier section does come into play some even during road riding because of the width of the tire and relatively low max pressue of 30 psi. Is this change in tread pattern/ possible grip difference causing the increased camber sensitivity?
Either I’ve just been lucky or haven’t tried enough tires, but I must admit I’ve never really experienced self-steering: Yes, I’ve ridden with the wrong inflation pressure of Plus and high TPI tires that ride totally squirmy or delayed or just feel wrong, but I think that is different from what others describe. About the closest is on the road when I sometimes feel like I’m leaning my upper body continually to one side, but I think this may have more to do with the road camber (Nightrider tire on my 36").
However, my daughter is experiencing self-steer riding muni on a trials uni. I don’t experience it on the same unicycle, but then I weigh almost 3 times as much! It’s a Trials (19") 20 x 2.5 Inch (67-387) Maxxis Creepy Crawler. The sidewalls seem pretty strong and hefty (it’s a trials tire), and we haven’t experimented much but even a really low pressure where I flatten the tire to the rim the sidewalls barely move when she rides it. She’s riding it for muni and unfortunately in the 19" Trials size I think there are no cross-country like tires and most seem similar. It’s probably just the wrong tire for muni riding at her weight, but if anyone has any suggestions.
As I said, I can’t comment on self-steer, but it is likely that an insert might affect it: I run home-made inserts from insulation (like a cheap Chuck Norris) and mine affects the sidewalls in my plus 3" and 2.8" tires: a) the lower part of the sidewalls are stiffer as the insert pushes the walls apart and b) however usually this allows running lower pressure so the upper sidewall may actually be softer with lower air pressure (although you could probably run the tire with higher pressure and the insert). I would expect that it would be different, but not necessarily better (Note that the effect of the insert is higher at low pressures and probably minimal at higher pressures, but in the sub 20 psi range I think it’s significant). And on a tubeless tire the tread “moves” more as it doesn’t have the support/friction of the inner tube, so this too should make it different when switching from tube to tubeless+insert. So probably worth a try. It would be pretty inexpensive to experiment with insulation foam strips from the hardware store (like mine) or maybe even a pool noodle or pipe insulation for a fatty.
Have only tried it for a short time, but the WTB Slick 2.2 seems good. I really had no joy with the Schwalbe Big apple 29 x 2.35 tyre, the camber was horrendous with it and the WTB Slick seems to do the job as intended. Very happy!
Somewhere is a thread about my problems with the new M41 uni and in the end it turned out that the tire was to blame. The very same tyre you have problems with. I really should replace it, it’s just no fun to ride, none at all.
Try the schwable hurricane you will love it. 29 x 2.5. I ride it on pavement and crushed limestone one my 29st at 35 psi. Semi smooth tread in the center mild nobs on the sides of you need a little extra grip.
That is a cool tire. I ride a lot of payment but sometimes want to ride on grass/dirt trails. This would be perfect and keep me from having to switch tires all the time.
I’m telling you it is a great tire. I’ve tried a few others before this one and they are all hanging on a hook in my garage. I have to say the tread life is really good also
I find this too, I have a 27.5 fat tire uni, used to have a 24x2.6 uni wide a wide rim and slick tire, and 29x2.25 with a light tread tire on a narrow rim. I find that the narrow rim and rounder tire has almost no camber effect.