I’m looking at getting a 24" muni, but it seems like the only readily available tire is the duro. I was wondering, If the 3" duro went out of production what would be the alternative tire. I’ve heard of the Intense and the gazz but they both seem too hard to come by.
Which country are you based in?
Your profile does not say.
Also, there is this
Honestly, I don’t know what will happen to 24" MUni if the Duro goes away. My guess is that UDC/KH will work to make it unlikely. Also, there are quite a few older DH bikes that will be out of luck if it goes away. Granted the market for wide 24’s is not big, but it’s probably big enough for one tire to continue into the foreseeable future. Consider that you can still get S5 and S7 tires for old schwinns. That wheel diameter hasn’t been made for 30 years.
I don’t think 24 MUni will continue if the only options are narrower than 2.6. When I went from 2.6 to 3 on my 24 the difference was night and day. Less than 2.6 would be too hard, or too prone to pinch flats in my opinion.
As for the Felt Berm Master. I still think it is a great tire for mixed use. If you are willing to settle for a tire that is good enough for MUni, and excellent on pavement it may be an option for you, but don’t be fooled into thinking it is comparable to a Duro for dedicated MUni. In all honesty, I haven’t used a Duro. My impressions are based on my experience with the Intense DH 3.0, and the Berm Master. That being said I would consider the Duro to by more like the Intense for the purpose of this comparison.
there are other tyres out there just not many. for muni i have only ever used the duro both 26 and 24 a quick search and i found this one it says it is 24 x 3
Rebranded Duro Wildlife?
I just compared the tread pattern of the photo of the Halo Contra 24" x 3" on the Chain Reaction Cycles website with the actual Duro Wildlife 24" x 3" that came on my N24 and it’s the same tire!
So there’s your answer: What happens when the Duro Wildlife 24" x 3" disappears is we start buying & using the Halo Contra 24" x 3".
And at $34.49 from Chain Reaction vs. $55 from UDC US, we get a $20 price break.
Nice! Good find UnicycleSam123!
Yes, great find by UnicycleSam123 and also some very good photo forensics by UPD in Utah.
One of the user reviewers at chainreactioncycles even says, “I am onto my third Halo Contra (previously marketed as the Duro Wildlife Leopard).”
I just checked and I agree, the halo looks exactly the same. And for the person that asked where i am at; I am in the United States.
This was discussed a while back, and the consensus was that it is the same tire. AFAIK Duro is a tire manufacturer, and Halo is a brand that markets the tire. Who knows maybe one day that tire will be available as a Nimbus “TerMUNator”. I know it’s a reach, but …
It can’t be too hard to keep this tire around with one name or another. It’s not like a new mold needs to be made. Look at the threads on the development of the Todd tire. My guess is that if someone wanted to make it available, or maybe the intense, the order number would be far lower than for the Todd due to the existing molds
A little sleuthing and yes, Duro is a tradename of Hwa Fong Rubber Inc out of Taiwan, which has been around since 1945 and produces tires for all sorts of applications.
In looking that up, I noticed that there is also a Duro Razorback which has been offered in 24" x 3.00" and which several have said was also identical to the Wildlife Leopard.
Funny and a bit discouraging to see how quickly and easily knowledge like this can get buried. But it looks like stocks of the 3" wide version with that name might have dried up at this point too. I’m only finding the 2.60" wide ones for sale now.
I’m sure you’re right about the molds still existing and just needing to order a run of a certain quantity of it, whenever supplies get tight again.
Intense and Arrow are no longer made (I still have 5 and one left)
Yes the Halo is a rebranded Duro. But because the tread and even weight the same, doesn’t mean it’s the same tire. Casing, profile, or tread com point could be different.
The Dura wildlife leopard is still going to stay in production for the next 12 months. We actually asked Dura this question last week.
Currently there are 2 importers of the 24" Dura wildlife leopard in to the UK, Unicycle.com and Ison. Ison Distribution (sometimes called ID) rebrand their tyre as the Contra.
Roger
No expert, but seems to me that there will always be a 3.0 available, given that the 36" tire is available and I imagine that has limited market outside the unicycle market (I know there are some 36er bikes, but not many).
Arrow Racing Wide Bite
I have been using an Arrow Racing Wide Bite 24"x3" tire for the past several years. It is a great tire. It is a little bit flatter than the Duro therefore less manuverability but a much better bite and better at skinnies. I spoke with the owner and they make these tires in batches of 100 so they are not continuously available but f he started getting more orders from unicyclist I am sure he would keep a stock of them.
The wife brought back a copy of What Mountain Bike on her last UK trip, and they had a page about the Liteville 601 bike, which has a return to mismatched wheel sizes - small frame sizes use a 24" rear wheel!
They were using a Schwalbe Fat Albert on the bike in the photo (max size is 2.4 I think) but maybe there will be more demand for bigger tires from the bike folks now…
Seeing as how it’s a year later and I’m now in the 24" market, I’m curious what has happened with the Duro Wildlife/Razorback. Has production ceased?
I’ve noticed now that UDC seems to be the only place carrying the 3" Duro branded version, and everywhere else is out of stock. Cost of the tire form UDC is double that of everywhere else, do they have the maket cornered?
The price of rubber has gone through the roof over the last few years, so much so that the tyre industry have changed the way they make tyres. The Duro Wildlife Leopard is an old style tyre that uses a lot of rubber, it is also ideal for unicycles. The tyre cost has doubled in last 2 years which is part of the reason why companies are not willing to fit them to their bikes and hence they are not available.
Roger
Should rubber price go down now as petrol is becomming “very” cheap ?
They have not yet. We got prices only a month ago and they were still higher than last time.
Just out of interest. As I understand it the halo contra is a copy of the Duro. It looks like it is identical. How is it that they are around £10 cheaper and they are still available online. Are they somehow produced in a cheaper way? Is their quality the same?
Thanks
Felix