As mentioned earlier, the Gazz was (is) a great MUni tire; it’s not very square. But tire pressure is also a factor. On dirt, there’s a lot more leeway. but the Gazz on pavement was usually a pain to ride, high pressure or low. They just aren’t made for that.
A while back, I was trying to find an alternate (and cheaper) 24" MUni tire for my old Wilder. I bought a pair of something that looked good (I’m not at home to check brand & model); they made me buy a pair because of their minimum sale amount. That tire sucked! Bad on pavement and bad on the dirt. Same problem with always pulling to one side or the other. Kind of like riding on carpet, only worse. I tried all different tire pressures, but finally had to admit I’d wasted a bunch of money. No, I will not offer them for sale to unicyclists. Anyone want a pair of knobby 24" MTB tires for a 2-wheeler? I’ll look up the details if anyone is actually interested.
Having a narrow rim isn’t a bad thing. You will just have to keep in mind that the bigger the tire, the rounder it will be because of the narrower base (your rim).
And with a wider rim, it will require you to run higher pressure than on a wider rim because the tire will folder over or just twist more on the rim because it doesn’t have as much of a lateral support.
I am doing some Muni on a 26" (65mm rim) and 29" (38mm rim) and I have fun with both. I am just not running the same pressure because of the different tires and rims.
Do not give up, it will be plenty of additional fun when you’ll get your tire right
Inside width. Think about it as the part of the rim that is squeezing the beads together. On a narrow rim the tires will measure narrower than they do on wide rims as well.
I may be interested for my son’s mountain bike. Let me know the width and I’ll see if they fit his frame.
While the late great Sheldon Brown’s website is an excellent source of lots of information it is fairly heavily biased to road biking. I have tried tires twice as wide as the rim and feel you need to keep the tire too firm to take advantage of the fatter tire, and I have tried tires about the same width as the rim and while they ride great the risk of pinch flats is drastically increased. 1.5:1 seems like a good tire to rim width ratio for a unicycle.
On the subject of wide tires not riding well I have to agree that it has more to do with the tire profile than width, and even more important than profile is tread pattern.
I had a similar experience with a Ardent tire a couple years ago. It looked promising but the high centre ridge with aggressive side knobs was a terrible combination for unicycling. We need a fairly uniform tread pattern to keep the tire from pulling us off course when the various tread elements engage. I now avoid any tire that has that gap between the centre rolling tread and the edge gripping tread like the plague.
But my 20" has a 47mm rim -about 1.8"- which would mean a tire 2.7" wide. That doesn’t exist, and in any case, wouldn’t fit my frame. Somebody -jtrops, I think- indicated that a 1:1 tire to rim width ratio would be OK as a minimum. If I did try such an arrangement, would pumping my narrow tire up to 85 or 110psi keep it safer from pinch flats?
Aha! Now that you mention it, I think that’s why switching to a 2.4" Sticky Fingers set me back to square one for doing counterclockwise turns in reverse.
recommended the Surly Dirt Wizard 26x 2.75 in the german forum. It’s 835g light. He tells that the handling characteristics are well balanced and it is good controllable in turns.
The tires say 2.75 on the side, but I don’t see them getting wider than 2.5" when inflated. Less than that from corner knob to corner knob when unmounted. I don’t know how to contact you. Please send email to jfoss at unicycling com. I have some photos now, but don’t want to gunk up this thread.
Then again, I suppose it’s on topic if I show some examples of a tire that did not seem to ride well on dirt or pavement, at any pressure, on my Sun Doublewide rim :):
Others have already pointed this out, but large, sparse & poorly oriented knobs on the Butcher are likely the source of your disappointment and difficulties with this tire. Note that there is a large gap between the two centerline rows and the very large edge knobs, and there are no transition knobs between them.
Think about the footprint of this tire under different pressures. At low pressures the edge knobs likely are touching the ground and make for a large footprint that resists rotation about the center axis (twist of the wheel when standing still). At high pressure the side knob likely are not engaged and you are mostly running on the two centerline rows – until you lean the wheel over in a banked turn. As you lean the tire over, all of a sudden the edge knobs engage, but only after the gap between them and the centerline knobs is bridged. This tends to cause “autosteering” (pulling) towards the direction of the edge knobs that are now engaging.
Now compare the tread pattern of the Schwalbe Hans Dampf, below. Note the differently oriented knobs in the “transition zone” between the centerline and the edge of the tire. These “transition knobs” are engaged slightly when running straight under reasonably low pressure, then really come into play by evenly gripping the surface when you lean the tire through a banked turn. Their small size, and relatively low profile also means that they don’t overly resist rotation about the center axis (twist of the wheel when standing still). Consequently, rapid changes in direction require less force.
I’ve been riding the original 26 x 2.35 Hans Dampf for about 18 months now, and I really like it. I bought the original version before the “Super Gravity” version came out, and I bought the version with the “Trail Star” compound rather than the “Pace Star” compound, because that was what was available at my LBS (GoRide). Although the sidewalls of the Super Gravity version are thicker, and would therefore provide protection from snakebite and rock cuts, I think it’s overkill for my ability, weight, riding style, and aggressiveness / risk tolerance, plus it’s 250 g heavier (1015 g vs. 765 g). If I rode more big drops, it would likely be a better choice because of its increased durability – but I was looking to keep the weight down, and the snakeskin sidewalls of the normal version are surprisingly tough.
As for the choice of Trail Star over Pace Star compound, I just rode my Trail Star compound tire on the Slickrock & Porcupine Ridge trails during the Moab munifest and I can attest to its incredible stickiness. It’s ability to stick to slickrock is stunning. That being said, I probably would have bought a Pace Star compound tire if I had had that option. Why? The stickiness of the Trail Star compound is overkill for most of what I ride (dirt & loose rocks), and, being softer, it wears faster. Others on the forum are completely happy with the performance of the Pace Star version of Hans Dampf.
The non Super Gravity version retails for about $70, and the Super Gravity version is a few bucks more. That compares to about $90 for the Dirt Wizard. Speaking of the DW, I’d be interested in hearing more about people’s experiences with it. One guy who was riding it in Moab (maybe Osmundo?) mentioned that he was having some issues with it autosteering (pulling to the uphill side), so the DW jury is still out in my book.
I do believe you’d like the performance of the Hans Dampf much more than the Butcher, but individual milage may vary. Perhaps you can find some local riders with different set ups that you can try before you buy.
Had another hard lesson in proper tire pressure yesterday. After fixing my pinch flat on Nimbus Oregon 26 yesterday I hit the unforgiving trails out my back gate. The Nimbus Oregon is mounted with stock Surly Nate 26x4 (3.8?). After I replaced the tube I pumped the tire up to about 14-16 PSI. I immediately had issues with the tire being much too firm. Every little rock and root seemed determined to bounce me off! So I stopped and unscientifically let out some air. Now I started having serious tracking issues and the ride was very sloppy and seemed to take a lot more effort than I’d experience on my previous two rides. So I stopped once again and with a hand pump added probably 2 PSI. I need to check but I’m guessing it’s now running about 12 PSI. Wow what a difference! Ride felt as amazing as it did the day before (well, before I pinch flatted!). The tracking was good and I was now floating over the rough terrain much easier and not getting bounced out of the saddle. So check that tire pressure and check it often!
So I spent $60 on something that doesn’t work. sucky. I guess I’ll go back to my specialized 2.3. I figured since Unigoat uses the Butcher SX, and others said my tire pressure was way too high, maybe I’d give it one more try at lower pressures. idk. I’m just really bummed I lost money on it.
I haven’t tried many rim widths, but for what I have, wider is always better on every uni (47’s the widest I’ve tried).
+1 for all the tires I’ve tried. Once after replacing a worn tire w/ another of the same thing and I didn’t like the rounder profile, then I realized the worn tire was effectively more square.
+1 I like my Muni tire at 12.5 psi (I use a digital gauge accurate to .5 psi)
+1 on what UPD in Utah said. For AM or XC riding, the Hans Dampf is the tire to get. Weight is excellent, tread pattern is excellent, and volume is juuuust right. For DH and real technical riding, I still like my Duro though, but I’ve heard the Muddy Mary is great too.
Even though I’m not always running one, I love Schwalbe tires. They are bit pricey, but worth the cash IMO.
So I finally got around to measuring my “Goldilocks” tire pressure in my 26x4 Surly Nate on the Nimbus Oregon. I figured it would have been 12-14 psi as that is what I typically run on my 24x3 Nokian Gazz or Duro (have for years). WRONG! I was running ~10 PSI! TEN! I think the higher volume tire with wider rim allows me to get by with lower PSI. So rim width along with tire width is also a factor to consider too. For reference I’ve been running <10 PSI in my fat-bike tires most of the time, probably as low as 5-6 PSI so it’s no wonder that in my fat-unicycle I run roughly twice that pressure to feel about the same.
Im kind of surprised that no one has said to just get used to the tire
I recently switched from a 24 to a 26 and the tire choice was quite a learning curve for me. I had a duro on the 24 and that thing rolled like a dream for me. On the 26 it had a schwalbe wicked will 2.5 and it took me maybe 3 rides to get used to it and also tweaking with the tire pressure as well.
There is no such thing as wasting your money on a tire, you just have to find a way to apply the tire with your riding. Its amazing how just switching tube sizes can affect the ride of a tire. There are many things you can do to make a tire more comfortable I think.
You can also shave or cut the knobs to change the handling. I would experiment w/ an old tire. If you cut off every other knob on the outer sides, the tire’s weight will be reduced at the most significant spot and turn a bit easier at speed.
I think you can get used to most tires, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a ‘good’ tire. My Dissent would pull you damn-near sideways on trails, and I got used to that and leanred to compensate for it in my riding. I did plenty of great things on that tire, but when I switched to a Hans Dampf, I realized what I had been missing.
I think all tires have good points and bad points. You learn to utilize the good, and deal with the bad. But on some tires, I think the bad points outweigh the good, and can hold you back.
sucky. I guess I’ll go back to my specialized 2.3. I figured since Unigoat uses the Butcher SX, and others said my tire pressure was way too high, maybe I’d give it one more try at lower pressures. idk. I’m just really bummed I lost money on it.
