hi all,
when buying tyres for a muni do you get a front tyre or rear?
do you call our single wheel a driver or a steerer?
on my hatchet that i recently built i went for a maxxis minnion fbr but just wondering what others thoughts are.
The #1 thing I look for is what mountain bikers call “self-steer”. You don’t want any. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s a front or rear tire.
That’s for trials unicycles… Different thing.
I haven’t had any front/rear specific tires yet, so I can’t tell you. I doubt it will be a general rule, it probably depends on the specific model.
What I can tell you, is that I recommend choosing the heaviest sidewall you can get. It might just be my riding style, but tires with thin sidewalls (like the Knard for example), tend to fold and feel unstable when doing abrupt, sharp turns or landing a jump slightly sideways.
I’ve had good results with Schwalbe tyres. For a couple of years I had a Nobby Nic (27.5x3), commonly used as a rear tyre although not marketed rear specific, but switched this winter to a Magic Mary (27.5x2.8). In contrast, again although not sold as such specifically, a lot of bikers use the Magic Mary as a front tyre…
I’m loving the extra grip of the Magic Mary, which gives just a bit more braking ability on steep muddy downslopes, but I don’t think front or rear bias makes a big difference.
Both Schwalbes are way better than the Knard (29x3) I had before, which self steered all over the place, presumably due to the flimsy carcass. This, and the overall grip is more of a deciding factor for me.
That must be subjective cause I’m very happy with my 29x3 knard tire, and don’t have any self steering issues with it.
My worst nightmare was a kenda tire, my very first tire, but maybe my technique was the real issue then.
I’ll admit I was running at quite low pressures (20psi) for offroad, and it would pull really badly on road or hard-pack dirt sections. Higher pressures (40+) would tame it somewhat for riding on the road, but then it was too hard for me offroad. I also turned the tyre to rotate the other way, maybe it was psycological but that also seemed to help…
Easy, stay in between. I don’t know how technical your off-roading is, but average dirt roads are fine with 30-35 PSI. Also on-road is fine with that pressure. I only put more pressure in the 32" and 36" which have road-tires.
For Muni you need to mount the tyre as a front tyre if it has a direction it.
Direction on tyres is only partly due to the tread pattern, it is mainly to do with the weave within the carcass of the tyre. The weave within the carcass is designed either to keep it’s shape under load or collapse under load (this depending on the direction the tyre is fitted). So on a bike you a front tyre will need to keep it’s shape under braking and the rear tyre under acceleration.
For unicyclists, generally speaking we need to keep the shape of the tyre on descents, so this is similar to a front tyre. We do not have the sharp acceleration like bikes so that the tyre deforms going forward is not a problem, in fact it offers additional grip.
Roger
Does slogging up a steep hill cause the same deformation?
If deformation causes more of the tire’s surface area to touch the ground, that would suggest more traction, more surface area of the tire touching the ground. A less deforming tire (perhaps under higher pressure), on the other hand, would penetrate the surface of the ground better with its treads, right? So, I’m wondering if, as is the case with so many other things, “it depends”. The conditions on my local trails are pretty firm. Does more deformation still give better traction under drier, firmer conditions?
I’ll typically try tires both ways to see if one way runs “straighter” than the other way. Some tires really pull to the side or are more draggy when run backwards while others are improved.
My own personal experience suggests that front tires tend to track better, and roll better than rear tires. I tend to run both front or rear tires in their intended direction of travel, and Front/Rear tires in the front configuration. but honestly the difference is usually pretty minimal.
If the tire is collapsing under load you probably want that to happen on acceleration rather than braking as you would be loosing stability, and stability while breaking is important…
Yes, going up a hill is the same as acceleration. So there would be in theory some deformation, so increasing grip.
I will say this is all theory and the difference is only slight and you do need to check what works best for you. My experience is that this theory is right and if you are having to choose, then this is likely to be the direction to go. 
Roger
I just have a bad fall having a king george ultimate (tubeless setup) collapsing while hard acceleration after a downhill (It was an under road bike path… I did the descent braking and than push hard to accelerate as soon as I see noone coming). What kind of light 36" tyre should I ride?