How did the individual tires rate on Roadways…anyone Know?
I have now ordered a new 29" and have a day or two to confirm my tire choice.
The Schwalbe Big Apple (700c x 2.35) concerns me since it reacts strongly to road crown - which I have here on local streets. I don’t necessarily want to “Get Used” to a challenging tire if there are better options,
The Nano Raptor is mainly a light trail tire. I know it has it’s drawback on hard surfaces if pressure isn’t right. But, that aside, anyone using one of these on the street?
Also, any of the riders from U-Turn’s study want to chime in?
Actually the study is still under way, and the riders have committed to not comment until all the riders have finished and I have had time to develop a summary from their responses. This approach gives all riders equal weight and incentive to finish.
If you are considering a Nanoraptor, it is not designed as a road tire and there have been some safety issues which are still unresolved. Please see http://www.livewireunicycles.com/TechAlert%20-%207%20June%202005%20Nanoraptor%20Blowout%20Problem.htm for more details. There are apparently some configurations which do not seat well on the rim. I have asked for data on some of these blowouts, but some of the persons involved have not yet responded to my emails.
The Schwalbe 700 x 2.0 is very good with crowned roads. I ride one almost every day on heavily crowned roads.
Well the 2.3 is, IMHO, a great tire for unicycling. There are few of them, and this is one of them. It handles bumps well, turns like a dream (more smoothly than any other tire, I think), has a mini-Cokerish feel, but still climbs nicely. It reacts to crowns better than most, including the Coker tire, but one does have to fight it some.
The 2.0 does not turn real well and has no mini-Cokerish feel. However, it climbs extremely well, is light and responsive, and has plenty of padding for bumps and things. And it absolutely ignores road crown, in my experience. I would say this tire is as “great” as the 2.0, but for specialty road use (lots of hills, crowned roads).
Their cross-sectional profiles are similar, but the internal construction apparently does not scale in a way that their performance is similar.
If you are riding around town, doing lots of turns, get the 2.3. If you are doing distance and climbing lots of hills, get the 2.0.
U-turn and Roadkill-- I’m really looking forward to learning the
results of the 29er tire study. Personally, I prefer the the 2.1
Nanoraptor (NR) for general purpose riding on all surfaces. Granted,
the Nanoraptor is not as Cokerishly smooth as the 2.35 Schwalbe Big
Apple (BA), but I like the performance of the NR (over the BA) on
crowned, sloped, or slanted surfaces. Most of the residential roads
and bike paths in my area are crowned or banked. I find that it’s a
much more of a struggle for me to control the BA on these surfaces,
particularly on banked, twisty bike paths. This is not a problem with
the NR. I love the feel of the BA, but the NR gives me much less
anxiety. --carl (Grand Forks, North Dakota)
The WTB ExiWolf 2.3 is an oustnding tire for both road and oofroad, It corners well and has little noticable crown following tendency. Corners much better then the nanoraptoer.
I’ve never noticed any problem with the Big Apple 2.35 on crowned roads - most of the rural roads I ride are crowned.
The Big Apple is considerably smoother than the Nanoraptor I was riding before. It soaks up bumps better, turns really well, and doesn’t feel as twitchy on the road as the Nanoraptor.
Actually your original request was for “on the street”. I’d only use the BA on light, hard surfaced paths with few or no obstructions. It likes a higher pressure which is not conducive to riding rougher trails.
"'Actually your original request was for “on the street”. "
Oh…was that me?
Your right and road use is my intention. But I take a few light trails every now and then. I also wanted to open-up the discussion a little.
The Nanos are a great all round tyre- it works fine on the road, whereas something more aggressive will probably get all the knobs rubbed off in a couple of rides. Off road the Nanos work fine too.
On our Queen Charlotte Ride three of the four unicyclists were on Nanos, which hooked up well on the clay singletrack. It was a little slippery in the mud, not quite as good as the Motoraptor I was using. But then the Motos are really only an off-road tyre.
I haven’t tried the Big Apple, but from what I’ve heard it works well as a road only tyre.
"The Nanos are a great all round tyre- it works fine on the road, whereas something more aggressive will probably get all the knobs rubbed off in a couple of rides. Off road the Nanos work fine too. "
Thanks for your reply GizmoDuck.
3 for the “Big Apple”
2 for the Nanoraptor
1 for the WTB ExiWolf 2.3
By-the-way, the Queen Charlotte Ride looked like a lot of fun.
i find big apple is more sensitive to crowns the lower the tyre pressure. 60 pounds and is okay but definately takes cushion effect away off road ( i lower pressure off road)
when will the results of the 29 tyre test come out?
The Big Apple is just super on roads. I’ve not found anything else that comes close.
The main thing that causes problems with crowned roads is just inexperience, you get used to riding on crowned roads once you’re used to a tyre.
Off road, you don’t want to run a big apple if it’s muddy or wet. It works surprisingly well on dry singletrack, but not as well as a proper off road tyre. The extra turning ability is useful though.
thanks jim rob, will see if they will ship to OZ,
have been riding big aplle on local BMX track and it really struggles with the fine loose surface dirt.
my brother has a 26 by 3 muni and it handles the surface stuff
much better but the longer cranks and smaller diameter dont help with getting enough speed to get up the jumps.
not trying to hijack this thread but has anyone else tried out bmx tracks (i can reccomend it as a bit of fun)
