I have been struggling over the decision on what replacement tire I get for my 24" oracle. I have been throwing that heavy Duro wildlife around for about a year. So far my muni consist of the grass next to the bike trail and the open spaces of the park, some easy single track or the gravel bars on flat creek. I think a lighter more forgiving tire would be better for me as of right now.
Where the dilemma comes in is I aspire to do some of the more difficult single track close to home. These are very technical narrow, winding, up and down, rock and bolder strewn trails in the Missouri hills. And for these it sounds like the Duro Wildlife is the tire of choice. So my thought was to stay with it, get used to it for when the time comes for me to start to attempt them.
On the other hand maybe the Big Roller or another lighter, more forgiving tire would help me get more comfortable off road. And I need to be honest with myself do I reall need to be getting these old bones out on these trails. I ride by my self with the exception of the times I was at the NAUCC (missed this year, won’t miss next year). I gear up like Robo cop but there is no one to call he ambulance out there by myself (I never even considered this stuff when I was 20, just went for it). I still have some tread on my Duro so I have some time to make up my mind.
Or you could take the plunge now for a lighter tire and keep your current Duro in your garage for the day you will ride in the Missouri hills and the lighter tire will have proven insufficient
In general I do not see why a 1,5 kg tire is automatically considered to be better in heavy off road. If you see mtb sports those rubber monsters have not been used any more since many, many years. None of the DH world cup rider do use those tires. Sometimes it appears to me that only the uni/muni community is using up those old school tires… Of course there are many factors for a tire to be considered good or bad. Such as rubber mixture, thread pattern casing, etc. Lots of development has been done over the years, and seeing current munis many of them go for newer, lighter plus size tires. I would go for the lighter one and test it. Especially with the reasonable price…
The requirements are diffenrent. DH Riders have full suspension bikes. the only thing their tire has to do is giving goog grip. On the muni the tire also has to do the suspension.
Also the DH (or whatever discipline) mtb tires need to have suspension, otherwise they will not be able to adjust to the ground and give good grip. Even the best compound would not work without a certain volume.
I agree that the requirements might not excatly be the same, but pretty similar. We can also use modern tires and loose half a kg of rubber.
What I experienced is: on a good MTB suspension you can adjust suspension travel as well as compression and rebound stage. As the tire is the suspension on a muni, lets see to what these 3 translate into.
suspension travel: tire volume (more volume is more travel) and tire pressure (less pressure is more travel (as long as you don't hit the rim))
compression stage: tire pressure (more is harder) and a little bit tire / sidewall stiffness (the stiffer the harder)
rebound stage: tire / sidewall stiffness (the stiffer the slower) and a little bit of tire pressure (more is faster)
So as I experienced it: tire volume is mainly for suspension travel, Tire pressure is mainly for suspension travel and compression stage and sidewall stiffness is mainly for rebound stage.
My Duro rebounds faster when it’s tubeless than when it’s with a tube and slower than my Specialized Purgatory Control with its lighter sidewall. Duro with tube responded too slow for me, duro tubeless and purgatory control with tube respond just fine but purgatory control tubeless would be too fast for me.
Good advice. I think I will take it. I went to order one on the link below and it listed the 24" at the bottom but the only option I see for ordering is the 20". Sorry for my ignorance, I don’t do a lot of online shopping. Where do I go to get the 24".
At last my Muni 24" with the Duro tyre arrived yesterday and I have to say it is a blast… Until yesterday I’ve only ridden a 26 for Muni and despite being really great on bike trails sometimes I find it difficult to be always in control (not falling off) when trying to be more technical (rolling hops on the go, drops, etc…). I’ve always felt that the wheel was slightly too big for my limited Muni skills.
I just want to say I think it is a fantastic wheel size for Muni: I haven’t found the Duro tyre heavy at all and it grips really well (plenty of mud where I live). Perhaps I don’t think that the Duro tyre is heavy because the wheel, hub and frame I’ve got it on are light KH components? (this is the first time I try a KH uni, my 26 is a heavier standard/steel Quax). I am guessing it just doesn’t feel like a heavy tyre to me because the 24 wheel size is altogether easier to handle than the 26 I am used to…
Anyway: I am really happy with the Duro Leopard tyre
I got mine earlier in the week and installed it on a KH24. Yesterday was the first real test with our annual Lake Norman State Park ride, here in North Carolina. It’s a MTB trail that snakes under the trees in the northern end of the lake. It has uphills and downhills, but not too steep. It’s some hard packed soil, few rocks but quite a few tree roots.
Having read LanceB’s review, I had done some experiment with the pressure prior the ride. And settled at 17 PSI - I ride the Duro around 14 I’d say. I almost lowered the pressure at the beginning of the ride but I’m glad I didn’t. As said, the tire has thinner sides. I’m far from being an expert rider, but two or three times, I felt the tire folding when going through a tight hair pin bend and realizing there’s a rock to avoid and you “force” the tire to steer sharply. Lower pressure and it would have been a problem.
I couldn’t tell if the tire auto steers more than the Duro because I’ve never ridden the Duro here, and the trails I’m used to are more flat. Here, because it’s on the flank of several small hills, the trail is rarely flat, so you are always changing your balance to compensate.
The weight difference is very noticeable. Also, I had no brakes on that uni, and the whole thing was sooooo much lighter than my usual 24" setup. Which was very enjoyable.
I love the Duro because it’s like a tractor tire -we were joking yesterday that you could almost forget to put air in it and it would still carry you-, it’s very forgiving and ploughs through anything. But the Big Roller is a very enjoyable tire, great for my skill’s level. In short, it’s a great and welcomed addition to the small range of muni friendly 24" tires. I love it, and at that price, it’s a no brainer!
I agree! The Duro is a great tire, and is the “workhorse” of the muni world (especially 24"), but this lightweight newcomer is a great addition to the group. Since riding styles and trail conditions vary so much, having options is very nice!
I had a longer ride yesterday in a hilly area, about 6 miles with about 2000’ of climbing. I enjoyed the lighter weight on the uphills!
Just to follow up on the Big Roller review, I ended up going back to the Duro. The light weight of the BR is great, but I got tired of having to concentrate so much on making it go where I wanted it to go. I didn’t fully appreciate the sturdy, reliable tracking of the Duro before, but I do now. So now I just suck it up and plug away on the uphills, knowing that the ensuing downhills will be predictable and fun.
Everyone’s riding style and abilities are different, and there are many different types of trails, so I don’t think my personal experience should count for everyone. Fortunately, this tire is cheap enough that it’s not difficult to try it out for yourself, and see how it goes. Cheers!
Hi have noticed that there are two thread patterns available for the big roller.
One of the two seems aggressive enough for some easy muni with driftings, the other is not interesting at all.
Which one have you tried?
Also, does it feel more air volume than the duro?
Yes it definitely feals more volume, wrinkles at 18- 25 psi nicely. Lower rolling resistance at those pressures . No where near the sence of gash resistant sidewalls, but at nearly half the weight and easily available? I have only had it mounted up a couple weeks. We will se how it holds up?
I can't figure out how to load a picture.
I posted a photo on my earlier post on the previous page.
Yes, the tread is fine for muni, I’m pretty sure it is intended for a younger/smaller person’s bmx/mountain bike. I wouldn’t recommend big drops with it. Maybe it would be OK, just my opinion.
I think the volume is about the same as the Duro, but since it has softer sidewalls, it may seem like more.
I rode a couple miles today on this big roller tire. Found the crown of the road or slope of trail dictates the direction way more than the Duro or the Gaza tires I normally use. This big roller climbs the crown or angle of slope fighting you to go straight. I found it frustrating just to go straight. On the plus side the tire rolls well, is nice and cushy, is lighter, does not hold mud or rocks much.Not giving up Just haven’t found the magic psi yet. The Duro and the Gaza are hard to beat, with the Gaza being my favorite!
Thanks to all for the reviews on the Big Roller. I got one and have done a couple of short rides. I have a couple of things to add here:
This tire shines at higher pressure (than the Duro) - it is nimble and responsive for me at around 18 -20 psi or so - any lower and the thinner sidewalls are too soft and self-steer a bit.
This tire can handle sizeable drops. I took it off a 3 ft drop a few times (at 18-20 psi) with no pinch flats.
Specialized appears to have used a tubeless compatible bead on this tire. After getting a thorn-induced flat, I set it up tubeless using gorilla tape and a Stans Downhill strip on an Alex DX32 rim and it is solid - no burping yet even on side-hops and akward landings (at 18-20 psi).
This tire makes a decent urban tire. I use my 24 for mostly urban/trials stuff and the occasional muni ride - this tire work well for that mix. The tire also does well on hard pack and loose-over-hard. It did better in the sand than I though it would, but not quite as well as the Duro.
Its not as springy as the Duro or the Berm Master, but its springy enough and the light weight makes up for it on jumps.
The tire seems to have slightly better grip for muni if you run it backwards from the recommended direction. It is slightly smoother on pavement running it the direction its supposed to go.
Follow-up to my review above after a few more rides.
Tubeless riding:
The thinner sidewalls produced more noticeable fold-over when tubeless. I transferred it over to a wider KH rim (47mm vs 39mm for the DX32) which helped a bit, but still not perfect. The KH Rim leaked a bit more b/c the Stans downhill strip is a bit narrow for this tire.
Muni in Sand / Loose Conditions and Climbing:
This tire dies in loose / sandy conditions. The small wheel size combined with the low knob height and higher pressure (due to thin sidewalls) causes the tire to dig and slip in sand instead of floating and gripping. you definitely want the Duro (or a bigger wheel) for sandy / loose. My previous review was a little more optimistic, but I didn’t ride it in deeper sand (>2").
the tire is a decent climber due to the light wieght, but has a tendency to slip on loose-over-hard due to the smaller wheel size and higher pressure.
Urban Riding:
The light weight, low knobs, and higher pressure needed for this tire make it a decent urban tire. The flatter profile and knob pattern grips more than the Berm Master making it better on slippery surfaces, but worse when turning on blacktop.
I think the ideal setup for this tire is with a tube on wider rim (KH) to provide bounce and stability. This tire is most at home on hardpack, lose-over-hard and urban environments. It would make a great all-round tire for riders under 175 lb who mix urban and muni, and don’t ride in loose conditions.
Just a note, a tubeless specific rim makes riding tubeless amazing. I’ve ridden tubeless on a KH rim and it was horrible to me. I eventualy switched wheel size and rim and tubeless is probably the best thing I have ever done. I love it.
Of course there are many factors for a tire to be considered good or bad. Such as rubber mixture, thread pattern casing, etc. Lots of development has been done over the years, and seeing current munis many of them go for newer, lighter plus size tires. I would go for the lighter one and test it. Especially with the reasonable price…
