Yeah I usually max out the psi around 50, which still feels very close to the max, probably because I’m not very heavy at 145lbs. I have also wondered if the newer coker tire might offer a better ride on the road, as far as camber is concerned.
I’d be very interested in hearing from anyone who has ridden this tire and even better if anyone has ridden both the newer coker tire and the nightrider, and how you would compare them for road riding.
Edit: The coker tire’s max is only 32 psi, looks heavier than the nightrider, and the coker website describes it only as an offroad tire. Still would like to hear opinions on it.
This is definitely true of motorcycle tires (for turning more than camber, but same principle), so should be true for uni tires as well. Probably doesn’t get discussed much because not many people ride enough to wear down tires like you do!
My Coker came with the non-skid tire, and I’ve never ridden another 36 tire. So no basis to compare, but I’ve been very happy with the non-skid. Nice rounded profile, and I notice camber on this very little, and much less than my (former) guni with 26x2.4 Ardent. It seems to roll fine on pavement, there is a constant contact thread so it’s not bumpy. At the same time, it has really good traction, on everything from loose gravel to snow and ice (I’ve ridden it on icy days when people were having trouble walking - got some great comments that way). I keep thinking of getting a Nightrider tire, for higher pressure and lower weight. But then I go on another mixed surface ride on my 36er, love it, and figure there’s no reason to switch. So overall, my thought is that it’s a great tire, with downsides being higher weight, and lower pressure (although pressure is only a disadvantage for road riding).
I think $82 every 10,000 miles is not an unreasonable expense. Why don’t you get a new one and see how much difference it makes?
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I like my old Coker Button tire. It does ok with road camber, and it doesn’t pick up rocks and stuff when I ride off road. Are the newer ones much better? The only thing that really catches my eye is the 65 psi rating on the Nightrider tire, but people have had trouble with blow outs at that pressure…
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I noticed the same thing on my 19" today. The try-all tire has a pretty much square profile now that I’ve worn it down in the middle. I can definitely feel it pull me toward the gutter when I’m practicing in the street. I think I’ll cut the knobs off the sides to try to round the profile again. I wonder how much difference it will make for tricks like crank idling.
The button tire is probably better with chamber with how round it is, but more rolling resistance than the Coker XLR or Nightrider.
I don’t think people should get quite too excited about the number written on the side of the tire. You can make the Coker tires just as hard. It says 32 psi on the side, but you can put them in the upper 40s easy, and no one seems to have problems with them blowing out or anything. The XLR is also definitely the smoothest tire, but since we are talking about chamber, it is also the most square so I’m sure Nightrider is better is this area.
Does the height of the unicycle or wheel diameter have anything to do with resistance to road crown pulling? It seems that a 20er pulls worse than a 26er, which is worse than a 36er. I don’t notice road crown much on the 36er.
I reckon it’s more to do with the profile of the tyre. My 36er (TA tyre) is by far the worst of my unicycles for camber problems. Tyre pressure makes quite a difference as well, although people seem to have different opinions on whether high or low pressure is better. My TA is not too bad up to about 25 psi (which is what I usually run it at) but anything above 30 psi and it wants to throw me into the hedge.
I found this on google street. It appears that someone got it right. I think the round profile will climb the road crown. A better crown climbing profile would be a “V”, but probably can’t be shaped from a normal tire.
