I was recently searching for a road tire to put on my 26" Nimbus MUni because I have been riding more asphalt these days and the Duro 26x3 seemed like major overkill. After looking over the forums I saw only a few reviews for the Hookworm 26x2.5 and none for the Big Apple 26x2.35. The 29er Big Apple seems to have a pretty good following so I decided to give it a try.
First impression: I personally think this tire on the wide MUni rim looks killer. It was taunting me with its smooth tread pattern and I immediately took it for a ride with the 150mm Moments I used for MUni with the Duro. It was like riding a satin road. No sound or resistance, just smooth rubber and Kevlar.
The only thing that seemed wrong was the cranks, the amount of torque those delivered wasn’t necessary so I swapped them for 125mm Venture cranks and now this MUni flys! I took it for another ride and I was in love. I had never tried that short of cranks on my 26" so I had a few problems with mounting and gracefully dismounting at first. After the swap I found that I can ride around 3 miles with ease when 2 miles on the MUni crank/tire setup would make my legs burn.
I tried various tire pressures and found that this tire doesn’t do well with really low pressure. It was nearly impossible to control if the tire was too soft because the sidewalls just fold up.
The only things I would change about this tire would be to make it around 3" wide for more volume/shock absorption and make the sidewalls a little more rigid because they tend to fold a bit when I make fast & sharp turns.
Overall I love this tire and it has completely transformed my MUni into a very comfortable and fast street machine.