How quickly do tires normally last before you really need to change them out? I supposed that if I had experience, I could look at the tire and tell.
I am specifically worried about my new Hunter with the 24" x 3.0" Gazz tire. I have only taken it off-road a couple of times, and I never take it on the street, ever. Chris told me (and it makes sense) that the tire, with all its knobbies and etc, will tear up, wear down, and degrade much quicker riding it on the road. However, I never thought to ask how much faster. So, I never take it on the road at all.
So, if I were to just start riding my Gazz tire on the street, how quickly would I degrade the tire? I haven’t had as many opportunities to ride it off-road as I would like (Chris has been sick, and I don’t like riding away from populated areas without a partner, in case an injury happens and I’m isolated), so I’d like to take it to the street. I realized I have let my worry over the tire keep me from riding in the street (I have been riding my trainer instead).
I would appreciate any real-world experiences you have on the subject. Thanks! Replies from ALL are encouraged.
I learned unicycling using a Pashley MUni and the knobby tire that came with it. Many many trips up and down the fence on concrete shredded the tire to pieces, especially at the power position where I’d spin around to go back the other way. It didn’t really take that long to shred it. Now that I can freemount, I practice almost exclusively on grass and dirt with a Kenda Kolossal with no wear problems. This is a problem when I try to learn one-footed idling and riding because of the roughness of the ground. I rotate practice sites to try to minimize damage to the grass. These are public places so I don’t want to ruin my welcome.
In my off-road rides I used to be paranoid about stretches on pavement but finally realized that it was just limiting me. So now I just remember not to do quick spins, etc., on the pavement so that I’m not twisting the tread off.
I have another wheel with a road tire with inverted tread for road rides. The truth is, though, that I almost never bother to switch wheels; instead, I go off-road. Constantly switching tires or wheels, for me, is a significant barrier. I think I’m going to have to go the multiple-unicycle route.
Hey lewis I too have a Hunter, I’ve had it for almost a year now and because
of my lack of a street unicycle I use my offroading 26" x 2.6" tire for
everything. So far it hasn’t worn down too bad but definately more then if I
hadn’t been riding of the road. It depends how much you are going to be
riding it on the road, if it’s only once in a while I wouldn’t worry about
it too much, but if you have to use it all the time…it could be a
potential problem.
Dustin
Zupancic
“Animation” <Animation.2ugwa@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote in message news:Animation.2ugwa@timelimit.unicyclist.com…
>
> All,
>
> How quickly do tires normally last before you really need to change them
> out? I supposed that if I had experience, I could look at the tire and
> tell.
>
> I am specifically worried about my new Hunter with the 24" x 3.0" Gazz
> tire. I have only taken it off-road a couple of times, and I never take
> it on the street, ever. Chris told me (and it makes sense) that the
> tire, with all its knobbies and etc, will tear up, wear down, and
> degrade much quicker riding it on the road. However, I never thought to
> ask how much faster. So, I never take it on the road at all.
>
> So, if I were to just start riding my Gazz tire on the street, how
> quickly would I degrade the tire? I haven’t had as many opportunities to
> ride it off-road as I would like (Chris has been sick, and I don’t like
> riding away from populated areas without a partner, in case an injury
> happens and I’m isolated), so I’d like to take it to the street. I
> realized I have let my worry over the tire keep me from riding in the
> street (I have been riding my trainer instead).
>
> I would appreciate any real-world experiences you have on the subject.
> Thanks! Replies from ALL are encouraged.
>
> Lewis
>
>
> –
> Animation - I unicycle in Mississippi too.
>
> Lewis W Beard
> lewis@lwb.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Animation’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/615
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/17356
>
Rotating the tire (with respect to the cranks) would also do quite a bit to
increase the life-span of a tire, especially if you notice it’s wearing
substantially faster in one spot.
