I am looking to ride uneven pavement, trails, and woodland paths.
Are there any recommendations for reasonably fat tyres which are good for light muni and have good rollover at lower pressure, yet ride well on hardpacked bike paths and asphalt when pumped up?
Or am I asking for the impossible?
I got a 29er origin 8 tire it’s a 29.2.4 and it’s awesome for that
People say the maxxis hookworm is good for that, but I haven’t tried one.
i ride a maxxis hookworm on my 26" commuter, and it is good for road and light XC. I do not think it would do well in wet or muddy conditions, but it is not wet here very often.
Scott
What size rim? Check out the Halo Twin Rail. It’s available in a variety of colors and easy to find in the UK.
Currently considering the Nimbus 24" muni with Duro 3" tyre.
I could ask UDC to swap the tyre, or I could just buy the muni stock and see how the 3" runs on asphalt pumped up.
I can always swap it for a narrower tyre later.
I would consider getting a 29er instead of a 24" for your planned usage. A 24" MUni is pretty annoying to ride on asphalt.
Whether 24" or 29", Schwalbe has a great variety of tires which would fit for you. The Big Apple is very nice on asphalt and fine for trails unless they’re particularly loose. Some people love the Hans Dampf for real MUni. I’m using the Racing Ralph for 70% road riding plus trails.
I ride a duro on asphalt and concrete all the time. It’s completely fine for me.
the berm master 24" tire is supposed to be pretty good.
Both the Maxxis Holy Roller http://www.maxxis.com/Bicycle/BMX/Holy-Roller.aspx and Kenda K-Rad http://www.kendatire.com/en/bicycle/bmx/k-rad/ in the wider widths will do a good job for you in both departments with their slightly open small block tread pattern. Both roll nicely on pavement and will allow ridable grip on gravel.
If anything, in 24" I find the K-Rad to be the better pavement tyre while both are pretty much the same on dirt/gravel. Good all rounder tyres. Play around with pressures to suit both you and any given terrain.
I like the idea of a larger uni, particularly a 26", but as I am currently a novice on 20" I felt the 26" or 29" might be too great a leap in size at this stage.
I thought that if I made the transition to a 24" now, I could also get a 29" for cruising at a later date.
I use a 26" Kendall k Rad for both light muni/xc and commuting along a paved and dirt bike path. It feels lightweight, but I have the skinnier version. Not sure of the exact weight of the wider version. But it serves its purpose.
I rode a 24x3 muni on roads/sidewalks/pavements for many years and found it excellent- although I do live in a area of extreme hills, for which the muni was ideal.
Since last year I switched to a 26" quax- although, in terms of effective diameter, the 24" with it’s fat 3" tyre isn’t that much smaller than my 26".
I also possess a KH 29er, and have had phases of riding it, but I always went back to the 24x3 and, more recently, the 26".
I find I appreciate the greater level of control of the smaller wheel, over the extra speed of the 29er. I also consider the 24x3/26ers to be a tad safer than the 29er, probably because you’re that little bit less likely to come off, and, if you do UPD, it’s that bit less height to fall.
Quite possibly if I lived somewhere that was uniformly flat, I’d favour the 29er, but I don’t- my area has extremely steep hills for which I find the 24x3/26" size is more suitable.
If you do get a 24x3, rest assured, it will be far better than your current 20er in terms of speed, bump handling and ability to cover distances.
IMO, in comparison to the differences between the 24x3, 26 and 29er, the distinction between a 20" and a 24/3 is huge- the one wheel size I would no longer want to use on asphalt is the 20"er- when you’ve spent time on the bigger sizes, riding a 20"er will feel similar to walking/hobbling with your shoe laces tied together.
Lastly, bear in mind that the actual difference between a 26er with a normal tyre and a 24" with a fat 3" muni tyre is not that much- your choice between 24x3 and 26" should be based on whether you want to run a 3" tyre, rather than thinking that a 26" will be appreciably different in terms of speed or control.
The actual difference between a 26er with a normal tire like the Racing Ralph at 535g, and the Duro 24x3" at 1495g, is two pounds (a stone) of rotating weight before you even put a tube in it. It’s not about the diameter, it’s about the ride characteristics.
A fair point about the weight being important- for example, with me living in a hilly area, on my 29er I have found weight to be critical on my 29er: the WTB stout my KH 29 shipped with I found to be hopeless on the steep uphills.
It was a very nice tyre in all other ways, but I had to spend a bit of time trying to find a lighter tyre that was suitable, yet not so light that it didn’t start to feel like a 700c tyre, which, though light, would not absorb bumps etc.
However, with the 26er and 24x3 it just didn’t seem that important- despite the 3" tyre weighing, as you point out, almost 1500g, I never felt it was a problem on steep uphills (maybe due to the smaller diameter of the rolling mass?).
I did try a much less fat standard and very light 24" tyre, but any improvements on climbs were overruled by the relative uselessness of the tyre in terms of ‘cushiness’/lesser ability to roll over obstacles/road defects etc.
The 26" tyre you quote is, I feel, not a fair comparison- 535g is unusually light for a 26" tyre- I strongly suspect that it’s ride characteristics would be diminished in the same way that a super light 29er tyre or the thin 24" tyre I mentioned above are.
I experimented with 26" tyres, and for my type of riding compromising low weight with a reasonable amount of ‘cushiness’ (while my riding is primarily on roads/footpaths, I also occasionally ride mild off-road, plus, as well as sheffield roads being v. steep, they are also badly maintained, and sometimes, sections of them are sufficiently broken that the tyre requires off road abilities).
The tyre I settled on was a Maxxis weighing 750-800g and I feel it’s pretty much the perfect compromise- a lighter tyre simply would not suffice for my requirements.
It is about the ride characteristics, but they are about both weight and diameter- when I’m climbing a really steep road, the 24x3" and the 26 with the maxxis, feel fairly similar- the 24x3, despite it’s much higher tyre mass, is actually easier for climbing- probably the smaller diameter and hence increased leverage is why, though, in the interests of fairness, I’ll mention that the 24x3 has 150mm cranks, while the 26er has slightly smaller ones at 145mm.
What tire pressure and crank length do you like using with the Racing Ralph on road? I have been riding a Stout at 30 psi and 137mm cranks. Thanks.
just for another data point…
I’ve been riding my 29er on the road mostly lately. I have an ardent 2.4 with probably around 35 psi. I recently switched from 125mm cranks to 110 and am really liking it. I live in a fairly hilly area, thought no way I would ever be able to run the 110 cranks. But as I get in better shape it’s working out great. I am glad I have a brake though, it would be tough going down steep hills with the 110s.
Thank you anton005. Are you able to ride off curbs and idle with them? I have 125s also but found the 137s better for curbs and idling.
I’m using it with 150mm cranks, at 35 psi for dirt, higher for roads.
I also ride the Nimbus 24" with Duro 3. It’ll work, but it’ll wear out very quickly.