Hi Everyone
Here is a question for those of you familiar with tires and rims.
I have a Nimbus 26 inch Muni (with a Yuni frame), it has an ALEXRIM DX32 rim and a DURO Wildlife Leopard knobby 3-inch tire.
I’m actually using this setup to learn on, and I’m getting better every day (I rode my first 150 feet unassisted just a couple of days ago) and I’m having a real blast.
However, I do sometimes wonder if I should get a thinner, slicker tire to temporarily replace the knobby, just for the purpose of learning faster–someone suggested on another post to another newbie to switch tires till they get good, then put the knobby back on.
My question: Can the DX32 rim hold a tire that is thinner than a 3 inch tire?
I would have thought so. The DX32 is one of the narrower ‘wide’ rims available. 3" aren’t as responsive as thinner slick tyres. Plus a 26x3 is about the same as a 28"! I’d try to get a Maxxis Hookworm- I’m sure they come in 26" and would fit the Alex. I may be wrong- I’m no authority on 26"ers… or any other wheel size actually… May well be more suitable tyres out there! Is there a 26" Big Apple?
I think you’d find it nicer to learn on a slick/semi slick.
Sorry to change the subject but since we are on it could I put a 2.5 inch tire on my sun 20" without having to change the rim or tube? Right now its a 2.125 inch tire. Thanks. Kelly.
> However, I do sometimes wonder if I should get a thinner, slicker tire
> to temporarily replace the knobby, just for the purpose of learning
> faster–someone suggested on another post to another newbie to switch
> tires till they get good, then put the knobby back on.
Don’t do it! As soon as you try a good street tire, you’ll realize
life is not worth living without a second unicycle.
Seriously though, I think it’s a good idea. There must be tons of 26"
tires that will fit on your needs (and rim), including the 2.5" Maxxis
Hookworm I ride on my 26er. Street tires are not all created equal -
a bad one will try to track downhill on the slightest slope.
The traditional trials tires that are on the Summit or KH trials unicycles actually fit on a special 19" trials rim even though the tires say 20 x 2.5 on the sidewall. The large 2.5" width makes the tires almost as big around as a standard 20" tire. Yeah, it’s confusing that they still call it a 20" tire, because it won’t fit on a 20" rim.
So you can’t fit a standard trials tire on your Sun 20" unicycle. However, you may get lucky and be able to fit the Onza Sticky Fingers 20 x 2.4 Tyre on your Sun 20". Maybe. If you can get the tire. Otherwise you’ll have to buy a 19" trials rim and have the wheel rebuilt (you’ll need new spokes too).
Thanks eyeryone for the replys!
I do believe there is a hookworm in my near future (and I do not mean the kind that sits in my intestines)
Cheers,
Steve
I am bringing back this thread to ask a slightly different (but related) question.
has anyone used high volume but thin walled tires on really wide rims? I think that this might be a good way to loose some weight while keeping a similar tire profile.
I have been thinking of going with a wider rim for a while now an am pretty much convinced that I am going to do it and now I am starting to think, with a wider rim can I get away with a flimsier tire?
What I am thinking is of using a Vredestein Bull Lock tire on a Speedway 70mm rim. Apparently the tire inflates to 2.91" on this rim and I could loose about two pounds with this rim/tire combo compared to my Gazz on Echo rim.
Looks like I would have similar profile but not quite the same volume.
So anyone else try a flimsy lightweight but high volume tire on a wide rim? Maybe one of you LM guys? If you have, any thoughts?
If I wanted to do some trials stuff, jumping around a bit mainly, would it be worth buying a sticky fingers to put onto my club freestyle or should I just save up enought to buy an actual trials uni?
But isn’t the tradeoff going to be not being able to run the low pressures? I’m running something like 14 psi on my 26 duro wildlife leopard, I don’t think you’ll be able to run the lightweight tire at such a low pressure.
I think this is the point. Eric is talking about a rim that is almost 3" wide. Putting a 3" tire on it would bring the bead out to the tire width, and give more sidewall support, flatten the tire profile, and allow lower psi’s without pinching/folding as easily. Until someone post’s who has done it all of this is theoretical, but I’m very curious. If it works, and it’s lighter than a standard setup, it would be an amazing ride for a dedicated off road uni. Unfortunately the rim is very expensive. If it works I might be inclined to get a polished silver rim from choppersus.com.
Does anyone know the weight of the ChoppersRUs rims? How about the speedway 70mm rim (where does one buy a speedway rim?), any other rims that will work with my conundrum frame but are lighter than the LM???
Here’s the website, but it’s under construction right now. You can go to the blog and read a bit about what they do though. Pretty cool stuff.
I wonder if the choppers U.S. rims are much lighter than the LM. They look almost identical. I wouldn’t be surprised if they aren’t the same rim without the Surly branding. They are much cheaper though, and as for eyelets, you don’t need them. You could go old school and use rim washers and achieve the same tension, or better. It might even still be lighter than the eyelets.
As a large marge owner, my experience has been that tires with thin sidewalls will always feel like they have thin sidewalls. It’s a bit less noticeable with wider rims, but the feeling is still there. However, the trade off of almost 2 pounds vs running a bit higher pressures might be worth it.
The Club unicycles have square taper axles. They will take a certain amount of jumping around, but if you’re calling it Trials, it’s probably something that will eventually kill the Club’s hub. So you can buy the tire now, but be prepared to upgrade to a splined unicycle or wheelset later.
As for Eric’s question, I think putting a thin-walled tire on a wide rim will make it ride at least a little better, but my feeling is that it will still be a thin-walled rim so it will still mostly act like one. Whether it works for you will be more a matter of the type of riding you use it for. And you’ll most likely have to run it at higher pressure than you would with the thick-walled ones.
My original Onza 24 came with a Kenda 2.6 on an Alex DX rim. You can easily go to 1.9 if you want to. It might be harder to turn with the wider tire but it is not worth the effort to switch the tires. Be patient you will master the art. Besides when you put the Duro back on then you will have to take the time to learn it. So might as well just stay with it.
May well be more suitable tyres out there! Is there a 26" Big Apple?