COuld I still use 2.125 inch intertubes if i got different rim and tire that is 2.5 inches?
508: Yes, yes you can.
Unicycle.com UK has a 20 x 2.4 Onza Sticky Fingers Tyre. I don’t know if Unicycle.com USA has it. It’s not in the Unicycle.com USA online catalog, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have it or aren’t going to get it soon.
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 John.
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?
Ideas came from this thread on mtbr
and to get you guys interested I poached a pic from the aforementioned thread comparing a Duro to a Bull Lock
Just think, that tire supposedly weighs 675g while the Gazz is listed at 1550g! The question is if I can get away with it though?
I can’t wait to see if you “get away with it.” It looks like a cool tire, and paired with a fat/light rim seems genius.
Currently, I’m just looking to build something like your Echo wheel; although, those speedway rims look darn cool… if only I had money.
I have a similar question.
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.
Wide rim weights and durability
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.
Thinner tires.
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.
Unicorn
Wider tires…necessarily harder to turn?
I’m not sure the OP was too concerned with a wider tire being harder to turn. Having just recently started to uni… I have a 24" Torker and built-up a 24" Conundrum with the LM rim and IRC Kujo 3.0 tire. I was actually scared of the uni because I was having trouble turning the torker. I have since learned that the Bigger, fatter, Muni wheel/tire combo isn’t harder for me to turn. It’s actually easier because I am more in control. I absolutely LOVE riding my conundrum around…even if it’s just around the block (on pavement).
Anyone else find bigger fatter tires easier all around?
I feel that thinner/more supple side-walls can be a benefit when you have the rim to properly support them.
In my experience a Gazz will outpreform a Duro on a wideish (46mm) rim while a Duro will outperform a Gazz on a narrower rim (32mm). I chock this up to differences in the side-wall.
The Gazzs sidewall may not be thinner but it is sure more supple which makes it unstable on the skinnier rims but gives it a faster more active feel on the wider rims. How “active” you want a tire really depends on what you are doing with it though. You wouldn’t want your tire to be too lively on a downhill but it would save you some energy on a cross country ride.
Over here I climb everything I ride down (usually not the same side of the hill) so I am looking for a setup more suitable for XC than bombing down a mountain while keeping the float and grip of a 3" tire, the cush is nice too. If this works like I think it should it may be the wheel for me.
For downhillers I would worry about this setup being too bouncy while also being susceptible to rim strikes.
I recently put a continental gravity 2.35 on my MUni wheel just to see what it is like. Rode it around indoors for a while, decided I needed to swap out my cranks for shorter ones and it is amazing how much resistance is in a DH tire when running on flat ground. The conti on my echo rim is way to skinny for the conditions right now but it might give me some insights as to how a lightweight tire feels on a wide rim, The sidewalls are almost perfectly strait down and it is pretty close to a scaled down version of what I have in mind.
I work morning shifts on the 9th and 10th and if the weather cooperates I think I am going to go for a couple rides with some different setups.
Fat Tires and Turning
The fatness is not the only factor in determining how easy it is to turn. The profile and air pressure contribute greatly. The Duro has a rounder profile than the Gazz and therefore is much easier to turn. The Gazz works better on skinnies. (In both casses I am talking about 3" tires.) With lower air pressure it is harder to turn and pedal. For a beginner it is easier to ride a slimmer tire with higher air pressure. However it is not going to make it so much easier as to make it worth while to changer the tire. Especially if the rider wants to eventually ride MUni.
Unicorn
The weather had not cooperated until recently. The other times I was planning on going for a ride it was usually around -30 and dropping. Not the safest or most pleasant times to go for a ride.
Went for a 3 hour ride with the setup and it worked better than I anticipated. I will right up a full ride report later.