Tyres and the weather

ride_whenever

I want to buy some tyres before the weekend, now i could go RR/NN (the ralph goes up front doesnt it?), or do we think it will be dry enough to get 2RR, I have trailrakers for the winter that I'll probably replace this year, perhaps with NN/NN. However I've heard they wear quickly and I don't want to replace them too regularly.

Previously I've been happy with panaracer tyres, so I'm looking at the razors(RR knockoff!), if i stick two on and it rains I'm going to lose all traction aren't I, so what would be a good rear partner, akin to a NN to match up to a razor on the front that is harder wearing than the schwalbe tyres.

Next question is, do I stick with the 2.1" that i know and love or do i go up to 2.3" for a bit more grip? In the winter I run 2.1" for clearance in the slop, and I find they dig in better to find firm ground.

ride_whenever

okay, no replies.

How about this, how well do two RR hook up in moderately damp conditions?

Eranu

It's NN front and RR rear You want more grip on the front.

As to what the RR are like in the wet, well they're not the best but I've been ok when I've riden in the wet, summer kind of wet that is, with them. Not sure on the two RR as I have NN and RR.

I would defo go for NN front and rear after the summer though.

Can't really comment on wear as I've not had mine that long. Alternatives..there are loads...look in WMTB for some idea's they did a big tyre test recently.

Schwalbe tyres look to me as if they come up on the small size, the 2.25 I have on my bike look very similar to the the 2.1 Kenda's I had on my GT. So if you want 2.1 I'd go for 2.25 in the Schwalbe's.

ride_whenever

one last one,

how bit a tyre can i reasonably fit onto a xm719, clearance isn't an issue, as i have tonnes, but i was wondering about profiles and the tyre folding when cornering hard.

BlackSpur

Well how wide is the rim? It's an AM rim so I would imagine it can comfortably cope with the larger tyre size.

ride_whenever

being a 719 the internal bead to bead is 19mm

toasty

I use 2.25" on my Crossrides (19mm inside) and they're fine, I'm also using a 2.4" NN on my 19.5mm Sun Equalizer on the front of the Commencal, fantastic set of tyres. I'd personally keep the NN on the front, it's got shed loads of grip. Being a bit softer though they wear down quite fast and cost a fortune, I hope you don't need to cover many road miles The set on the Commencal are being run tubeless at the mo, bit of a gamble as it might kill the sidewall quicker, they survived Glentress recently, we'll see.

They don't like being run on too low a pressure and deform/roll a bit more than most tyres I've used, with a sensible pressure they've been fine though.

Nice 456 by the way, lovely bike, especially with a set of pikes!

ride_whenever

yeah i do like it, but it needs some better rubber (hence this) to speed it up, it accelerates out of corners soooo fast, and i feel faster rubber will unleash more speed than i can handle!

stumpyjon

Just watch the weight / rolling resistance penalty if you go up to 2.3s, I did it recently and promptly went back to to 2.1 (although I did put on dual ply High Rollers :oops: , bike handled like an oil tanker, though I'd bust it. All the fast acceleration went just like that).

ride_whenever

well i'm going from 2.1" trailrakers to 2.3" razor MX, so there shouldn't be a huge penalty, the trailrakers are like 700g each aren't they

Surf-Matt

Just switched from 2.0" Fastrack LKs to Conti MK Protection 2.2" - very slight increase in rolling resistance is easily compensated by massive increase in wet trail grip.

Added about 40grams each but not noticing any difference and dropped 150 grams by buying lighter pedals - uh oh - the weight obsession has started!

nferrar

The Razer XC's I'm using weren't as lethal as I thought they'd the other day in the thunderstorms, you do need to watch for the front wheel washing out though and not lean so much on corners. I think I'll switch to High Rollers though if the damp conditions continue.

ride_whenever

That's good to hear, I've ordered the MX ones so they should have a little more grip hopefully.