Newbie slipping in mud on an entry GT.

briggs28

Hello people.

Wanted to have a go at mountain biking to keep fit, as the birth of my little boy and moving into a new house (which is almost derelict :shock: ) finished my football career!

Anyway, im now hooked and love it!! Im currently on a Gt oupost. I know its only an entry level bike but i wanted to see if i would actually use it before spending big money. How many people spend loads on new bike and never use it?? Im going out a couple of times a week, across fields, bridleways and tracks, through woods and forests and loving it.
Ive currently got the standard tyres on the bike, but thought as the ground is quite slippy now it might be time to get some winter tyres on. Wondered if any one could give me some advice on the best ones that might suit me, that wont break the bank.

Many thanks

Papa Smurf

Panaracer Fire XC Pro's are a good start and widely used, sounds like they would suit you very well.
But if you was going to be on super slippy mud and crap all the time and needing some serious grip I would recommend Maxxis HIgh Rollers (But they're not overly cheap compared the the XC pro's)

batch78

Panaracer Trailraker

Don't worry about getting kevlar beaded pros if your a bit tight on the pennys.

Wiggle or CRC is your best online bet.

The Fire XC Pro is a nice tyre though!!!

Also just a thought but what pressure are you running currently?

Could be worth just trying what you've got at a lower pressure.

briggs28

yeah im running low pressures (i think) 40 psi. Is that low?

Im not even sure if tyres will make a difference. Maybe i should learn to deal with it. For eg, putting my weight on the back wheel has been helping.

Im thinking if i can learn on my cheap bike and tyres, imagine how good i'll be when i upgrade!!!

spdpug98

I have just bought a pair of Panaracer Trailrakers after wearing out my Tioga XC extreme and they are brilliant, I went riding on some of the same trials in exactly the same conditions and found the Trailrakers to be fantastic and much better than the Tioga's

andrewjoseph

I run 25 front and 30 back on my bike, but its a full suss.

too high a pressure will cause any tyre to skip and bounce. you need the tyre to deform a little when you are seated on the bike with full riding kit. too soft and you get pinch punctures though, so it's all a compromise.

robertpb

Hi Jonathan,

If you have 40psi in your tyres you will be slipping.

Low psi is what I'm running at the moment 22psi in the back and 20psi in the front that's with 2.35 tyres.

Your bike I beleive has 2.1 tyres so you need 2-3 psi more and if you are heavier a bit more still, I weigh about 10.5 stone with all my clobber on and backpack.

Tailend Charlie

Beware running too soft though. It can easily lead to the dreaded "Snakebite", whereby the inner tube is nipped against the rim and down goes the tyre.

How do you know if it's a snakebite and not a thorn? when you remove the innertube you will find two holes close together as if it has been bitten by said snake.

Also if you are riding in mud, the problem is normally lack of traction rather than the wheel bouncing around. It can help if you run fairly narrow tyres quite hard (40 psi ish) to cut through the mud. Trailrakers are good for this, and given that it looks like we are in for a long soggy winter, they are probably a good investment

supersonic

I agree, narrower, harder tyres can cut through mud to the gripper stuff further down. Horses for courses - experiment.

briggs28

Oh right. As low as that. Well i will try even lower pressures before spending £40 quid on tyres.

robertpb

May I cut in here to say that narrower tyres do not cut down deeper to give you more traction, they just have less resistance in front of them to push through. It's this extra drag that causes a lack of traction.

SAAB in the 60's with their rally cars discovered if you put a narrower tyre on you get through the muck better, but they compensated by putting much bigger rims on the car, same amount of tyre on the ground but less resistance.

Problem with a mountain bike when we've ridden out of the mud and are now in an area where more rubber is needed it's not there.

Low pressure works better in mud because the tyre flexes more and cleans better.

Ask anyone who works in mud for a living, they run low pressures, on my 4 wheel drive tractor which has oversize tyres and low pressures for dragging trailers through muddy fields.

supersonic

I've had large, low pressure tyres just skate over deep mud and not provide any useful grip or traction. While narrower tyres have performed better. Of course I would like 4 wheel drive on my bike ;-)

MarvintheAndroid

Can I just jump in here and point out that "mud" covers a multiple of conditions. All of what has been said is true for different kinds of mud. And you still need to be able to cope with wet leaves, rocks and roots.

For shallow, slippy stuff I suspect a wider softer tyre is better, but for deep, waterlogged boggy mud I think a hard narrow tyre would suit.

It is worth noting that many "mud" tyres are marketed with both narrow and wider versions.

SS said it best - experiment.

Marv