I need some help quickly on tyre choice

dan1502

I'm off to ride Penmachno tomorrow but leave later this afternoon. The forecast is for wet weather.

I currently have two wheel/tyre combinations to choose from as my wife isn't going.

So I currently have Racing Ralphs front and rear on my Crests or could swap to Nobby Nics on Arches (but would need to change rotors, cassette and hub adapter).

Should I bother changing (I've not been to Penmachno before).

They're 29er by the way.

Thanks - I don't have much time to decide as I'd have to get going immediately if I want to change.

JonnyN

Lucky you left it so late. Can you not just take the Nic's as spares? Or you running the Ralphs tubeless?

Anonymous

Lat time I was at Penmachno, it hadn't rained in a fortnight, and the sun had baked everywhere ELSE solid for nearly a fortnight. But Penmachno was still soaking wet, with puddles hub-deep!
I happened to have a Maxxis Swampthing on the front, which actually worked really, really well there, although it was slow rolling.

It doesn't get particularly "muddy", just very wet and slippery. Most of the trail is on pretty solid bedrock.
Hope that helps - I have no idea of the difference, or suitability of Ralphs and Nics, I'm afraid.

dan1502

I ended up changing the front so that I had a Nic up front and Ralph rear. I'd wanted to avoid this as I've never changed tubeless tyres before. All went well except I put a bit too much pressure in one (thinking it might help it seat/seal) and it exploded off the rim 5 minutes later!

Anyway the weather was filthy and I was glad I made the change. It's a great trail but I now need to try again to find some contacts as with steamed up water droplet covered glasses it was bloody dangerous and if I took them off although I could see more, my balance was and perception was all over the place so I couldn't even ride flat sections without wandering off the trail!

Regarding tyres I'll probably leave them as is now as my bike will be the same as my wife's which is a good thing when judging grip when out together and teaching her. I wouldn't mind if she had more (ie both Nics) but wouldn't want her to have less.

Anonymous

You're going to be gutted, but what the hell... The weather is awesome here today! 28 degreesC!