Tire size and does it make a difference.

Sorry for a newbie type of question. I'm just used to having one tire size on my bike, but I have noticed people using a wider tire in the front than the rear, i think. :?: Can anyone tell me if it makes that much of a difference or what it does to handling, etc...???

For example I ride a Stumpy and I just have 26x2.0 for both front and rear. Somewhere I read having 26x2.2 in the front and a 26x2.0 in the rear is a good combo. Hopefully I got that right?? Thanks everyone!!!

 

Mostly it's DH/FR guys who came from the BMX background, that way the front holds the line when drifting.

For XC there is not much benefit.

 

I run 2.35 up front and 2.3 on the rear on my all mountain
2.2 and 2.0 respectively on my XC bike.

 

size does matter and it makes a difference on the way it rides.. but it's not always the bigger the better.. it's how you will use it..

 

You may want to check out this thread on STR.

http://www.socaltrailriders.org/forum/workshop/27959-tire-combination-question.html

Goes into alot of details on the question you ask. In a nutshell it makes alot of difference:

1) Easier to control direction with a wide front tire. Its first so absorb impact to the more rubber you have the more cushion you have.
2) Saves you on rotational weight since the rear tire wll be lighter. When you pedal your force is turning the rear tire. Front one just comes along for the ride. The lighter the rear tire the less force you need to push it.

 

i run a 2.30" up front with 40ish PSI and 2.1" on the rear with 45ish PSI.

when i first got my bike, it was 2.0" front and rear and handled ok. then i upgraded to 2.1 f/r tires and really changed the way i can handle the bike. then i upgraded to a 2.3 tire on the front and felt the added traction from the wider side knobs. i actually started to lean more inside with the wider tire, thus making me go around corners faster with more confidence. this is doing XC type of riding.

 

I run 2.7 maxxis up front with 30psi and 2.5 maxxis rear with a little bit higher psi than the from. I don't know why I feel more confident with bigger tires :?:
you may say 2.7 is a bit too big, but from what I have noticed my 2.7 maxxis is just as wide as a 2.5 kenda :-k

some related link also:
http://www.leelikesbikes.com/are-freeride-tires-faster-than-xc-race-tires.html

 

Sometimes very nice tire markers tell you your tire is bigger than it really is just to make you feel better about yourself. Maxxis is known to do that.

Dean

 

:lol:thanks!

 

I run a 2.3, 2.35 or 2.5 up front because of the added traction benefits in most conditions too, but I also really like how it doesn't get as deep into sand when I blaze (well, as fast as my slow, tired, marginally-skilled hulking carcass dares to 'blaze') across a sand pit.

As for the rotational weight thing, I agree that a lighter weight back tire (and therefore wheel) will pedal easier. I would also suggest that you are still having to rotate the weight of a heavier front wheel by extension of the frame and the two wheels are for the most part a package deal as far as rotating weight goes. I'm OK with that because I think the tradeoff of the extra weight is worth it to me since I'm not racing, even the slowest rider in the pack (because I would only be racing against myself), and I have a very distinct dislike for unscheduled dismounts.

 

Thinner tire=less rolling resistance for speed i.e. road bikes. Fatter tires= more rolling resistance, but added stability(especially in terrain that bogs you down like mud and sand) i.e. DH bikes. My DH bike is 2.7 up front, 2.5 in the rear, like Disco said to hold better in the turns, my AM(all mountain) bike is 2.35, small ramped knobbies front and rear. XC bikes usually vary from 1.9-2.3.

 

I was searching for another article done by Schwalbe where they went very in-depth on rolling resistance vs. tire width/tread pattern. Of course they only used their tires but none the less the article was great, very informative, and provided surprising results. Basically it went like this, for mountain biking wider is better(read: faster, more comfortable, and more durable). The only time a high pressure XC tire is going to be faster is on the road/extremely smooth hardpacked trails. When you run a narrow tire at higher pressures every time you hit something on the trail the tire goes over it causing vertical movement of bike and rider(ie: like a rigid bike) causing a loss of momentum, but when you run a larger volume tire it absorbs more of the obstacle allowing the bike and rider to maintain more forward momentum. Sorry for the long winded response but this is something I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about and experimenting with. Hope this helps.

A lot of info regarding bike tires is below:
http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/shopdata/files/tech-info.pdf

 

i noticed a big difference when i went to a 2.3/2.1 combo on my xc bike. more control going down, more grip going up. and if you pay attention to the weight, i think you can actually go faster--like mr. sykes said--with the bigger tires. i love my kenda small block 8's.

:beer:

 

Also a bigger tire means more rubber in between rock-and-rim when running lower tire pressures.
(What I mean is when running less tire pressure, there is more "bottom out" room in between your tire and your precious rim.)

Edit: This is true for some tires...Not all may be taller vertically.

 

Tire Spec Site

That's true, the actual width of a tire does not always measure to what is written on the side wall. Each manufacturer has their own sizing. Tire size also depends on how wide the rim its mounted on. That's why for a reference, I use Shiggy's site with actual width, diameter and weight measurements of different tires. Check it out:

http://www.mtbtires.com/specs/wtb.html

I actually use a Big Betty 2.4 3c up front, which actually measures 2.4 and a Hutchinson Barracuda 2.3 air light for the back, which is also an actual 2.3, light at 720 g and fast rolling too. This set up is so much better than the 2.1 Kenda Karma's my trail bike came with, perfect for the loose and rocky terrain we usually have here in socal. I also like the Panaracer Rampage 2.35, awesome trail tire.

Hope this helps.

 

One thing I forgot to mention is that if you have a bigger tire in the front, that tire is usually taller than the smaller rear tire. This raises the front end and slackens the head angle of the bike a bit, which helps you more in the downhill, but you might have to adjust your weight a bit forward during climbing to compensate.

But I like this set up more, because its so much more fun going downhill.:bang: