Fat tires vs Skinny, High vs Low Pressure:

J,

Awsome study. Even better that it seems to show that I am on the right track, I've been running 2.3 Rears and 2.5 Fronts at about 28-30 psi. Great to see this all charted up.

Tim
 
Tubes v. tubless would have been nice to thrown in there. I am curious how that can effect the results.
 
tires, tires, tires ... :rolleyes: sorry, lost control of my thoughts there for a minute ..... interesting study. There has been an evolution of tire choice over the years, and it's nice to see a real study.
 
M3Tim said:
J,

Awsome study. Even better that it seems to show that I am on the right track, I've been running 2.3 Rears and 2.5 Fronts at about 28-30 psi. Great to see this all charted up.

Tim
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Wow, 2.5 on a 26er up front seems really big and probably overkill, unless you are riding up north alot, anyone else have thoughts on this? I know what the article said, but at what point do you stop gaining extra float and cushion and go start slowing down, especially at places like 6 mile (which we know tim rides)? One thing the article missed was dealing with rubber compounds, your can't tell me softer rubber compounds don't roll slower than a firmer ones.
 
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I am not really a Schwalbe dealer so I am pretty unbiased in terms of this report. I like the concept though.

I am really digging the mt King 2.4 from conti and I think that is a good all around tire. I have also been running the Python 29er tire for a long time.

There are also studies that have shown that a 700 x 25 is faster than a 700 x 23 but racer types won't go bigger than a 23c on the road. The 23's FEEL faster I guess??


The thing that shocked me most was the new Pricing on the Schwalbe tires. They are very expensive.. Holy fk!

This must be 09' pricing since every tire is going up.


http://schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/off-road_tires
 
All of this is mental masturbation, IMO. When people start going to 2.4 tires with 21 PSI and winning races they used to place 6th or 10th in, then it translates to the field. Until then, this sounds like marketing from a company that makes big fat tires. No surprise there.

I'd be willing to give it a shot. I mean why not? But I'm not going to expect this 50W increase they throw out at one point in the report.
 
stb222 said:
Wow, 2.5 on a 26er up front seems really big and probably overkill, unless you are riding up north alot, anyone else have thoughts on this? I know what the article said, but at what point do you stop gaining extra float and cushion and go start slowing down, especially at places like 6 mile (which we know tim rides)? One thing the article missed was dealing with rubber compounds, your can't tell me softer rubber compounds don't roll slower than a firmer ones.
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Stb,

Even at 6-mile I was having alot of problems with the front washing out. I'm pretty heavy (~ 200) and I like to run low pressures and the big tires seem to resist pinching pretty well even down around 26-28psi. I went with the 2.5 on the front on the recomendation of Frank H. And have been pretty happy with the traction. Don't seem to notice a difference in rolling from the Bontrager 2.3s that I had on before.

Tim
 
Norm said:
All of this is mental masturbation, IMO. When people start going to 2.4 tires with 21 PSI and winning races they used to place 6th or 10th in, then it translates to the field. Until then, this sounds like marketing from a company that makes big fat tires. No surprise there.

I'd be willing to give it a shot. I mean why not? But I'm not going to expect this 50W increase they throw out at one point in the report.
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Good point, 50W will almost justify the price of those suckas too,
 
stb222 said:
Good point, 50W will almost justify the price of those suckas too,
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If they deliver a 50W increase, I'll buy stock in the company, make shoes out of them, and start eating them for breakfast every day.
 
Someone on here is bound to buy a MTB powertap rear wheel. My bet is that it will be Jim or Ben.

When and if they do I am sure that they will be able to see wattage gains due to equipment. Till then it is all by feel.
 
Well...you won't see wattage gains, you'll see faster speeds at the same wattage. The tires won't actually make you produce more wattage, it will just (theoretically) translate more watts to making you go forward. So fewer of the watts will be lost. Or something like that.
 
jdog said:
Someone on here is bound to buy a MTB powertap rear wheel. My bet is that it will be Jim or Ben.

When and if they do I am sure that they will be able to see wattage gains due to equipment. Till then it is all by feel.
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graveyardman already has a powertap so we could use him as our own personal test monkey.

i'm leery of dropping the pressure too low and expanding the footprint too much. at some point the law of diminishing returns kicks in and the amount of drag simply must outweigh the benefits. sure, running 4 psi in a goodyear mt/r on a jeep is fine...but no one is pedaling that thing. hit the skinny pedal and go.
 
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You need a PT for each wheel you have. Bill's is for the road. You can't take it and throw it on a MTB just like that. The PT is the hub of the wheel.
 
Norm said:
You need a PT for each wheel you have. Bill's is for the road. You can't take it and throw it on a MTB just like that. The PT is the hub of the wheel.
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that could get pricey. good thing bill is the king of boonton.
 
jdog said:
Someone on here is bound to buy a MTB powertap rear wheel. My bet is that it will be Jim or Ben.

When and if they do I am sure that they will be able to see wattage gains due to equipment. Till then it is all by feel.
Click to expand...

I have a PowerTap MTN hub on my list of next thing to buy. Using it on the road and for cross has made a HUGE improvement!! However, claiming a 50W increase is actually very bad, that means you're using more power, and we all know using more power is bad. As Normy-poo said, the goal is to use less power and get more speed. Also, just as a side note, the is absolutely NO way anything you will ever do to your bike will ever give you ANY wattage increases.

-Jim.
 
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