JJ or BBZ

qclabrat

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
Tried to tubeless a set of Floaters to no success, so time to get new rubbers. Considering tires like Jumbo Jim's and Barbegazi, which aren't too expensive and not too heavy and aggressive. Has anyone ridden both? They will be my dirt and rock tires so performance on snow and ice don't matter much.
 
I can only speak for JJ's
These work for me and if you get the exo and not the SS and/or pacestar you will have the lightest tires. I have had easy results setting them tubeless and they have held up. I managed to show threads on first set, unknown mileage but seem to me average.
On my second set.
 
I have BBZ’s on the Farley and JJ’s on the Beargrease (now my wife’s bike). Zero issues with setup and I ride them almost exclusively on terra-firma. Between the two, I favor the BBZ’s. Neither have super pronounced side lugs ☹️ but still way better than something like the Knards imo.
 
Dragging this back up to get more feedback from those who have used both JJ’s and Barbegazi tires @Patrick @Juggernaut

I love the JJ’s on my Salsa’s, 26 x 4.0 on one and 4.8 on the other. Thrilled with them, would be nice if Schwalbe made them in 27.5 but no luck there yet. Have tried both 27.5 x 4.5 Dillinger 5’s and now 27.5 x 4.0 Cake Eaters on the Otso. Neither roll as well on sand, the Dilly tread sticks like Velcro on sand and the CE seems too stiff.

Does the Barbegazi tire have a similar feel to the JJ’s? The better conforming, more supple feel and low rolling resistance is what I’m after. When I built the 27.5 wheels, I found the Barbegazi were not available so I tried the Dilly and then the CE. Not thrilled to put another $250 of tires on a shelf but I would if I knew the Barbegazi would work really well. Either that or shelf the 27.5” wheels and go back to 26”.
 
OddTrickStar said:
Dragging this back up to get more feedback from those who have used both JJ’s and Barbegazi tires @Patrick @Juggernaut

I love the JJ’s on my Salsa’s, 26 x 4.0 on one and 4.8 on the other. Thrilled with them, would be nice if Schwalbe made them in 27.5 but no luck there yet. Have tried both 27.5 x 4.5 Dillinger 5’s and now 27.5 x 4.0 Cake Eaters on the Otso. Neither roll as well on sand, the Dilly tread sticks like Velcro on sand and the CE seems too stiff.

Does the Barbegazi tire have a similar feel to the JJ’s? The better conforming, more supple feel and low rolling resistance is what I’m after. When I built the 27.5 wheels, I found the Barbegazi were not available so I tried the Dilly and then the CE. Not thrilled to put another $250 of tires on a shelf but I would if I knew the Barbegazi would work really well. Either that or shelf the 27.5” wheels and go back to 26”.
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I put the FBF/FBR winter tires on three years ago, and never took them off!!!!

not riding much the last year or so, cause of the recently diagnosed medicals. hoping the new year brings a new attitude.
 
Patrick said:
I put the FBF/FBR winter tires on three years ago, and never took them off!!!!

not riding much the last year or so, cause of the recently diagnosed medicals. hoping the new year brings a new attitude.
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I have the same, and they are the worst in sand and sandy dirt. Complete boat anchors.
@OddTrickStar where are you riding and under which conditions?
 
I think I sold Pat the Barbegazis that he was using. I'd say they are close cousins to the JJ in the areas you've asked about, but slightly less supple. I decided to sell them because I ride at fairly low inflation levels and found that, for me, at around 5 psi, there was a noticeable amount of self-steer on smooth-ish trails. As I recall, they were fine above 5-6 psi.

I now ride Surly Bud on the front and JJ on the rear.
 
qclabrat said:
I have the same, and they are the worst in sand and sandy dirt. Complete boat anchors.
@OddTrickStar where are you riding and under which conditions?
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I agree about the FBF/ FBR, they were on the Bucksaw when I got it. 4.0 JJ’s on 65mm rims is perfect for that bike and it really did feel like I pulled an anchor up.

I ride mostly in the pine barrens (both single track and sand roads) and on the beach when I can. Did an experiment yesterday riding the exact same 10 mile route with a single speed on 4.8 JJ’s and then a geared bike on the 4.0 Cake Eaters. The CE just didn’t handle the sand as well and the difference in rolling resistance is remarkable. I had to work harder to maintain the same speed and coasting on a slight decline would result in slowing down vs JJ’s which would accelerate on the same section of trail.
 
Patrick said:
I put the FBF/FBR winter tires on three years ago, and never took them off!!!!

not riding much the last year or so, cause of the recently diagnosed medicals. hoping the new year brings a new attitude.
Click to expand...
27.5 x 4.5 Barbegazi on 90mm rims roll faster than the JJ’s in sand/snow but you need to mind the pressure . Due to the longer contact patch you can run 1psi more than you’d expect. Because of the amount of siping on the Barbegazi it grips well in damp trail conditions and has good year round traction. In the summer they’re basically the same as the JJ’s.

But if you ride the Barbegazi on sheet ice, you will die.
 
Juggernaut said:
27.5 x 4.5 Barbegazi on 90mm rims roll faster than the JJ’s in sand/snow but you need to mind the pressure . Due to the longer contact patch you can run 1psi more than you’d expect. Because of the amount of siping on the Barbegazi it grips well in damp trail conditions and has good year round traction. In the summer they’re basically the same as the JJ’s.

But if you ride the Barbegazi on sheet ice, you will die.
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Thanks, that sounds ideal to me, faster than JJ’s in the sand even. I’m running 70mm rims so I’ll have an even rounder tire profile.

I already did die bust ribs already on a frozen car tire rut in the ice, hiding under the snow. That sucked, I was having a blast until that happened.
 
I have always swapped my JJ’s for Winter - only considered them a dry, Summer tire. I have a set of Studded 45Nrth tires that have yet to see a trail, and TBH, for the past year I have not strayed from my Johnny 5’s. Monster truckin’ and traction forever…
 
Loving these Barbegazi tires, very happy with them after the first ride! Roll great even on sand and grip pretty good on the trail. Got them just in time, the Cake Eater on the rear was shot after 800 miles. Sidewall was leaking and getting worse quick.
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