Mountain bike tyre choice or preferance is always a topic for robust discussion between mountain bikers. It is very difficult to say that one tyre is better than the other because there are so many different criteria that influence this selection. Tyres are designed for different riding conditions, so essentially you need to match the tyre requirements to your conditions.
It depends on what your main requirements are from the tyre. The main criteria are weight, traction in wet or dry, rolling resistance, puncture resistance and cornering ability. To get an idea of what your most important criteria are you need to understand what your riding conditions are typically. Take for example the choice to be made for 3 very different events 1. Absa Cape Epic, 2 Sani2C or 3 Cross country race in the Midlands.
At the epic you expect dry, rocky, sandy conditions with long distances. While at Sani2C you may expect mostly dry but possibly wet, firm relatively smooth trails with very few rocks and long distances. At at a cross country race on purpose built smooth trails you could expect wet conditions, smooth trails lots of corners on a relatively short route. So your requirements at the Epic would be mainly protection and rolling resistance possibly at a weight penalty. At Sani2C you would be looking for low rolling resistance with good grip and maybe a bit of a weight saving. While at the cross country championships you would be looking for excellent traction as low weight as possible and no real need for sidewall protection.
So the two extremes are for epic choose the strongest tyre with the lowest rolling resistance and ok grip and don't worry about the weight. On the other end of the scale choose the lightest soft compound, traction orientated tyre that you can find for the cross country race.
Share your views by commenting at our blog or leaving a comment on MTBOnline Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment