Mt Bike Tire Talk

[AmyPJ]

I ride a hard tail and tires are my rear suspension. The tires that came with the bike had to be run at 30-35 psi otherwise they squirmed and pinch flatted. I had about 15 flats in 3 seasons. I finally researched mtn bike tires and learned their casings vary from one tire model to another, and even within the same model tire. Very confusing, but from other's experience I run 2017 Nobby Nic's in 29 x 2.35" and I run them around 19 psi. Its pretty amazing that tire side wall and casing make that much difference but it does. I weigh 240lbs, so Amy running hers around 15 is pretty comparable I would guess.

I did allow a friend to pump up my tires when we were in a hurry to leave one ride, and even though I told him 19 psi, he felt he knew better and pumped them to 30 psi. I was having a bad bike day, as you might expect, and kept thinking the bike feels like the tires are too hard, but I assured myself they couldn't be because I specifically told my friend 19 psi after he questioned it. I wanted to kick his a*** when I bounced off the trail, hit a fallen tree and ruined my deraliler on a tree branch. That 's when I figured it out.

Amy, don't let your friend near your tire pump is my advice.

Love the advice!
And yes, it can be straight up dangerous to have a sudden increase in pressure and have the darn things bouncing all over!

 

[luliski]

^Along the lines of don't lube my chain if it's not clean. Friends mean well, but....

But I have a tire question. My next upgrade on my cheap mountain bike is going to be tubeless tires (yes the rims are tubeless-ready). I don't do aggressive downhill, but some of the trails I ride are very rocky. Also dusty, dry, loose. Sometimes sandy, too. At least for now. The stock tires are Schwalbe Hans Dampf 2.35 front and rear. Does anyone have any recommendations for tires? They don't need to be high-end, just decent tires for my riding conditions, and lighter weight helps too.

 

[Jed Peters]

The stock tires are Schwalbe Hans Dampf 2.35 front and rear. Does anyone have any recommendations for tires? They don't need to be high-end, just decent tires for my riding conditions, and lighter weight helps too.

Those are perfect. Take the tubes out, fill Em with sealant, call ‘em good.

 

[luliski]

Those are perfect. Take the tubes out, fill Em with sealant, call ‘em good.

I thought I read somewhere that these wouldn't work without tubes? I guess it's worth a shot. Thanks.
I just looked this up and the Hans Dampf tires that came on my bike do not have the snakeskin sidewall and are not tubeless ready. Maybe I'll just upgrade to the Hans Dampf that are tubeless-ready. Or would there be something better?

 

[Tom K.]

I thought I read somewhere that these wouldn't work without tubes? I guess it's worth a shot. Thanks.
I just looked this up and the Hans Dampf tires that came on my bike do not have the snakeskin sidewall and are not tubeless ready. Maybe I'll just upgrade to the Hans Dampf that are tubeless-ready. Or would there be something better?

You can still convert them, but my (and others) experience with non-TLR Schwalbes says it's far more trouble than it's worth, and potentially even unsafe due to a pretty thin casing.

The Hans Dampf is a really good tire. Tires are personal, but the HD and the Racing Ralph are the only Schwalbe mtb tires that I care for at all. Bontrager XR4s are somewhat similar in their intent to HDs, and I know firsthand that they are REALLY easy to set up tubeless.

FWIW, I love tubeless and encourage you to pursue it, but I wouldn't do it until the HD tires you have now are worn out (mostly because I'm a tightwad when it comes to tires).

 

[Jed Peters]

I thought I read somewhere that these wouldn't work without tubes? I guess it's worth a shot. Thanks.
I just looked this up and the Hans Dampf tires that came on my bike do not have the snakeskin sidewall and are not tubeless ready. Maybe I'll just upgrade to the Hans Dampf that are tubeless-ready. Or would there be something better?

They're fine, honestly. You're light. @Tom K. has good points for ME or HIM (presumably) but a lighter, less aggressive female rider (comparatively to a heavier male rider) would be just dandy with standard schwalbe HD's.

I've used "non tubeless" ready tires for YEARS, especially on lighter women's bikes. And these were pros....and really good pros.

10 years ago we used the 400 gram Racing Ralphs tubeless with just taped rims and they worked fine...no issues.

 

[luliski]

Hmmm. I'm not that light at the moment, and my bike is a heavy Marin Hawk Hill. I guess I could try these tubeless, and use some of the money I save by not getting new tires for a dropper post, my next upgrade!
When you say "possibly unsafe" @Tom K. , do you mean the sidewall could split or the bead come off the rim? What are some of the bad things that could happen using the tire this way?

 

[Jed Peters]

Hmmm. I'm not that light at the moment, and my bike is a heavy Marin Hawk Hill. I guess I could try these tubeless, and use some of the money I save by not getting new tires for a dropper post, my next upgrade!
When you say "possibly unsafe" @Tom K. , do you mean the sidewall could split or the bead come off the rim? What are some of the bad things that could happen using the tire this way?

I'm sure you're light compared to me.

The bead could burp a bit (won't do damage, and that's doubtful, to be honest that you would even ride hard enough to burp it) and it'll only blow if you accidentally blow it up to like 60 psi.

The sidewall COULD tear easier, and you'd be "more" susceptible to flatting--but I doubt it.

We were a sponsored schwalbe race team, went thorough literally 100 pair of schwalbe tires a year. And they were ALL run tubeless, and none of them were "tubeless ready".

 

[luliski]

I'm sure you're light compared to me.

The bead could burp a bit (won't do damage, and that's doubtful, to be honest that you would even ride hard enough to burp it) and it'll only blow if you accidentally blow it up to like 60 psi.

The sidewall COULD tear easier, and you'd be "more" susceptible to flatting--but I doubt it.

We were a sponsored schwalbe race team, went thorough literally 100 pair of schwalbe tires a year. And they were ALL run tubeless, and none of them were "tubeless ready".

All right, I'll give it a shot. I've had a few split sidewalls on my road bike. That's not fun, but I've always been able to patch up enough to ride home. Hopefully same patching methods (dollar bills, etc) work on knobby tires too.

 

[Tom K.]

When you say "possibly unsafe" @Tom K. , do you mean the sidewall could split or the bead come off the rim? What are some of the bad things that could happen using the tire this way?

Either are possible. Not worth the risk IMO.

After freely admitting that his "n" is clearly much larger than mine, I have to respectfully disagree with @Jed Peters on this. I've had bad luck with the older non-TLR Schwalbes twice and gave up. The worst was a young friend's luck with them. He'd been having a few "low pressure mornings" with his, but seemed to have gotten past it. The morning of a 100 mile mtb race, we unloaded bikes and he had 5 psi. He won that race. On my spare wheel. Which I got swapped over onto his bike two minutes before the gun went off.

This is in no way any kind of condemnation of Schwalbes. For the last 10 years of my endurance racing years, I wouldn't run anything BUT a Snakeskin Racing Ralph in back because it was fast, and bulletproof. Never a flat or burp or slow leak.

And right now, I'm going for a gravel ride on my Schwalbe 35c G-Ones -- which I love, and they are set up tubeless, as designed!

 

[luliski]

Either are possible. Not worth the risk IMO.

After freely admitting that his "n" is clearly much larger than mine, I have to respectfully disagree with @Jed Peters on this. I've had bad luck with the older non-TLR Schwalbes twice and gave up. The worst was a young friend's luck with them. He'd been having a few "low pressure mornings" with his, but seemed to have gotten past it. The morning of a 100 mile mtb race, we unloaded bikes and he had 5 psi. He won that race. On my spare wheel. Which I got swapped over onto his bike two minutes before the gun went off.

This is in no way any kind of condemnation of Schwalbes. For the last 10 years of my endurance racing years, I wouldn't run anything BUT a Snakeskin Racing Ralph in back because it was fast, and bulletproof. Never a flat or burp or slow leak.

And right now, I'm going for a gravel ride on my Schwalbe 35c G-Ones -- which I love, and they are set up tubeless, as designed!

What I'm guessing will happen is that, since I am not prepared to do the initial set-up myself, my shop will refuse to set my tires up tubeless, since they're not approved for that (and looking at it from a sales point of view, why do it when they can sell new tires). Now I'm curious to see how they would work, though.

 

[Jed Peters]

What I'm guessing will happen is that, since I am not prepared to do the initial set-up myself, my shop will refuse to set my tires up tubeless, since they're not approved for that (and looking at it from a sales point of view, why do it when they can sell new tires). Now I'm curious to see how they would work, though.

You don't need a shop to install them.

Youtube that stuff. Easy peasy.

 

[luliski]

You don't need a shop to install them.

Youtube that stuff. Easy peasy.

Really? It seems like one of those projects that could go bad, or take way more time than I thought it would....

 

[Jed Peters]

Really? It seems like one of those projects that could go bad, or take way more time than I thought it would....

Gorilla tape, valve stems, bottle of stans, tires, and a squirt bottle of soapy water (literally).

And a pump. or compressor (easier)

Easy peasy.

 

[luliski]

Gorilla tape, valve stems, bottle of stans, tires, and a squirt bottle of soapy water (literally).

And a pump. or compressor (easier)

Easy peasy.

Could be a fun project....

 

[Mike Thomas]

What I'm guessing will happen is that, since I am not prepared to do the initial set-up myself, my shop will refuse to set my tires up tubeless, since they're not approved for that (and looking at it from a sales point of view, why do it when they can sell new tires).

Yeah, no. You don't do it as a shop because if you do and it doesn't work as good as a proper tubeless set-up, and it won't, then you have an annoyed customer who thinks YOU are at fault. You can't win, so don't play. It's not about selling an extra pair of tires.

 

[luliski]

Yeah, no. You don't do it as a shop because if you do and it doesn't work as good as a proper tubeless set-up, and it won't, then you have an annoyed customer who thinks YOU are at fault. You can't win, so don't play. It's not about selling an extra pair of tires.

Fair enough. I wouldn't have blamed them though, because I would have gone into it informed. But now we have two votes against using my current tires as tubeless.

 

[Ron]

Along the tire lines is a strong suggestion to ditch the Stan’s and go to orange sealant (not the Endurance ). Especially for road bikes. The orange works much better

 

[luliski]

Along the tire lines is a strong suggestion to ditch the Stan’s and go to orange sealant (not the Endurance ). Especially for road bikes. The orange works much better

How so? I don’t feel need to run tubeless on my road bike though.

 

[Ron]

Do a search on it, it has become the favorite of every bike shop in town and in my own experiences, just holds up better and fills small leaks faster. I doesn’t get all those clumps inside the tires. Compass tires specifically recommends it.

Convert your road tires. You can run them at lower psi, no pinch flats and they roll so smoothly. I don’t know for sure if they have a lower rolling resistance than latex but it’s certainly lower than the typical tube. There’s zero disadvantage to it.