Let's talk tires

I just brought home my new Superfly :D:D:D

I'm going to ride it for a few weeks first, but I'd like to get it set up as a "racing bike" and am going to go tubeless. I'm also looking at putting on some more aggressive tires.

The trails I ride have a lot of sand and tree roots. It's pretty rare I get to ride on hard-packed trails.

I'm looking at possibly doing Kenda Nevegal DTC 29x2.2 in the front and Kenda Slant Six 2.0 in the back.

The Nevegal is really sticky and grippy. The Slant Six has lower-profile knobs for faster rolling.

My goal is to be able to float over the sand and grip through the turns! This bike will be used 99% of the time on the trail. My other xc bike (Trek 800) I'm setting up to be used on trail, dirt roads, and bike paths.

Just an FYI: My bike with saddle and pedals is 27# (I have yet to take off the reflectors). By going tubeless and putting a new saddle on it I should be able to get it down to almost 26#.

My new bike is tubeless!...but running tubes. I don't have an air compressor and don't know anything about tubeless.

My LBS said they could set me up with tubeless for about $50 (cost of materials). The benefit of tubeless is lighter weight and you can run your tires at a lower pressure--no worries of a pinched flat. And if you do happen to flat, you can throw a tube in there.

My Trek Fuel had tubeless rims but the tires were not set up for it. It was a pain in the katoosh to change the tire--because of the rims. It took 3 guys in the shop 45 minutes to change the tire. :eek:

The Trek Superfly has the tubeless ready wheelset, might as well go tubeless!

My biggest concern at this point is finding the right tire for my kind of riding.

No one in Texas stays with tubes for long, I made my Epic tubeless before the day I picked it up and with my Industry Nine wheels built on Stan's rims it is even better than it was when I got it.. Of course when you race in cacti why would you? Nevegals are popular here for many riders but I haven't tried them. It is about a 10-15 minute job here but they do it a lot.

My preference is a beefier sidewall because we have lots of rocks here and cut sidewalls are a relatively common in our races. I went tubeless on my Fisher and never looked back! It is awesome if you have rims that won't burp them. I run PSI of about 25-26 here on tubeless 29er which is like butter on the rocks, my team captain runs as low as 19 which sounds crazy.

My tire preference is Maxxis, I run the Ignitor in the front which is a bit beefy and then the CrossMark in the back which is a lesser tread. They can be a little heavier but the confidence of not cutting a sidewall is what I need in a race. I think my full suspension 29er in a tiny size (15.5") is around 27 pounds.

Maxxis Aspen & Ignitor here.

Sounds like I should take the tubes out soon :)

What tires came on the bike?

If they are the new Bontrager XR4's, you should give those a try. They are light years better than last year's Bonty tires. Check out some of the reviews on them if you can find them.

They are Bontrager Experts 29-1. I'm having a hard time finding any info on them. They are probably only available on the bike. I was sliding around a lot last night when I rode them, but part of that was I was so tired that I wasn't riding with good form. I'm going to ride them for a little while, see what I want to do. I plan to go tubeless in a few weeks, I don't know if I want to set these up for tubeless yet or go a different route.

Congrats on your new bike :) I would definitely go tubeless with Stan's No Tubes sealant. I've being running tubeless for over 6 years now and wouldn't change it for anything.

Go tubeless! It's not hard to do yourself, even with a floor pump. There are good videos at Stans site that show how it's done. It makes the ride much less jarring, and the tires grip better and puncture sealing is the icing on the cake for sure. I converted 3 wheelsets to tubeless and I will never go back to tubes.

Now I don't have a 29er so so my opinions are from 26" tires. The Nevegals in 26" are heavy plodding slow things and I don't think I rode mine for more than 5 rides before I started looking for something that rolls better. The Specialized Captains are much better there- that's my rear tire choice. Up front I am enamored with the Tioga Psycho Genius. It's not tubeless, but converted in a snap. It rolls like the Nevegals only wish they could and corner very well. Yea, they float over sand, same with the Captains. We have lots of sand pits here in So Cal, stuff that looks like it came from the beach, and this combo is perfect in 26" from hardpack to loose over hard to sand.

You may find tires like the slant 6 or Specialized Fast Trak Tubless work well enough that you don't need a more aggressive tire though. The contact patch on a 29er is bigger.

I've heard mixed reviews on the Nevegal's--that they have a high rolling resistance on gravel roads, etc. but roll fast on looser stuff.

I've heard the Karma's are good all'round tire.

I didn't check my tires before my first ride this week. I just checked them out this morning. The tire pressure was at 60 psi!!!! The tires themselves are rated for 30-50. No wonder I was bouncing and skidding all over the place.

60!:eek: Unless you are road riding on it I would expect you to be bouncing like a pinball.

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

60!:eek: Unless you are road riding on it I would expect you to be bouncing like a pinball.

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I was!!! I thought it was because I was so fatigued and riding lazily. I guess it was the tires. Sheesh.

I highly recommend the Schwalbe tubeless tires with Stan's sealant. I ran a set of Rocket Rons for a while, and am now running some Nobby Nics. I ride in a lot of New England type roots and mud, though, so I don't know if those tires would be ideal for you. Maybe check out their Racing Ralphs; a lot of my riding buddies who race use those. They're $$, but worth it, IMO. Get the snakeskin EVO versions if you need a tougher sidewall.

I'm not up on tubeless, but I think they seem to be great. But, dependent on what you weigh, you had them way over inflated.

To tell you the truth, I'm fairly light and have always ridden my regular tube tires at 35-40 pounds at the highest and I ride rocky trails here in Flagstaff and surrounding areas.

If you are heavier, you need to ride with more pressure. I also have a dual suspension.

I've heard you can ride those tubeless at 20 and not worry about flatting? I don't have any experience, but I think it is true. Of course, you give up a bit of rolling resistance issues when you run so low, but I would try them around 25 and see what you think.

Do a little experimenting each time you ride and you will find the right inflation for you.

I've tried 30 and 25 now and I noticed a huge difference. 25 is much, much better. I can't believe what a difference tire pressure makes!

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Originally Posted by limewave

I've tried 30 and 25 now and I noticed a huge difference. 25 is much, much better. I can't believe what a difference tire pressure makes!

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It is key on a mountain bike. On a road bike, it is important to keep your pressure up for less rolling resistance and not quite as important for traction.

But for mountain biking, it is really important. It helps control how much you slip, how much you get bumped around, how your bike handles, etc. I usually put a little less tire pressure in my front tire than my rear, since my fat butt is sitting on the seat and there is usually more weight there to keep from flatting as much. I have run, even with regular tubed tires, as low as 25 when the conditions were just right. I was probably asking for a flat, but I took the risk. By the way, I did not flat!

Yeah, I'm running about 20-22 now, depending on the trails. Love it :)

Interesting to hear all of the replies here on tires!:D

Like Spokewench, I have not converted to tubeless yet either. ( although I'm sure I will here in the near future) But I will say that I have always rode with tubes and air pressure between 25-28 and never had a problem. My favotite tires are Maxxis or Kenda, and will alternate between the Nevagals(when it's muddy) to the Small Block 8's in normal conditions. Terrain here in NE is rocky, and lots of ROOTS!


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