Saturday, November 1, 2008

I've been thinking 'bout tires....

...so I asked my Tire Whore about exactly what rolling resistance is and how it can effect the way I ride. I currently have Kenda Nevegal 2.1s on Gustav. From what I understand, these tires would have a large (or large-ish) rolling resistance inherently due to the large knobs and width of the tire...maybe mostly because of the large knobs. I'm not sure what the pressure is in the tires...is there a pressure that's better than another or is it really personal preference?

So...here's what I'm wondering. Being that I'm a heavy girl, running knobby tires that grip the ground, would it behoove me to run at a higher pressure or perhaps look at something like a Small Block 8 or Panaracer Smokes, Fire XC Pros, Rampage...something not quite as knobbby and grippy as the Nevegals.

I really like the tires I have now, but I'm wondering if something with smaller knobs would be better for someone like me, which is why I kind of like the Small Blocks.

Ok...now, what about what the tires are made of? And if I am running 2.1s now, what would something like say a 2.35 get me?

And here's something that I really don't understand...why would I run say a Smoke on the front of the bike but a Rampage on the back?

So every time I think about something, I come up with a hundred thousand other questions.

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