Tyre sizes

[royzart]

Hi... i have a mountain bike it has 26 inch wheels but two different size tyres. front one 1.90 and the rear 2.10. it seems fine... any advice is welcome

thank you

[Bill]

(05-10-2011, 05:08 PM)royzart Wrote:  Hi... i have a mountain bike it has 26 inch wheels but two different size tyres. front one 1.90 and the rear 2.10. it seems fine... any advice is welcome

thank you

If you like that then I guess it is ok. Traditionally you get better balance out of having both the same size.

[nameused]

In my experience, most mountain bikers use a smaller tire up front than in the rear for better cornering. The back is for more traction. Its really a personal choice though.

[JonB]

It's different over here, you always put the grippiest tyre on the front (*normally* the wider one, but tread depth and design can change it), and the fastest rolling one (normally less grippy) on the back. That way if the back looses grip, you can drift it and correct it. If the front looses grip, you're going down, unless you're very skilled/lucky and get a 2-wheel drift going (though you'd still want the back to go first).

I used to run a 2.5 on the front of my old bike and a 2.2 on the rear (due to clearance issues), no problems at all. The only time I've put a smaller on the front than the rear was with a mud spike, where the narrower tyre can slice in and bite the ground better (other surfaces you don't need that, so you want a larger surface area to cling to the more solid ground). The other advantage of putting the less grippy tyre on the back is the rolling resistance is lower, so it's easier to pedal.

Ask a racer of any discipline and they'll tell you the same thing.

[royzart]

Many thanks...i kept thinking about the rim size
and maybe its not sitting right...and may blow out
thank you j b

[nfmisso]

(05-11-2011, 07:49 AM)JonB Wrote:  It's different over here, you always put the grippiest tyre on the front (*normally* the wider one, but tread depth and design can change it), and the fastest rolling one (normally less grippy) on the back. That way if the back looses grip, you can drift it and correct it. If the front looses grip, you're going down, unless you're very skilled/lucky and get a 2-wheel drift going (though you'd still want the back to go first).

I used to run a 2.5 on the front of my old bike and a 2.2 on the rear (due to clearance issues), no problems at all. The only time I've put a smaller on the front than the rear was with a mud spike, where the narrower tyre can slice in and bite the ground better (other surfaces you don't need that, so you want a larger surface area to cling to the more solid ground). The other advantage of putting the less grippy tyre on the back is the rolling resistance is lower, so it's easier to pedal.

Ask a racer of any discipline and they'll tell you the same thing.

+1

Sheldon discusses this on his website too.