Tire Size recommendation for commuting

Kitaro1999 · Nov 9, 2017

My commute is primarily bike paths, some roads and some pavement. As expected, there are some potholes, root damaged bike paths, and under 10% grade across the route. I ride 26x2.4 tires on my hard tail, with a lower PSI (35) to give me a little softer ride. The trade off is my cruising speed is down and I run through a new rear tire every 500 or so miles.

As I look at a newer build, I am debating if I should go 27.5+ tires or even a 29er or a 29+ to get better speed and maintain a somewhat softer / comfortable ride ?

Any thoughts/ recommendations I should consider ? The new build will also be a BBSHD so should have good power for the daily 25mile commute.
Thanks.

JDMopar · Nov 10, 2017

Have you thought about a good full suspension bike and narrower tires? Maybe a nice all-mountain or enduro frame and fork. With *quality* damping on the terrain you ride on, I bet you could run 2.2" tires at 50 psi and be fine. You can run the shocks at lower air pressure too because you aren't mountain biking with it.

If you haven't ridden a modern full suspension bike I highly recommend stopping by your local bike shop and taking one out. Just try sitting down and rolling up over a curb to see just how good these bikes are. Look for a 5+ inch travel bike.

MadRhino · Nov 10, 2017

For rough pavement conditions: Widest tire your frame does clear, widest recommended rim width for your tire. Suspension is a must if you ride fast on rough surfaces. Yet, the suspension or the tire can’t compensate for one another. When you drop your bike from 12 in it should not bounce twice or at least, not more than twice. This can’t be achieved by suspension tuning alone, nor by tire alone. It is a combination tuning, and it does have to be balanced between fr and rr too, the front needing to have slighly better grip.

The goal is to achieve the best grip with the tire, then achieve the most continuous contact with suspension tuning. You want a wheel that sticks to the ground, and a suspension that keeps it on the ground.

Winter riding, snow, mud, slush, does require a compromise in tire width and hardness. You need narrower, harder tires to catch some grip under the dirt. You also need a harder tire when using studs, unless you don’t care spitting them studs in the face of those behind.

JDMopar · Nov 10, 2017

MadRhino said:
For rough pavement conditions: Widest tire your frame does clear, widest recommended rim width for your tire. Suspension is a must if you ride fast on rough surfaces. Yet, the suspension or the tire can’t compensate for one another. When you drop your bike from 12 in it should not bounce twice or at least, not more than twice. This can’t be achieved by suspension tuning alone, nor by tire alone. It is a combination tuning, and it does have to be balanced between fr and rr too, the front needing to have slighly better grip.

The goal is to achieve the best grip with the tire, then achieve the most continuous contact with suspension tuning. You want a wheel that sticks to the ground, and a suspension that keeps it on the ground.

Winter riding, snow, mud, slush, does require a compromise in tire width and hardness. You need narrower, harder tires to catch some grip under the dirt. You also need a harder tire when using studs, unless you don’t care spitting them studs in the face of those behind.

I've never had an ounce of trouble maintaining traction on pavement on any tire, from a 700x23 at 40+ mph downhill to a 4.2" fattie at however fast I can pedal the damn thing. And there is nothing but rough pavement around me (thanks frost heaves). Of course I've experienced loss of traction when the tire leaves the road, which is exactly what suspension is for, as you say. The only situation where a fatter low-pressure tire would be helpful even on rough pavement is for off camber turns on gravel-washout overlying pavement and I guess I didn't think about that. If you want the absolute safest bike then run long travel at low pressure and super wide tires, it'll be like riding a couch...probably won't even have to look at the road except to point the bike in the right direction haha.

Kitaro1999 · Nov 10, 2017

I have ridden full suspension mountain bikes but not a full suspension road bike. Any recommendations there ?

MadRhino · Nov 10, 2017

We build powerful ebikes on DH frames, because those frames are made stiff to ride hard and fast. For a street bike, we use smaller wheels, bigger tires, lower geometry, longer wheelbase.

Then we feed a big motor, as much power as it is known to have survived. Motor power ratings are continuous tests on a bench. We are setting our own ratings by experience, to know how much power a motor can be fed for how long before frying. We try to keep slightly under the critical limit. :wink:

dogman dan · Nov 11, 2017

Tire size is not going to change things much. 500 miles sounds about right for soft dirt tires. You might do better, if you can handle the trail on a street tire, like a beach cruiser tire, that has harder rubber tread.

I'm not sure if enduro style tread tires have harder rubber than a race tire for single track, but it might.

When I commuted on a FS frame, I ran a 2" commuter tread tire. Nothing fancy, just cheap bell brand tires I could replace at Walmart if I cut one. I got about 2000 miles per tire on the motor wheel, and 3 or so on the other wheel.

Now I ride a bit slower, and not a commute, so I now ride no suspension on street, on beach cruisers.

Tire Size recommendation for commuting

Kitaro1999

1 W

JDMopar

100 mW

MadRhino

100 GW

JDMopar

100 mW

Kitaro1999

1 W

MadRhino

100 GW

dogman dan

1 PW

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