ebike4healthandfitness
10 kW
- Joined
- May 19, 2012
- Messages
- 801
For me it would probably be 16 x 4" which has a diameter of 20":
Where do you draw the line?
Where do you draw the line?
At what point do you draw the line on minimum tire diameter?
- Thread starter ebike4healthandfitness
- Start date
ebike4healthandfitness
10 kW
- Joined
- May 19, 2012
- Messages
- 801
Your question is worthless without a usage scenario. Touring? 25-mile commuting? Tootling around the RV park? Grocery-getter? Hillclimbing? Garage queen?
All those scenarios are fine except "Garage queen".
Why talk about a the tire size on a bike that never gets used? Or rarely gets used? Such a bike is no longer a bike but rather art.
Tell us about the minimum tire diameter on your bikes that actually do get used for a purpose other than art work.
Last edited:
20 inches and at that size you really want a tire with thick rubber to help dampen the negative effects of the small diameter.
IE motorcycle tire or one of those super heavy kenda puncture proof bike tires, which also happen to be moped rated..
IE motorcycle tire or one of those super heavy kenda puncture proof bike tires, which also happen to be moped rated..
lnanek
1 kW
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2022
- Messages
- 461
The bigger the wheel, the easier it goes over bumps and pot holes. Only reason to go small is if you need to fold the bike and put it in a small car trunk occasionally or something. My car has a rear external bike carrier, so not really needed to ever go with a small wheel.
Not on my radar, chief
Those thorny little bastards you refer to in your area, ain't a big issue here. Nor are potholes. I am, however, forced to deal with fresh chipseal... 12 f**kin' miles of it. That said, I prefer wide rubber with thin supple sidewalls, 20"x3" Vee's to be exact. Once I grind those down, I have a back-up set of Big Apples. A passive but minimal rear suspension would be a welcome plus, and I'm pondering possibilities.
Well, yes. but there's a more efficient way, and without the added weight. Wide smooth tread, thin sidewalls and lower inflation pressure.
www.schwalbetires.com/technology-faq/balloonbike
ebike4healthandfitness
10 kW
- Joined
- May 19, 2012
- Messages
- 801
Most cargo bikes have small diameter wheels (either one wheel or both wheels). This to help lower the center of gravity of various loads carried and/or to provide a way of improving motor efficiency.
Does this moto/moped tire you speak of, have a name?
The ones I've seen were 3 times the weight and double the cost.
Mongo
100 W
@neptronix, have you seen the Schwalbe Super Moto (not X) tire line (in 20" 27.5/650B, and 28/700C)? I've got a pair on my packhorse bike, and IMO they're very moto-ish for a bicycle tire:
Why Schwalbe didn't give these tires a name distancing these tires from their Super Moto X line, I dunno.
Last edited:
I've ran pirellis, shinkos, hutchinsons, sava/mitas, you name it.
Pirellis and shinkos, being proper motorcycle tires, and quite thick, had some of the best 'added suspension'.
went from a 26" rear wheel to a 20" rear wheel and the comfort improved massively.
I can find motorcycle/moped tires for about the same cost as high end bike tires. 2x-3x the weight is a plus.
ebike4healthandfitness
10 kW
- Joined
- May 19, 2012
- Messages
- 801
A nice point about some of those integrated rims is that they let a person use tubeless moto tires. See valve integrated into rim below:
Tubeless moto has numerous advantages (including lower rolling resistance, flat resistance at lower pressures and especially weight reduction as moto inner tubes are much thicker than bicycle inner tubes)
See example below of QS 273 with integrated rim mounting tubeless 80/100 14" moto tires for a 20.3" tire diameter:
Last edited:
One must remember... I run 3 wheels not 2.
Shinko 110/70-16 $65 (X3=$195) tubes (X3-$60) $255 (excluding .06 tax)
Schwalbe BA 20x2.1 $35 (X3=$105) tubes (X3=$21) $126 (excluding .06 tax)
Sorry Chief...I'm NOT gonna ding my plastic an additional $129 every time my trike needs shoes.
A 'plus' for you maybe... certainly not for me.
Shinko 110/70-16 8.4 lbs ea. (X3= 25 lbs.)
Schwalbe BA 1.17 lbs. ea. (X3=3.51 lbs)
By the time you add tubes weight, that's akin to carrying nearly 3 gallons of water... everywhere you go. And half of my riding is 1800ft elevation gain. There is NO 'plus' for me Chief.
Lets just agree to disagree and leave it at that.
Yeah that would suck on a 3 wheeler.
On my semi recumbents and uprights, i run the thick and heavy tire on the rear. Front can just use a bicycle tire, nowhere near as prone to flats.
I'm just saying more rubber = more comfort; this can make up for the negatives of a small diameter wheel ^_^
On my semi recumbents and uprights, i run the thick and heavy tire on the rear. Front can just use a bicycle tire, nowhere near as prone to flats.
I'm just saying more rubber = more comfort; this can make up for the negatives of a small diameter wheel ^_^
ebike4healthandfitness
10 kW
- Joined
- May 19, 2012
- Messages
- 801
That is not an apples to apples comparison.
You are comparing tires 4.4" wide and 22" tall to tires only 2.1" wide and 20" tall.
That is a massive difference in tire volume.
I'll bet if you correct for that difference and also factor in certain moto tires not needing inner tubes you would see a much smaller difference.
Last edited:
Mongo
100 W
Hi @moped-dan - IIRC, stock M6 hex cap bolts in cup-like fittings that came with the Surly 135mm-wide hub.
Surly hub & fork, not bike BTW - I cracked up the bike's original fork.
The comparison was based on what I sometimes run.... and what was suggested as an alternative. Apples-to-apples or apples-to-watermelons is irrelevant ....
And I prefer thin supple sidewalls and increased inflation volume. Makes NO sense to me to mount over 22 pounds of rotating and unsuspended mass on my wheels... in an attempt to gain an improved ride (which I'm not convinced it would anyway). Nope... not gonna happen.
Not gonna elaborate further - I'm done with this thread
Edit: spelling
Last edited:
ebike4healthandfitness
10 kW
- Joined
- May 19, 2012
- Messages
- 801
Yes. As an example, Shinko 714 16" x 2.25" or Mitas (formerly Sava) MC2 16" x 2.25" tires are the same price as his 20" x 2.15" Schwalbe Big Apple tires.
ebike4healthandfitness
10 kW
- Joined
- May 19, 2012
- Messages
- 801
If comparing two tires with same tire construction, same pressure and same width but differing only in diameter....then yes that is true for two reasons:
1.) Angle of approach (which is better for the larger diameter tire)
2.) Tire volume (which is better for the larger diameter).
But if tire volume is increased sufficiently on the smaller diameter tire then the advantage of taller tires rolling over bumps goes away.
One downside of smaller diameter wide tires is weight (re: the higher the tire volume the higher the weight). Another downside is aerodynamics. The reason for that is because for any given tire volume the taller tire always presents a smaller frontal area. Lastly, wide tires make having multiple gear pedal drive trains more difficult (e.g. wide q factor seen on fat bikes).
Of course, on motorcycles none of these disadvantages matters. This especially when center of gravity, suspension travel and motor efficiency is factored in. Furthermore, smaller diameter tires allow for a longer wheelbase without making the bike longer. This can be advantageous for many reasons and probably deserves its own thread for discussion.
Last edited:
I back into the tire diameter a little differently...I prefer to use bicycle rims just to keep my ebike looking more like a bicycle and the smallest I can go and still use a "one cross" lacing pattern as opposed to Radial is a 24" bicycle rim...so I run a Schwalbe Pick-Up 24x2.6" tire.
Similar threads
