How many miles are you getting out of your rear tire?

[friendly1uk]

Using 30psi gives me a lot more tyre on the road. Double the contact area, half the psi acting upon it. I imagine that goes hand in hand with halving wear, if scrub was not an issue.

Alignment is something I gave serious consideration. Measuring many times. I don't have rear suspension (or front) but I imagine any frame movement would be impossible to accommodate. I reckon if I had a cheap rear suspension frame and more typical tyre pressures, I would have much higher wear rates. Double seems reasonable.

 

[chas58]

You are not going to hydroplane on a bike tire. Contact patch is too small and the speeds too low (well, if you go over 40mph, that may be different). Slicks are fine on pavement (don't work so good on crass/mud/dirt).

for 50-50 dirt/road riding I like tires with slick centers and knobbie edges. Or a knobbie tire with a worn center section works good too.

What I do not understand is when you wear your tire into a slick, does it not loose any of its intended safety features? Or does that only matter when it is raining outside?
I guess you still have tread when you turn which is actually a good thing because that is when the bike is at its most critical time in terms of losing traction and slipping out.


I believe that I am screwed here because I ride 50% onroad and 50% off-road, so for my safety reasons I need to keep some tread on the rears.

 

[chas58]

Using 30psi gives me a lot more tyre on the road. Double the contact area, half the psi acting upon it. I imagine that goes hand in hand with halving wear, if scrub was not an issue.

Alignment is something I gave serious consideration. Measuring many times. I don't have rear suspension (or front) but I imagine any frame movement would be impossible to accommodate. I reckon if I had a cheap rear suspension frame and more typical tyre pressures, I would have much higher wear rates. Double seems reasonable.

That will make a big difference in tire wear. Given the weight (Gross) that a lot of the bikes here are, I imagine people here are going to need more air than I usually ride.

Here is the article that started off the tire pressure debate:
http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/TireDrop.pdf

or the graph itself (with smaller tires than we typically use).

And of course Sheldon Brown has some guidelines for larger tires:
(scroll down a little for the chart):
http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#pressure

 

[aroundqube]

My bike is a walmart cheapo bike so the tire was crap. As soon as I put the motor on the back I wore it out in less than 50 miles. :lol:

I just put some bell kingpins on it 29 x 2.5. $20 each. I already have 50 miles on them and there is no visible wear. I can also feel the difference when riding.

I know they are not the expensive tires that most on this forum use but they are pretty good in my opinion.

So,are you saying that the Kingpins are less slugish when pedal only,no assist? I guess they are lighter too ?

 

[kriskros]

i have a Kenda Cross Plus on my tadpole trike...something over 3000K miles... still looks very good

 

[Ch00paKabrA]

My bike is a walmart cheapo bike so the tire was crap. As soon as I put the motor on the back I wore it out in less than 50 miles. :lol:

I just put some bell kingpins on it 29 x 2.5. $20 each. I already have 50 miles on them and there is no visible wear. I can also feel the difference when riding.

I know they are not the expensive tires that most on this forum use but they are pretty good in my opinion.

So,are you saying that the Kingpins are less slugish when pedal only,no assist? I guess they are lighter too ?

No, that was poorly phrased. I really have no perspective on how long the crap tires that came with the bike would have lasted since I bought this bike specifically to convert to an ebike so I did not ride it without the motor. All I know is that the tires lasted for about 50 miles and the center of the tread was gone and I kept getting flats.

With the kingpins I now have over 100 miles on them and there is still no discernible wear. I was just saying that even though the kingpins are not a "quality" or expensive tire, they are much better than what came on the bike.

 

[Eskimo]

Got 180 miles out of my new whitewall Kenda.

- 1200 miles
- Two tires
- Six inner tubes
- 19 spokes
- One rim

 

[EddieJ]

Sorry to derail the thread, but it didn't really seem worth starting a separate thread for this one question.

I have just picked up BH Emotion Neo Xtrem and want to get more unassisted speed from the bike.

Besides the low gearing, I am also finding that there is too much drag from the standard Continental Explorers 54-559/26x2.1 and want to liven the bike up by fitting perhaps some form of narrower slick type tyre. Being my first E-bike, and the first bike that I have owned in approx 20yrs, I'm clueless about what I can or can't do, so any advice/recommendations about suitable sizes and tyre choices would be appreciated. To add, I'm not concerned about off road suitability, as this will be for road use.

 

[bowlofsalad]

Besides the low gearing, I am also finding that there is too much drag from the standard Continental Explorers 54-559/26x2.1 and want to liven the bike up by fitting perhaps some form of narrower slick type tyre. Being my first E-bike, and the first bike that I have owned in approx 20yrs, I'm clueless about what I can or can't do, so any advice/recommendations about suitable sizes and tyre choices would be appreciated. To add, I'm not concerned about off road suitability, as this will be for road use.

What kind of drag are you referring to? If you mean rolling, a fatter wheel rolls better, a skinnier wheel goes through the air better. But potentially more important is the comfort of the ride. This becomes much more important on a bike without suspension. Fatter tires provide more cushion to skinnier ones.

Schwalbe kojak, schwalbe marathon, panaracer rimbo pt, and primo comet are some tires that come to mind, a lot of the tires come in a variety of sizes.

 

[teklektik]

Sorry to derail the thread, but it didn't really seem worth starting a separate thread for this one question.
...
I am also finding that there is too much drag from the standard Continental Explorers 54-559/26x2.1 and want to liven the bike up...

I highly recommend Schwalbe Fat Franks 26x2.35 as good rollers. These have a longitudinal bar tread like a road motorcycle tire. Very good lateral stability on the road and on groomed or hard pack trails. Balloon so very cush ride and they effortlessly roll and roll and roll... it's pretty impressive. Kevlar w/ or w/o reflex sidewalls. Schwalbe Big Apples are also claimed to be good rollers although I haven't tried them myself.

I'm getting 3500-5000 mi per tire with 3.3kW 2WD and 360lb bike+rider at 33-35psi.

 

[MadRhino]

Knobs patterns that are draggy on DH tires, are also sticky and that is an important factor on surfaces that are less than perfect. Their drag is not an issue anymore if you build power, only their noise on pavement at high speed. The Big Apples don't have the sticky compound that I need, they may be silent and last long but I care more about my skin lasting. In other words, a tire that last long doesn't grip, so is only good for low performance level.

 

[teklektik]

I have just picked up BH Emotion Neo Xtrem and want to get more unassisted speed from the bike.
... I am ... finding that there is too much drag from the standard Continental Explorers 54-559/26x2.1

Knobs patterns that are draggy on DH tires, are also sticky and that is an important factor on surfaces that are less than perfect. Their drag is not an issue anymore if you build power, only their noise on pavement at high speed. The Big Apples don't have the sticky compound that I need, they may be silent and last long but I care more about my skin lasting. In other words, a tire that last long doesn't grip, so is only good for low performance level.

This request for low-drag tires was specifically for unassisted use.

I don't think that a balloon tire like a Fat Frank or Big Apple would be anybody's choice for a high performance tire...
But for a store-bought low to modest powered bike that is going to be pedaled w/o power on the road, I think they're a fine choice.

 

[Eskimo]

Reason why i lost that whitewall Kenda so soon was at least partly due to recent flat, after which i pushed my bike home 6 kilometres with flat tyre. Pushing wore out the sides of a tire somewhat.
Cruiser bike"s weight distribution is interesting. I just measured and calculated mine (with me on the seat).
It"s 65/35. With heavy front DD motor and batteries under my ass. They say ideal distrubution is 55/45...
Cruiser bike with rear DD motor is around 70/30. Then if battery is above the rear wheel...It"s around 75/25.
With 65/35 handling is good enough, but rear wheel is of course under pressure. 85kg on the rear wheel.
That"s more than quite a few standard bicycles weigh with rider total.

 

[ez-Ebike]

I got 4500 miles out of a silicon-based colored tire. I heard that black, carbon-based tires were supposed to last longer, but silicon based worked absolutely fine, and it matched my bike color theme. Always inflated to 50-60 psi.