A Big Dummy Longtail

Nov 26 2008

Tires

I will have to replace my Big Dummy tires for my 2009 trips. Up to now I used Schwalbe Fat Frank, which showed good riding comfort and low resistance, but I was not really impressed with their durability. I am currently looking for longer lasting tire alternatives. My requirements are

big fat tires with good riding comfort
hybrid tread pattern for road and light offroad usage, running easily
acceptable durability even with some load on bicycle
not too heavy if ever possible

These are some ideas for pretty wide 26″ Big Dummy allround tires:

Maxxis Hookworm (2.5″): good looking and durable, but extremely heavy, good grip on tarmac, limited offroad usage
Maxxis Holy Roller (2.2″, 2.4″): leightweighted, good offroad capabilites
DMR Moto folding tire (2.2″, 2.4″): thanks to Björn for pointing me to this! Lightweighted and good hybrid tire
DMR Transition (2.2″, 2.4″): road usage mostly
IRC Lovers Soul (2.25″): road usage mostly
Halo Twin Rail (2.2″): several tread colours available, hybrid tire pattern
Kenda Kiniption (2.3″): road usage mostly, cheap, click here and scroll down for all 26″ sizes available
Kenda K-Rad (2.3″/2.5″): currently my favourite. Affordable, similar to DMR Moto, not too heavy, good hybrid quality, click here and scroll down for all 26″ sizes available
Snafu Rim Job/Knob Job (2.35″) (scroll down page)
Geax Tattoo (2.3″), Geax Booze (2.3), both have rigid and fold versions. The sooner is also available with white color

BTW Schwalbe provides a new colour for its Fat Frank tires besides black and creme: brown (USED HQ has got an image of a complete cycle with brown Fat Franks, looking kind of red). Should look nice at the Big Dummy. However, there were durability issues with my creme coloured Fat Frank at the Big Dummy.

Finally, for you fancy wheelbuilders out there I would like to point out availability of white powder coated spokes at Halo. They are selling them in many lengths, unlike those colourful atomlab spokes being sold only at some very specific lengths for atomlab hubs and rims. I have been searching for such spokes previously, so I would like to add it here.

Late addendum (2009/01/28): I finally decided to order a set of Snafu Knob Job tires, listed above. I got them fairly cheap and they look nice. In the long run I might switch over to using the new Schwalbe Marathon Extreme DD being not as heavy on the one hand, but longer lasting on the other, but these are very expensive and they are not yet available right now.

Tags: brown, crazy bob, dmr, extreme, fat frank, halo, holy roller, hookworm, k-rad, kenda, kiniption, knob job, lovers soul, marathon, maxxis, moto, rim job, snafu, super moto, Tires, transition, twin rail, white spokes

Filed in Parts and Gear | flatboarder

3 Comments

By Markus Walzer, November 27, 2008 @ 20:57

Hallo!

Ich hoffe ich darf auch in deutsch?
Den IRC Lovers Soul 26×2.25 hatte ich am Cannondale bei der Erstauslieferung:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=rec&z=t&w=all&q=mw1504+IRC+%22lovers+soul%22&m=text
Zum fahren fand ich ihn nicht schlecht, er ist ja auch nicht allzu schwer, doch ich hatte einige Patschen, was am Alltagsrad nicht tollerierbar ist. Ausserdem hat er keinen Reflexstreifen.
Da der Verschleiss gering ist, liegen die Reifen aktuell mit rel. gutem Profil am Dachboden, wenn du willst kannst du sie gerne haben (sind aber aus 2004)!!!!

Ich bin dann auf den Schwalbe Marathon 26×2.0 umgestiegen.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=rec&z=t&w=all&q=mw1504+cannondale+schwalbemarathon&m=text
Der Komfort ist nicht gravierend schlechter, doch ich hatte damit seit Sommer 2006 (~4500km) nicht einen Patschen. Vom Profil her hält er mind. noch mal so weit! Lediglich die Karkasse ist ein wenig rissig geworden:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=mw1504+beachcruiser&s=rec&z=t

LG
Markus
By Markus Walzer, November 30, 2008 @ 20:50

am besten ist der Preis des “normalen” Marathon:
http://www.zweirad-stadler.de/Fahrrad_Motorrad_Zubehoer/information.php?VID=1228070943LGI0K7OX2g2gN0Eg&lss=artikel_suche&aktion=&naviid=&ArtikelID=7493&marke=&start=1&limit=20&sortby=&marken=&vonSuche=1&suchOption=&suchWert=schwalbe%20marathon
By flatboarder, December 1, 2008 @ 12:30

Danke fuer die Hinweise! Dzt. favorisiert sind Schwalbe Marathon Extreme DD (nur 660g, Reflexstreifen, sehr teuer, offenbar noch kaum erhaeltlich), Kenda K-Rad (schwerer, billig, vermutlich hoeherer Rollwiderstand) und die beiden interessant aussehenden Snafu Reifen Knob Job und Rim Job.

At the moment I am digging for details about Schwalbe Marathon Extreme DD (very lightweighed, reflecting sidewalls, expensive, not yet available it looks like), Kenda K-Rad (cheap, heavier, increased rolling resistence) and both of the Snafu tires that look very nice.