Re: fat is faster

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 2/14/2025 2:08 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:

 

Grip test are notoriously difficult, you can test a bike times down a trail
but it’s not wildly useful certainly for MTB tyres grip and feel so seat of
your pants impressions do matter.

I don't doubt that tests for off-road grip would be difficult. But I do
doubt that "feel" is really reliable in many cases.
 
Of course, the unreliability of "feel" has been discussed at length here
for many, many years.
 
 

Kinda depends on what your testing, for rolling speed absolutely high
pressures tyres feel fast as that’s what your brain thinks, ie rapid
vibrations vs squish.

Which Dylan noted and quoted ie don’t trust your feelings!

But grip and shape of a tyre are definitely feel able, absolutely tyres of
a similar type ie all around burly trail tyres have generally developed to
a certain type and are much closer in feel than folks would expect, which
was one of the takeaways from on of the blind tests PinkBike did ie trail
tyres of a premium model, where very close though the tester was able to
detect some brands though not all.

And certainly if you move up or down tyre carcass construction or tyres
that have square profile or more tuned to certain conditions, the Magic
Mary I and others use, on the front as they are impressively good in wet
conditions, but unlike wet tyres of old don’t ping off roots etc.

I’d imagine that Zen would find my tyre set up a real hog, as it’s a much
heavier burlier (I think) type of MTB tyres and would almost certainly be
softer compounds and much deeper tread designed for wetter conditions.

Front <https://www.schwalbe.com/en/Magic-Mary-11600616.03>

Rear <https://www.schwalbe.com/en/Hans-Dampf-11601108.01>

It’s for the uk a very common tyre combo for MTB’s and trail riding, I had
Hans front and rear, but it does pack up and squirm more in the slop so I
gave the Mary a try which for such condition hangs on a much better, as
it’s able to penetrate the slop!

And I’m not keen on tyres that are less well protected, I remember feeling
tyres roll on the rims, that where more to the XC side of things, plus
sidewall slashes which are ride ending and a long walk home/car!

Roger Merriman