- You may or you may not think that the tires
that come fitted as stock to your E-mountain bike
are the best ones for you, and the type of riding you do.
But tires are very much terrain-specific
and can massively affect the performance
of your E-mountain bike.
So today then we're going to be looking at the options
and how to get the most out of your rubber.
(upbeat music)
Here then we have a whole bunch of tires, different sizes,
different widths, different weights,
different tread patterns and of course different compounds
and each of these will give you a slim performance advantage
depending on the terrain that you're riding.
So today we're going to do some timed runs
to give you an insight into what works and what doesn't.
So let's have a look at three different types of tire,
a lightweight high volume tire, a skinny low profile tire,
and finally, a heavy duty, aggressive, downhill tire.
All against the clock on a typical UK trail center surface.
Now there are many tire brands from all over the world
in different sizes and compounds,
but seeing as Maxxis are a channel partner,
we thought it was appropriate to use them.
There's many things to factor in when you're talking
about tires and performance.
I think there's three main things first of all,
there is tire size either 27.5 or 29,
there's tire width, and also there's tire compound
and of course weight.
Now I'm going to start off with the tires
that are fitted as stock to my Canyon Spectral:ON.
Now this bike is 27.5 in the rear and 29 on the front.
This is a bit of a trend that's going on
with E-mountain bikes at the moment.
On the rear is a Minion DHR, obviously,
and on the front is a Minion DHF.
Up front, we're looking at 2.5, and on the rear,
we've got 2.8.
Now these tires are actually quite hard compound,
quite lightweight, however, it's that 2.8 on the rear,
which many people might think because of that large volume,
will have a slowing effect on the bike.
So the only way to find out is to go and put a time in.
Now this is a typical trail center track,
a man-made surface track
which you'll find not only in the UK,
but in many parts of the world.
As you can see in the outer part of this corner here,
there's a lot of stones here and that's because,
the fine material has been washed out
by the rain leaving what's quite a coarse surface
which is quite actually quite rough on the hands
and on the bike.
You can see here on the inside of the corner,
there's a lot more surfacing still left there,
it's really smooth.
So the difference between that part of the track
and this part of the track will probably require
a different type of tire to get the best out of the terrain.
(upbeat music)
Three, two, one.
(upbeat music) (bike crunches)
Whoa, whoa, there you go, that's pretty good.
Now this is the type of tire
that I'd actually use a lot of time on my E-mountain bike.
It's a fast rolling tire, it's a big volume tire
which means it cushions the ride, plus, of course,
that big chunky tire on the back, that 2.8 really is good
for digging into this climbs.
Now in terms of time, 1:16, I won't know how that stacks up
until you compare the other tires.
Now, many people described these 2.8 as plus-size tires,
and that's due to large volume,
and very often people ride them at lower pressures.
For me at 90 kilos, probably about 22 psi compared to
about 30 psi, which I'd normally ride
in a heavier casing tire.
The large volume as I mentioned,
has an effect of cushioning your ride and also is excellent
for climbing due to the large contact patch.
But it can also mean that the tires can have less support,
under aggressive cornering
and that's something we'll discuss a little bit later on.
For our second run something altogether different
from our first.
This time, we've got something more low profile, narrower
and of course lightweight too.
Now in fact, this 2.25 tire here would probably be
the ideal tire, for this type of fire road.
Now fire roads they're hardpack, they're fast-rolling,
probably be what this trailers like when it was first built.
Now if you remember on our first run we had a 29
by 2.5 up front, and a 27.5 by 2.8 on the rear.
This time around, we've got a really lightweight tire,
the Maxxis CrossMark which weighs in about 780 grams,
probably one of the lightest tires on the market.
It's low profile is 2.25 this time
and I expect that to be really quick
when you get to those smooth surfaces.
On the back, now the eagle-eyed amongst you
might have noticed
that I've actually got a downhill casing tire here.
Now obviously that's going to be slightly heavier,
around about 12, 1300 grams
but the reason I've put that on there is because,
if we're going to be going into rocky terrain
with such a low profile tire as the Minion SS
then I really need that extra support
from the sidewalls of the tire.
So there you go, this is a 2.5 tire this time and again,
the only way to find out the times, is to go and put it
against the clock.
(upbeat music)
(bike crunches)
Whoa, wow, whoa.
That's no surprise, two seconds slower.
Now that's because of many many reasons.
First of all, lower profile doesn't mean to say
it's going to be faster, it depends on the terrain.
Also, you've got a smaller volume tire, and that's probably
where some of the time is being lost because,
they would have been a time on that track
when the surface was really smooth,
where the low profile, lightweight tire,
would have been faster.
However, what I really felt in that run was how rough
the run was because, how skinny the tires are.
And all those impacts,
are going to can be slowing the bike down,
even by a microsecond, if it all adds up.
So that's two seconds, over a minute and a half,
you can imagine what it's going to be like over a long run.
And if you're out for a day,
the fatigue in your body is going to be quite noticeable.
But one thing really stood out, and that is the fact that
because we've got a softer compound tire on the back,
when you're in the corners,
that tire was actually grumpier than a big volume,
more aggressive tire, so that that also probably contributed
to the slower time as well.
So if I'd had put two hard compound tires,
low profile, skinny,
then that's where the times might have been more equal,
but again, the runs would still have been quite rough
on your body.
Okay, it's time to bring out the big hitters.
Big volume, soft compounds, downhill casing, and of course,
a really aggressive tread pattern.
These are probably the last tires you'd use
on a typical trail center like we've been riding today.
However, it's good to put a time in,
just to get a comparison.
(upbeat music)
Ooh,
aah,
whoa.
And surprisingly the slowest tire so far,
that's a 1:19.54, which is three and a half seconds slower
than the Minion tires which we had on
for our first run.
Remember the first Minions were harder compound 2.8
on the rear, but that's on a trail center surface.
Now if you took this tire
to a more gravity orientated track,
that tire would be in a league of its own
because not only will it give you more grip
because of the soft compound,
and the more aggressive tread pattern,
which will also give you more grip to go up climbs,
it will also, because it's a stronger tire,
it'll be less prone to punctures as well.
So if we took that tire to another place,
it will undoubtedly shine a lot more than it has
on a worn out man-made trail center surface.
(bicycle whirring)
Ah.
Wah, tires so many tires, so many choices,
but ultimately, what is the tire for you?
Well, depends on so many things.
Let's talk about weight rolling speed
and tread pattern to begin with.
Now, weight of tires,
they range from, say 600 grams up to 1.4, 1.5 kilograms.
Obviously, there's a big difference there,
there's also a big difference in the price as well
if you go out and buy those tires.
But weight isn't actually as important on an E-bike
as it is on a non E-bike.
So the proportional weight there is less on an E-bike
than it is on a non E-bike.
When it comes into rolling speed, now this is where,
there are big differences because,
lots of E-bikes are restricted to either 25
or 30 kilometers an hour, now if you want to be riding above
that restriction then a harder compound, narrower,
skinnier, low profile tire is going to roll far quicker
than say, a soft compound, aggressive tread pattern tire.
So if you're going to be doing riding on forest trails,
maybe that low profile tire will be more suited to you.
So, there's other things as well to think about
when it comes to rolling resistance
because if you've got a soft compound tire,
then that's going to have more drain on the battery
than a hard compound tire
that's pumped up to say 50, 60 psi.
So lots of things there to think about just on weight
and rolling resistance alone.
Then you can bring in such things as the tread pattern.
Now, if you're going to be doing
lots of gravity orientated riding,
then you definitely need to have a softer compound,
more aggressive tread pattern tire
which has got more a stronger sidewall
which is going to be less resistant to,
sorry more resistant to punctures.
But not only that,
is that if you've got an aggressive tread pattern,
it's going to be far better for climbing up those steep banks,
which you probably won't do on a non E-bike.
(bicycle whirring)
Wow, really is amazing where a good quality tire
that's soft compound with a good aggressive tread pattern,
will get you to.
Don't forget that tire pressures also come into the mix
because lower tire pressures are not only going to have
an effect on your grip, but also on the range
of your battery.
I think ultimately range is a big factor
in choosing the tires on your E-mountain bike.
But there you need balance out the effect of the confidence
that a good soft compound tire gives you, versus the range
that a harder compound tire gives you.
So I think it's quite interesting early on
when we had the harder compound Minions,
versus the soft compound Minions
and how much quicker they are
across a typical trailer center surface, but also the fact
that the 2.8 tire, with about 26 psi in it,
was actually quicker than the low profile tire
which might surprise quite a few of you.
So you go, I hope there's information there for everybody.
Personally, I'd always go
for the heavier duty aggressive tire
on my E-mountain bike simply because of the type
of riding you can do in it.
If you want to have a look at what effect tires have
on the range of the E-mountain bike,
have a look at the video which I've done here.
If you know about motors, the big chat about motors,
there's a video which I've also done here.
Let me know any questions you've got on tires,
'cause I love talking about tires,
I could talk all day about tires.
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