Tyre Advice and Recomendation

Quoted message said:

I am a 'Mountain Bike innocent' Dad who wants to present his son with a pair of MTB tyres as a
surprise birthday present.

Hello, while you're waiting for the MTBers to reply (where are they?!), here's a couple of general
bike-answers from another Mountain Bike innocent.............

Quoted message said:

I had almost satisfied myself that a pair of IRC Kujo DH 26 x 2.25 would be acceptable to him.
However, I have now noticed that his present front tyre is 26 x 2.1. Does this mean that 2.25 will
not do ?

2.25 will do if they fit in the frame & forks and your son likes them. All bikes and rims can take a
range of tyre widths so you don't have to stick to one precise size. I have seen 2.2 tyres on
narrow-looking rims, and have read about much fatter tyres being used as well.

Quoted message said:

Are front and back wheels necessarily the same size ?

The _wheels_ will almost certainly be the same size, but the tyres don't have to be the same width
as each other.

~PB

[email hidden] wrote

Quoted message said:

I am a 'Mountain Bike innocent' Dad who wants to present his son with a pair of MTB tyres as a
surprise birthday present.

I had almost satisfied myself that a pair of IRC Kujo DH 26 x 2.25 would be acceptable to him.

DH means "downhill". This means that they are quite likely to be very heavy, which is great for
going downhill, but not great for going uphill!

Quoted message said:

However, I have now noticed that his present front tyre is 26 x 2.1. Does this mean that 2.25 will
not do ?

Depends on both the clearance and what he wants to do with the bike. The
2.25" tire may fit in the frame but not leave any mud clearance. And, again, if he's not primarily a
downhiller a tire more suitable for cross-country use would be better. The Panaracer Trail Blaster
and Fire XC Pro have gotten good reviews as excellent all-round tires. If you get him the version
with the Kevlar bead it'll be lighter than the wire bead, and so make the wheels just that little
bit easier to turn around. If possible, get it in a color that goes with his bike. 2.1" width is a
good width for general cross country riding, although if he encounters alot of mud, or does
racing, he might prefer a narrower version.

Quoted message said:

Are front and back wheels necessarily the same size ?

The wheels are highly likely to be the same size, but it's often the case that people use different
widths of tires front and back (e.g. my Marin has less frame clearance in back so I use a 1.9" tire
in back but 2.1" in front).

-Myra

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I am a 'Mountain Bike innocent' Dad who wants to present his son with a pair of MTB tyres as a
surprise birthday present. I had almost satisfied myself that a pair of IRC Kujo DH 26 x 2.25
would be acceptable to him. However, I have now noticed that his present front tyre is 26 x 2.1.
Does this mean that 2.25 will not do ?

Rather depends on what he uses his bike for. If he does do downhills a lot then the Kujo DH may be
fine, but if he is more cross country then I personally would go for Panaracer Fire XC Pro (2.1" for
winter and 1.8" for summer).Then you only have the choice of wire or kevlar bead and which of four
colours. :-)

As he currently only has a 2.1" front, I would think he may not be a down-hiller.

Regards Simon