Pure Mountain BikingGet the latest mountain biking tips, tricks, news and equipment.

by pandaposse

Bike tires, unlike car tires, lose their pressure on a daily basis, so its necessary to check their pressure daily and reinflate when necessary.

A few days ago, I was driving happily along the highway, heading home from a run to a bookstore. A passing motorist honked at me and then pointed toward my car as if there were something wrong with it. I nodded and waved and slowed down, and they passed me. However, my car was behaving as it always had… there was no “pull” or rough riding to indicate that I had a flat tire. So, since I was only ten minutes from home I just kept on driving – albeit more slowly.

My mind being what it is, as soon as I pulled into the driveway I forgot all about the reason why I had been driving slowly for the last ten minutes, and just walked into the house.

The next day, I got into the car and had driven out of my apartment parking lot toward the access road for the main drag, before remembering that there was supposedly something wrong with one of the tires. So I returned to the parking lot, got out, and looked at my tires. The rear left was as flat as a pancake.

I couldn’t have driven home with it like that – it surely would have effected the handling of the car. So yesterday the tire must simply have been low, and continued going flat over night.

My dad, who had witnessed my return, asked me if I didn’t check the tires before I got behind the wheel every single time, and I confessed that I didn’t. I’ve been driving for years and years and never had a flat tire before, so why bother?

But I learned my lesson from that little incident, and now I take a few seconds and check the tires before leaving.

And that little story brings me to the point of this essay, which is that before you get on your bike – there are various things you should check to make sure you’ll have a safe ride. Indeed, in spite of my carelessness with my car tires, I always had and always will check my bicycle tire pressure before setting off on a ride.  The more so because I have had a couple of flat tires with that bike over the five years that I’ve owned it.

Tire pressure is important for cars, because if a tire blows while the car is traveling at high speed that’s a heavy piece of machinery that will go out of control. But it’s just as important for bicyclists, because since you have to use your own power to muscle along the bike, flat tires will effect your ride from the very beginning. And if you’re far away from home when the tire gives up the ghost, you could find yourself with a long walk home.

There’s no difficulty in knowing how many pounds of pressure need to be put into your bike tires – the manufacturer puts those specifications on the side of each tire. Get yourself a tire gauge and always use it when you inflate your tires.  However, although you won’t want to exceed the pounds per square inch that they recommend, there are reasons why you’d sometimes want to use less.

With a tire inflated to the correct pressure, your ride will be as smooth as the quality of your frame will allow it. If your tires aren’t inflated enough it increases the chance of getting a flat tire, but more importantly makes it harder to pedal. Too high of pressure will strain the tire itself, not to mention making the ride too bumpy to be comfortable.

Bike tires lose their pressure on a regular basis, so before starting out on your ride, always squeeze both front and back tires to ensure that they are hard. Mountain bikers do like their tires “mushier” than other bikers, and if that applies to you just become familiar with what the appropriate tire pressure for you looks and feels like.

Related Mountain Bike Tires Articles

by That HP Chap

There are materially two sorts of tyre for bicycles, known in many mountain bike tires reviews as ‘clincher’ and ‘tubular’. We’ll get the tubular ones out of the way first because essentially you won’t come across them often. Tubular tires don’t have beads around the edge but are instead sewn together around an inner tube. You shouldn’t use a tubular tyre on just any old rim, you must use a special one and the tyre is held onto the edge using glue. Several riders suppose tubulars to have some advantage over clinchers, such as lighter weight, more comfort and better grasp but contemporary technology has seen the clincher tyre catch up.

The main drawbacks of tubular mtb tires are the fact that if you get a puncture you need to replace the whole tyre meaning you need to carry a spare. The biggest drawback though is the necessity to glue the tyre to the edge . The glue needs to dry for several hours. The above also means that if you are racing and get a puncture using tubulars then you are effectively out of the race as you will not be able to corner at speed etc until the glue is dry. That is unless you have a support crew following you with a reserve rim and tyre ready to go.

You will find clincher type of tyres on almost all rims nowadays and they will be the most familiar to you. Instead of wrapping completely around the interior of tube, the clincher is U-shaped when you cut it in half. The edges of the tire are held in place against the edge of the rim by the pressure of air inside it. This makes it much more easier to repair as you don’t need any glue to hold it in place.

The clincher mountain bike tires are made up of substantially three parts , the bead, the fabric and the rubber. The bead is often a strong steel wire which makes up the tire’s edge and holds it to the rim. Some beads use more up-to-date lightweight materials such as Kevlar which wipes out one of the advantages some riders think that the tubular has. The fabric is what gives a tire its shape and makes up the tire’s profile, get the two beads together. It is often made of nylon cord and is put down in layers with each subsequent layer being placed perpendicular to the next rather than using a firm interweaving process. Tires go with different performance capabilities some of which are defined by the tire’s TPI. This marks the number of Threads Per Inch. A higher number indicates a tire with a thinner and more flexible fabric. Thin walled tires tend to perform better by offering less rolling resistance and a less weight but they are more easily damaged .

The rubber is the part of the tire that everyone sees but it is merely a coating on top of the constructed fabric. The rubber provides no structural advantage to the tire and is just there to protect the fabric from damage . Different combinations of rubber give different performance. A soft compound will give you more grasp but it will wear out quicker. A harder compound will last longer but it will slide around more when pushed to the limit.

When you put all the above together you can see that there are many different combinations that can be achieved and so it is important to choose a tire which is suited to the job. So, if you are a road racer then you have to look for particular road racing tires that suit the rims you have chosen to ride on.

Here is all you need to know when choosing new mountain bike tires.

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by mayhem

As a beginner, it could be very confusing for one to just stroll into a bike shop to buy their very first mountain bike. And what is more confusing is what all accessories one would need to start biking.

Mountain bike accessories and other mountain bike products one would want are available in plenty. A shopkeeper will be looking for a profit and would sell everything he can, but what beginners and customers with a budget need is a bike that has the proper accessories to make the ride safe and pleasant. These accessories given below will give one a good idea of what to buy and what not to buy.

Mountain bike tires are broader and knobbier for more grip and absorption of shock. In modern bikes, suspension for front wheel has become the custom while suspension for the full front and rear is becoming more and more general.

In few mountain bikes, the handlebars are fixed with bar ends, but riser handlebars which are made such that they oppose to a flat straight handlebar are becoming increasingly popular because a very few riders use bars with their ends extended.

These bikes usually have 26 inches or 559 mm wheels, but after year 2002 many bikes are available in the markets, which have 29 inches or 622 mm wheels. This is the diameter universally used for other normal road bikes which is also known as a 700c.

One may have never thought about the parts that are required to make a mountain bike while riding it. But sometimes it becomes important to know the parts. You never know where they will help you.

Tire: they are on the outer part of the rim. They make contact with the road while riding and also provide a grip. The tires have to be selected carefully with care.

A huge variety of tread patterns are being manufactured to suit different needs and for different conditions in the mountain bike tires. The different types of tire patterns available in the market are: slick street tires, snow studded, street tires with a center ridge and an outer tread, fully knobbly, rear-specific, and snow studded, front-specific.

These mountain bike tires can be specially designed to suit the bike in dry weather or wet weather and also according to the terrain whether it is hard, soft or muddy conditions. There are many other designs that are applicable in all kinds of weather and roads. For the same application, there are also light tires that are more expensive and have less or no rolling resistance.

For free rides and downhill descents a new kind of sticky rubber mountain bike tires are available. These tires may wear out very fast but they are extremely useful during cornering. There are tubeless that run at lower air pressure which improves traction and also rolling resistance. Tire manufacturers for mountain bikes are in plenty. A brand may be selected to suit the users’ needs.

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