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Tire durometers ?

keen

Monkey
Mar 30, 2003
355
0
How do you determine the best tire durometer for the given conditions ? I will be riding Northstar @ Tahoe (rocks and dust) . I was looking @ Syncros BHT LW F 50d, R - 55d . Thanks.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
it seems like the softer the better. I can think of few instances where I would actually want a hard compound tire...maybe dry loam is the only one.

Softer is better on rocks in the dry for the grip.
Softer is better in most mud conditions because it'll grip rocks and roots better when they're wet.
On loam, they may not give you as much bite as would a harder tire....but if you hit a wet root while cornering, you're still boned.

They wear a lot faster, but I'm in love with my 3Cs for their sticky center tread.

Somebody with more experience on a variety of tires may have different input, but if it were me, I'd go with the softest compound I could reasonably afford to buy, since they do wear faster.
 
Feb 13, 2002
1,087
17
Seattle, WA
Basically, if you're proper downhilling softer is always better.

BUT, you'll end up going through a set of tires every weekend.

I run 60a and get my drift on.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
Choose a harder duro for economy.
ie, a rear 42 highroller will hook up like nothing else, but will start to show wear on the 1st run, especially if it's hot and dry.

I run 60 rears at Whistler specifically for wear. I'm not that rich to change tires every day.
 

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,644
1,214
Nilbog
whistler seems to be the only place i run a 42 at, i usually go with a brand new set of minions and smoke the rear in 7-10 days of riding, i think last year my tire barely hung on for the trip.

In the dry stuff i wouldnt run those unless you have some serious $$$ and on hardpack berm stuff then start to wash (here in the east)
 

keen

Monkey
Mar 30, 2003
355
0
Northstar @ Tahoe is rocky w/ plenty of loose dust. I was looking @ F 50d rear 55 d ?
 

project_d

Chimp
Dec 15, 2009
93
0
SoCal
The softer the compound, the more grip and the faster they wear. The harder the compound, the less grip they have, but they last longer, and roll faster. I would opt for the softer compounds for N*. I haven't ridden those Syncros tires, but the rear looks fine; the front looks iffy. The rear looks like a Nevegal; maybe run the rear front & back.