Is 27.5 X 2.8 Tire A Hard Tire To Keep Rolling

If you lot're new to cycling, you'd exist forgiven if for assuming that all mountain cycle tires are basically the same: They're the knobby ones, right? Yes… But mountain bike tires can vary hugely in their size, materials, durability, and, depending on those knobs, the type of terrain and riding way they're designed to handle.

A properly chosen mount bike tire tin can make a ride more comfy, safer, and give you more than traction on the trail. It can shave grams off of your full wheel weight, or it tin can brand you less decumbent to apartment tires. Tires are quite literally the base of operations of the bike -its connexion to the ground- so the tires yous use make a large difference to your ride quality.

Here's what yous need to know to understand how MTB tires work, the differences in construction and blazon, and how to choose the best mountain bicycle tire for your bike and riding style…

What types of MTB tires are in that location?

c. BH bikes

Tires are more often than not marketed for iv types of mountain bikes and styles of riding:

Cantankerous-land / Xc / Marathon: If y'all're all about speed and climbing, and you're a chip of a weight weenie or planning to race, cross-country mountain bike tires are for you lot. They're thinner and lighter than the other options, and will roll faster. They by and large take smaller, lower, and/or fewer knobs, and singled-out front end- and rear-specific tires are mutual.

While lighter means faster, the weight savings come at the expense of protection. XC tires take fewer layers of puncture and cutting protection, and so they may not be the best pick for gnarly trails, though burlier tires for cross country bikes are bachelor. (We'll explain all the layers and construction a little farther down)

c. Bartek Wolinski for NS Bikes

Trail / All-Mountain / Enduro: For nearly people, this is what they mean when they say "Mountain Biking". Moving up in travel, you have Trail bikes (120-140mm), All Mountain (140-170mm), and Enduro (160-180mm). The tires get bigger, tougher, and more aggressive every bit you move up that ladder, too.

Here, knobs are taller and commencement to become supporting trusses to hold up to higher speed, more aggressive cornering. Tire size and volume increase to offer more traction and support, and they add more than protective layers to the casing. Some tires become dual condom compounds to put more grip on the sides.

c. Ryan Finlay for Canyon

Downhill / DH / Gravity: If you've e'er been to a lift-served bike park, you know what downhill bikes expect like. They're burly, take massive intermission, and DH tires are built extra tough to withstand serious drops, huge obstacles, and hard hits.

c. Devinci Bikes

Plus / Fat Bikes: These bikes are designed for wider tire clearance. Fat bikes are typically ridden in snowfall (or occasionally sand, like on beaches) considering their massive volume provides great flotation in soft surfaces.

"Plus" bikes sit between fat and trail-sized tires, and had a cursory period of popularity with two.8″ to iii.0″ tires because the added width boosted comfort and traction. Only the category has more often than not gone away, and most regular mountain bikes and suspension forks won't fit tires this wide.

What size mountain bike tire do I need?

An MTB tire size is typically expressed as wheel diameter x tire width (like 29 x 2.4).

Mostly, mountain bike tires come in three diameters – 26″, 27.5″ and 29″. There are also smaller ones for children's bikes, ranging from 12 to 24 inches in bore.

The second number is the width and can range from ane.9″ for ultralight race bikes (and kids' bikes) to 5″ for fat bikes.

While the 26, 27.v or 29-inch measurement is based on your bicycle size, the tire width is adamant in part by how much clearance you have between your fork or rear triangle and your tire, and by your personal preference. Y'all'll take a range of widths to choose from, depending on what you're looking for in a tire. In general:

Cross Country: 1.ix″ to 2.25″ width
Trail / All-Mount / Enduro: 2.25″ to 2.half dozen″ width
Downhill: 2.4″ – 2.five″ width
Plus: two.8″-three.0″ width
Fatty Bikes: three.7″ to 5″ width

Another major consideration is matching your tire width to the correct rim width. We take a full technical article on which widths piece of work together to assistance you stay within the safe ranges.

Which tires do I need – cross country, trail, enduro, or downhill?

Downhill is simple…if you're riding at a downhill wheel park, y'all need DH tires. The difference between trail/enduro tires and cross-country tires is a flake more subtle.

From at that place, a skilful starting betoken is checking the size of tire that comes stock on your wheel, then determining what type of tire and features all-time lucifer your terrain and riding way. Just because you lot take a "trail" bike with 140mm of travel doesn't hateful you can't put a more aggressive "enduro" tire on it if that's what'll work best for you…or vice versa.

But what features practise you need? For that, allow'south look at tire construction…

What materials are MTB tires made from?

c. Pirelli

The simple respond is "condom." But it's a bit more complicated than that. We have a deep dive on tire construction right here, but hither'due south the quick version:

RUBBER: Every brand has their ain unique rubber compounds designed to excel in dissimilar ways, and many disembalm the durometer (aka "firmness") of the rubber. Lower durometer numbers (40-60) are softer and accept meliorate the grip, but they'll curl slower and clothing out faster. Harder safe (college durometer, usually 60-72) provides lower rolling resistance so you can get faster, just won't grip every bit well.

Higher end tires ordinarily get dual compounds, putting a softer rubber on the side knobs for ameliorate cornering, and firmer rubber in the centre for faster rolling and meliorate braking.

CASING: Every tire has a casing that the rubber is applied to. It's usually a woven nylon fabric. Cheaper tires have lower TPI casings, but nearly "operation" tires offset at 60tpi and this is a keen baseline because it's both flexible and sturdy. More ambitious tires sometimes use two 60tpi casing layers to add more support and cutting protection. The tradeoff is they're less supple and can have a firm-feeling ride, although they're also meliorate able to handle lower tire pressures without getting squirmy.

Lighter-weight "race" tires tin get 120tpi casings, which use thinner fibers to increase the thread count. They are very flexible and help the tire deform to match the terrain, so they feel amazing, but they're expensive and not about equally cut resistant.

REINFORCEMENTS: In improver to the casings, some tires add reinforcements to farther forbid sidewall cuts, punctures, and pinch flats. Wait for a Kevlar or Aramid layer under the tread (puncture protection) or on the sidewall (cut resistance), or both.

An "Apex" layer is a small foam or rubber wedge layered between the casings by the tire'due south dewdrop. Information technology adds a bit of sidewall support, but its primary purpose is add a absorber between the sidewall and the rim to prevent snakebite punctures when yous hit a sharp edge really difficult.

All of these technologies work great, but they all add weight and cost. Knobbier, more aggressive tires pedal slowly and can really sap your energy on the climbs and flats. So, only buy as much tire as y'all really need.

What virtually MTB tire chaplet?

You may notice that some tires in your local bike store are sold neatly folded up in a cardboard wrap, while others are open to full size.

Cheaper tires utilise rigid wire beads because they're easier to manufacturer and cost less. Some downhill tires still utilise wire beads considering weight doesn't matter as much and they're a bit less likely to come up off the rim, but mostly yous'll want to upgrade to…

Folding bead tires use Kevlar beads, which are much lighter. Kevlar won't stretch, so it's unlikely to come up off the rim (never say never, but it'south basically a non-result), and these are easier to mountain on modernistic tubeless-set up rims.

What practise the knobs do?

Those knobs on the tire—also known as lugs—provide traction. We did a deep swoop on MTB tire knobs here, but for a quick reference, here are the nuts:

Big lugs with wide spacing will help you roll through muddy terrain. These are commonly tapered—wider at the bottom and smaller at the top—to allow tires to shed mud faster.
Ramped knobs, which are what you come across on about bikes, are slanted in the direction that the tire will whorl for less resistance, then squared off in the back to provide more resistance when you brake.
Small, short, tight lugs will allow you lot to roll faster and are better for harder surfaces and trails without many obstacles.
Side lugs provide grip in corners as the bicycle leans (and oftentimes tires volition accept a line of transition lugs between the center and side lugs for lesser corners).
Low-profile lugs (shorter ones) will whorl faster, but will not grip equally well on obstacles or corners.

Does tire direction matter?

Ritchey'southward Trail series of mountain bike tires exemplify both directional and front- and rear-specific tread patterns. c. Ritchey

Most lugs are designed to curlicue in a certain management, which is usually indicated on the tire. Mount them backward and yous'll terminate up adding resistance to your ride rather than improving your traction. And some tires, like the Ritchey Trail series above, are front- and rear-wheel specific.

Can y'all run two dissimilar tires?

Cannondale with a Schwalbe Racing Ralph in the rear and a Racing Ray tire mounted on the front end wheel.

Absolutely! A lot of top pro racers will opt for more traction in the forepart and a faster-rolling tire in the rear. For instance, Canyon MTB Racing'due south Emily Batty is a fan of the Schwalbe Racing Ray tire in the front and the Racing Ralph in the rear. The front end-wheel-designed Racing Ray in the front end offers an ambitious XC tread adult for optimal steering precision with its lug design, while the Racing Ralph in the rear rolls faster. (This combination is also a favorite of Bikerumor staffers.)

Should I set tubeless tires?

A lot of mountain bikes and wheelsets are sold as tubeless-uniform, though many may non come actually set up with tubeless tires. As the name implies, tubeless tires don't crave tubes and instead use tape effectually the bike's inner rim to seal off the spoke holes. Sealant is poured into the tire and the tire is seated, usually using an air compressor or a bike pump with a "booster" chamber in order to add plenty air quickly to get the tires to 'sit' on the rim of the bicycle.

The sealant does exactly what yous'd assume information technology would: Keeps the air sealed into your tire, even if you get a small puncture or yous hitting an obstruction hard and pinch your tire. This means you can run lower pressures for better comfort and traction, and you salve the weight of the tube, too. Nevertheless, they are harder to bargain with if things do go amiss and tin can exist messy, then if you're not much of a mechanic, you may want to stick to regular tubes while you build your skills.

Is in that location a divergence between tubeless and regular MTB tires?

You can attempt to turn any mountain bike tire into a tubeless setup, but nosotros wouldn't recommend it unless both your tire and rim are labeled equally 'Tubeless Compatible' or 'Tubeless Ready'.

Fortunately, almost every modern mount bicycle tire (especially ones you lot'd be upgrading to) are now tubeless-set up. And most mod mountain bike wheels use tubeless-gear up rims, all of which are manufactured to see size and bore standards to ensure a safe, secure fit. Equally long as you're buying a reputable, major brand of cycle/rim and tire, tubeless setup is easy and reliable, and will ameliorate your ride quality.

What do the different tire descriptions mean?

In add-on to putting tires into the XC, trail or downhill categories, brands often categorize their tires by the conditions that the lugs are optimized for. As you look for a tire, recollect nearly the terrain you typically ride, and whether you adopt condolement or speed.

MUD: Pretty self-explanatory, just tires optimized for mud tend to have wider-spaced, spiky-shaped lugs then that mud doesn't cake upward betwixt them and ruin your traction.
SEMI-SLICK: If you're a racer and often on non-technical trails, a semi-slick allows you to maximize speed with tightly placed, low-contour lugs.
LOOSE: Lots of sand or modest rocks that motion around where you ride? Wait for tires designed for loose riding.
HARDPACK: Fast shredding on hard dirt or slickrock.
ROCKY: Some tires are designed to be more puncture resistance and armored on the sides and then that if you lot're riding in an expanse with lots of sharp rock, you'll be less likely to puncture.

How much should MTB tires price?

In that location's a huge range of pricing when it comes to mountain bike tires. A decent tire tin can be as inexpensive every bit $xxx per tire, but tin easily climb up to over $100 per tire. The sweetness spot is right around $fifty-70/tire when it comes to cost versus value for most riders.

MTB Tire Buying Guides

So, which type and brand should you purchase? Nosotros're adding MTB cross country, enduro, and downhill tire heir-apparent's guides, here's what'southward alive now: