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Hi looking for a tyre for the ongoing fat bike build so now onto tyres, riding maps all year, including road sections to get the the moors and then rocks, bogs and moorland plus trail centre gisburn.
So any recommendations on the two tyres
Jumbo Jim's snakeskin rather than lites
Or
Specialised ground control
As well as size option or can I go mismatch of 4.8 at the front and 4.0 at the back?
Ran husker du previously and slide hilarious on any mud .....
Front tyre does more work and going bigger on the front makes sense, particularly if rigid.
As you're going for all-round use then I'd want something with more tread than a JJ - good for summer use on dry trials but lack of side knobs makes them less suited to winter.
If I could have two pairs, I’d go jj 4.8 front and rear for summer and bud front and rear for winter. I’ve got ground controls now which seem a good compromise for all year round.
Any self steer with G.Cs?
Not that I notice but I don’t tend to run super low pressures.
Anyone have experience of the Minion FBF & FBR ?
Minions are bleedin awesome. Bud/Lou is good too, they do the same job just slightly differently. (Minion is more trailbikey and fun basically, and gives miles more feedback, Bud/Lou is more implacable and I think actually grippier, but much more damped and therefore deader, and for me the lack of feedback makes it harder to use the grip they have. YMMV, massively, if you're not into the bouncier feel of the Minion you'd probably call it skittish or uncontrolled. I think they're probably equally good.
4.8 JJ is an excellent tyre, way better than the 4.0 imo but still not much use in the wet, think of it as a racing ralph and you can't go too far wrong. Hven't used GCs.
Personally, big > small, my frame'll take 4.8s and I'll not put another 4.0 in it, for me there's no reason.
JJs = summer if you ride any where muddy, nates for winter
What northwind said... JJ 4.8 off for the winter and minions on ....
Great tyre.... Tubeless ready and well priced.
Fbf minion on the front is incredible compared to jumbo Jim. Also running 4.8 front and leaving 4.0 jj on the back at the moment. Mainly cos 4.8 doesn't have enough chain clearance on the back...
Minions are mental expensive though. Could get a decent motorbike tyre for less!
I've just fitted a Minion up front instead of a GC, big improvement in grip. Still running the GC out back at the mo but it cuts loose pretty easily..
GC's are fine for most seasons but no use over winter.
Minions are 4.8, GC's 4.6
The 4.0 JJs are (relatively) light and make the bike feel more nimble and accurate. At that the same time they make it feel significantly less fat and more like what it is - an unremarkable rigid bike.
The 4.8s are more spacehopper/bulldozer and make all the difference.
Both sizes absolutely craptacular in mud.
I'm on JJ 4.4 snakeskin, I'll be going 4.8 when it's time to change and what others have said, not great in mud but not terrible. I'd say they are good for 9 months of the year for me in the Surrey Hills, the 3 wet months a just change the riding a bit and do more XC.
4.8 fbf and 4.0 fbr on my O-o trail 🙂
So minion fbf is for the front and the rear...?????
Not even been drinking......
I'm running two pairs, for winter I run FBF and FBR both in 4.8 but found some good deals on line shopping around just watch out for odd OEM type low TPI tyres being sold off as opposed to the 120 that you probably want.
Mid season run summer tyre and FBF as other have, summer wise the JJ I've read roll really well but I'm running Vee Bulldozers as I had them and heh it's more money for coffee and cake if I keep 'em.
I've taken a view to run 4.8 all year, kind of feels right as otherwise might as well go the whole hog and run them skinny 3" or worse 😉
Not felt like a disadvantage to the grin I call 24x7x365 🙂
James