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We all come a cropper sometimes, don’t overthink it.
wise words.
I used to ride in The Chilterns, and frankly there is no tyre in the world that will stop you from planting if you get in the wrong place on wet chalk.
Out of curiosity, I googled 'best tyre for wet chalk. I like the idea of Ice Spiker Pros...
The more grip you have, the faster you are going when you eventually fall off....
That green mosh/lichen covered south downs chalk is slippy enough when wet to spin you 180 degrees in the blink of an eye ime.....
Outright grip isn't so important for not falling off. I think it's more about balance and progressiveness, which leads to predictability.
A tyre is progressive on a particular surface if you can feel it starting to slip, and more force makes it slip a bit more. The opposite is a tyre that grips fine until it suddenly lets go and dumps you on the floor. The other issue is balance - if your rear tyre slips, you can dab; if both slip at the same time you can ride it out; if your front slips you're down, which sounds like what happened to the OP. But a large part of this is due to your bike set up and where your weight is in relation to the wheelbase. But the ideal placement for your weight depends on the bike's geometry. When I got my Salsa El Mar I had some lightly treaded almost semi slick race type tyres on it, however I could ride it fine in the mud because the balance is absolutely perfect and the bike just drifts around like some kind of rally car as I keep the power on.
If you just have more grip but the balance is wrong you'll just corner faster and hurt yourself more when you inevitably wash the front out. If the balance and progression is right then you can control most things even if you are slipping around and not going fast.
If you want to go really fast you need lots of grip [i]and[/i] balance and progression.
erm.
It’s worth noting that Hans Dampf has changed recently, the new ones have a different tread pattern.
This thread is ridiculous
mrmoofo
Member
It was off camber … not braking … in fact stomping onthe pedals to go up hill, and turning …
You feel off cos you unweighted the front and turned at the same time. It makes no difference what tyre you put on if you do that
Given the Hans Dampf has changed in its Addis version, what are people’s views of it as a front tyre?
I got my Solaris Max last summer with 2.8 WTB Rangers which I enjoyed in the lovely summer we had, before switching to 29er for winter. Having just changed back I’m not feeling the love and whilst really fast rolling, they lack bite in loose stone and especially Mud.
I run Nobby Nic 2.35 on the 29er and find these a good compromise for rolling and grip, yes they struggle on the steeper more natural terrain, but happy otherwise
Looking to replace the rangers with something gripper. Should I just replicate the 29er and fit NN front and rear or put an even gripper front tyre on? Would a HD/NN combo be the way to go or go the whole hog and put a Magic Mary on from and NN on rear?
Happy to hear sugg3stions for other brands. Ta
FWIW I just got my first 29er which came with HD tyres, I find them good handling all round tyres. BUT. I have found the front letting go and washing out unexpectantly mid corner, riding at "normal" speed. Have nearly fell off a couple of times with them. I normally ride various Maxxi tyres which I would say have way more edge grip.
True. I live on the Downs. Sometimes in winter you can't see your tyres, sometimes they don't even turn and you have to carry the bike so tyre quickly becomes irrelevant. I like a HD though.
I also ride on the South Downs and I also broke my elbow many years ago (end off the ulna not humerus, not humerus at all) and the best thing I did to to help my confidence once I got back on the bike was to wear some elbow pads. You can never.guarantee you won't hit your (now rather tender for some months) elbow on something but you can stick some padding on so it doesn't hurt as much