You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Long shot, but I don't suppose anyone has quantified the effect on speed of just changing a front tyre?
I've always tended to assume that the rear tyre is most important when it comes to speed and reducing the grip of the front just increases the chances of crashing without much benefit. So, my default setup is Rock Razor (speedgrip) on the back with Magic Mary (soft) up front. That setup gives me plenty of grip and I can be pretty sure that the the rear will let go before the front, which significantly reduces my chances of crashing I feel. Now that "summer" is here and rides are tending to be longer with more of a mix of surfaces (including some road) I'm thinking of switching to a faster rolling front tyre, but am concerned that I'd just be increasing my chances of crashing for very little benefit.
I swapped out my Hillbilly (think Magic Mary) for a Barzo on the front, the difference in terms of rolling resistance & speed was night & day. The Barzo almost killed me on the first ride out though! Some gnarr recalibration was required, but I adapted to it, came into its own on a dry 80 miler recently. Now got a Martello on the front, but will reuse the Barzo for long rides.
Hard to quantify, but going from (odd combination I realise) an old design Racing Ralph at the rear (Pacestar) with MM (Trailstar snakeskin) to a Rocket Ron liteskin at the front made a very noticeable difference.
Obviously this is a bit extreme, and you do get a bit less grip but it's not that horrendous (I ran an updated version of this combo last winter on the HT, so not too bad, but I wouldn't, for example, try to go fast on the steepest rootiest trails in the wet).
To quantify the benefit, you just need to work out your weight distribution between the wheels - it will make most difference along the flatish as up steep stuff the majority of your effort goes into actually climbing, and down steep stuff you're scrubbing speed away with the brakes anyway.
Edit - something to consider is the thinner sidewalls/faster rebound rubber pings off things more, it's not just the lower ultimate grip levels. Being a more delicate tyre, pressure becomes pretty critical even on the front to get a good feel combined with reasonable chance of not getting a puncture. Thin sidewalls also mean that if you go a touch too low pressure it gets wandery very quickly.
Thanks. So, it will make a noticeable difference, but it might kill me 🙂
The point about climbing and weight distribution is a good one. When I think of speed I'm mostly thinking about climbing speed.
When I think of speed I’m mostly thinking about climbing speed.
Not much of a difference to effort required if it's *just* steep climbing, but it's surprising how much of a difference it makes if you're riding with others along the flat and you've been putting less effort in along flat sections, so start the climbs with fresher legs.
2.6 MM addix soft up front all year, the speed I'll carry through corners makes up for the wee bit of drag on straight stuff, and my riding is always natural so the fact MM's are pretty shit on kitty litter is neither here nor there.
I tried using a faster front, but basically ended up in the bushes at each corner. I couldnt alter my riding style enough to make use of the lower resistance.
I needed to slow down a bit more in the corners and make up for that on the strights. Which is sensible and would make you faster, or leave you fresher for the climbs.
But I couldnet change the habit of a lifetime 🙂
but it might kill me
Dibs on the bike...
I used to run a supertacky maxxis on the front, you could feel the difference vs the normal single ply but it wasn't horrendous. Same on the back was like riding through treakle!
As Philjunior said, 2/3 of your weight is on the back wheel when on the flat, so the rear has twice the drag of the front, and that's only magnified more on the climbs.
Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. I think you've talked me out of changing the front tyre. It may well be overkill for the sort of mincing I do, but I'd feel a right idiot if I changed it and ended up breaking myself. I guess I'll just have to try to get fitter instead.