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if they release the radial tacky right after I bought these alberts... I'm going to cry soft man-tears
i was in between them for weeks. trying to read reviews. but i wanted to try radial, ideally without killing me on the climb.
Just out of curiosity what is gimmicky about a tire?
Radials come in trail and gravity (aka DH casing). The DH casing is the same as the Schwalbe Super DH casing (not to be confused with the Super Gravity casing which is 2 ply sidewall and 1 ply top) but obviously feels way more supple. I've managed to cut both a Shredda rear and a Albert Gravity casing as back tyres. So as I said before if you want bomb proof and support stick to regular DH tyres. Radials are next level for grip and muted feel on tech, off camber and steeps.
Ya I don't even think my riding quite demands a DH tire, even if my body weight kinda does. I imagine these super gravity whatevers for radials will be fine (for me).
But to your point, as a rear tire, I was considering tacky chan in super DH. If I actually slash it, I may just go Conti rear. But it's gonna be a very strange mismatch combo. Only thing I'm shooting for is cornering grip while retaining some strength in any rough stuff/chatter. As most tires I've used ping the sh!t out of the rims if I try to run a proper cornering psi. Prepared to drink the radial kool aid... But also prepared to spit it back out if needed.
Hardly prepared to pay 115-120 for contis but... It is what it is lol
The odd combination of pointy ramped center block mixed with a split pair of blocks alternating. What am I doing when I hit by brakes? Am I scooping dirt at an angle? Head on vertical? "Oh no, you get both. But every other block you get it."
Tires are really simple. Colin Bailey literally nailed it first try & there's virtually no reason to change it up much.
I've seen them all over the decades & it's amazingly simple that rectangles spaced out across the carcass & properly supported without getting too crazy with mixing rubber compounds leads to grip.
Magic Mary
DHR
DHF
Butcher
High Roller
Shorty
Simple. Grip. Tall or short.
What do people think about one radial? I am in the market for a front tire but not a rear. Is it dumb to get one?
yes
some one has already mentioned it in the thread. my take is (hot takes only) 'do whatever you want'.
some people have already gone something like super gravity radial in front and then super downhill in the rear for better protection, more or less. but you could make the internet even MADDER by getting a radial front and conti rear. even longer lasting tire.
I’d get one and put it up front.
But I’m also out here mix n matching brands like a mofo, something that makes the bike dudes shudder
Radial up front makes sense. Some criticisms of radial makes me think they’re better up front than out back
If I get a radial it would just be on the front, for now at least. Like everyone else has mentioned, they seem better suited to a front than a back to me. I'm sticking with my tried and true Kryptotal Re DH Soft for the back. Great grip, great support, and lasts absolutely forever
I don't think it's dumb at all. I run a Cushcore in the back, but not in the front. I run less air pressure in my front tire, too. Weirder still, I run fewer spokes in my front wheel and love it. Why not run a more flexible tire carcass?
I absolutely want different performance characteristics out of my front and rear tires, wheels, suspension, brakes, and probably want different levels and kinds of flex in my frame vs. fork. Try it and let us know!
I run a radial up front with an older supergravity on the back.
I like my tires specifically not to match so I can pretend I know some cheat code or something. Tire hack!
The missing preciseness is more of an issue for me on the front with the radials. I could not fault the Albert gravity 2.6 x 27.5 in the rear of my Relay. However up front the MM wasn't doing it once speeds increased in my rocky terrain (to be fair, it was the trail compound). It felt really good at first though just trail riding. I also tried the Albert up front 3x on my Relay and it was a bit scary.
That Vittoria Mazza starts off way too firm and needs pretty low air pressure to work right but is very good once you drop psi. I'm running a Mazza 2.6 up front at 18 psi (bike rider weight is 225#s) and it works better than any of the radials up front in my dry rocky but loose conditions and even feels just as compliant. It does need a bit of break in and low psi though.
I set up a new set of wheels for a new e-bike build and decided to go with Crankbrothers synthesis MX wheels and mounted up the Mazza 2.6 Race up front (never tested the Race) & the Albert Gravity 2.6 in the rear. So, this is my best guess to the ultimate set up at the moment.
I hear you on the price, but the conti rears last a lot longer for me than the tacky chans on the rear. So far i've gone thru almost 3 tacky's and the other bike is still on the same conti. Both see similar mileage and both are the softest dh casing tires respectively. So maybe they're actually cheaper if you also get more durability out of them?
Best to run a radial front and normal rear than the reverse. I ran an Eddy Current front with an Albert (radial) rear and it's not great...too much grip in the rear so I couldn't slide the back end. Front radial with regular rear works so long as you don't need max grip. If you do then the back end slides way before the front and that can feel unbalanced.
dude can I use that? “Too much grip?” I’d feel way better than my current description of my riding (“I’m going too slow”)…thanks in advance!
Conti do the opposite of what most tyre manufacturers do when it comes to rubber stacking.
The super soft have the softest rubber underneath, then a harder rubber on the outside for wear performance. So the knobs are pliable and soft but don't get chewed up too quickly.
You notice that once your through that outer rubber they fall off a cliff and it's a couple rides and they're done.
They make a pro only ultra soft where the entire trye is their softest rubber too.
Having more grip in the rear than the front isn't good because it pushes the front i.e. less grip on the front than the rear, more likely to drift the front than the rear.
I just ordered some of the e*thirteen Mid Spike tires for the wet weather. Were deep into it currently plus I have alot of plans for riding Snowshoe this summer and it always rains there. Was planning on picking up some Shortys but these were too good of a deal to not try.
No way.
Tires don’t talk to each other, increasing grip on the read doesn’t detract from what’s already happening in the front. Gimme more grip everywhere, I’ll figure out how to use it.
I read Fred’s comment as being similar to the idea that you want your rear to lose traction first, not the front. I did think about it quite a bit and I’m not sure if an mtb can “push” the way a car or moto can, but at the least I would rather my read break traction first
If you want more grip get two radials. The difference between a radial and a normal tyre is huge in terms of grip. Best to lose the back before the front. I ran an Albert (radial) rear with a front Eddy Current (tubeless and with insert) for one ride in lose over hardpack with some rocks and hated it. Had a hard time sliding the backend and the front felt like it had no grip compared to the rear.
Was reading the Vee tire article over on PB , I will say I still don’t understand the what makes radial better or worse. I am going to try them from vee if the price is right
A true radial tire (bike or otherwise) just refers to the support filaments direction. In a true radial these filaments run arranged 'radially' from bead to bead, and this means that the filaments don't touch each other and are only in contact through much softer rubber.
A bias ply tire has these filaments at angles and as such they contact each other a lot, sort of like how if you touch one part of a spider web the entire spider web is interconnected and all of it moves.
As a result, a radial tire when it comes in contact with a trail/ road imperfection, and the filament gets moved, it's not contacting the neighboring filaments. So what happens is when a true radial conforms to something it conforms more locally. Like imagine a radial tire wrapping around 5 different trail imperfections where the trail contacts the contact patch and giving you all this increased contact patch. Whereas a traditional bias ply tire would essentially have the entire tire lifted off the trail off of the tallest trail imperfection.
Hope that helps.
I respectfully disagree. I'm fastest with tires that let loose exactly at the same moment. The next best is the rear breaking loose first. The worst combo, which is basically the standard on L/ XL modern short chainstay enduro 29ers, is then the front lets go first, often way sooner than the rear. There was a time when bikes were really short reach and the exact same tire front and back worked quite well. That doesn't work anymore and all bikes that I've ridden for years do much better with a higher traction tire up front.
One of the best parts of an MX bike for me is that the traction is much more even as the 27.5s never hook up as well as the equivalent 29ers in the rear. MX bikes feel much more balanced Front to Rear to me.
100% agree and what’s funny is that I didn’t make the MX connection until you wrote that. I have gradually been running faster and faster rears and I’m now running the slaughter. It’s crazy how well it works considering I just need it to break before the front goes…
I’m not looking for tires to break away at any point!
Why not grip up the front if you’re uncomfortable with your front / rear balance?
Your tires will break away at some point. I’d rather know where that line is and I’d rather that line be crossed by the rear first.
Okay dokey then, not certain why I didn't think of never having my tires slip!
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