Posts
18
Joined
1/19/2020
Location
TH
Edited Date/Time
3/30/2020 7:54am
Hello from Siam!
Being a hybrid, in this case a peculiar cross between an Urban Street MTB, FGFS, and BMX Cruiser, I hope that my Fully Rigid Single-Speed Urban Assault Bike proves welcome here.
This bike is used daily on paved streets that are rough and dirty with short hill climbs (up to a maximum of 85 meters in elevation) and occasionally across a short light dirt path. As I particularly do so enjoy the burning sensation of single-speed hill climbs they are my usual haunt.
Currently, I am in deep contemplation regarding which tires I will upgrade to. I am looking to size up to a 2.3" to 2.5" in the front and 2.3" in the rear (that is about as wide as I can go back there). Priorities are bomb-proof durability against curbs and potholes; grip especially on dusty shoulders and slightly sandy corners; and comfort battling rough pavement, speed bumps, and large cracks before speed and/or weight which I could care less about.
A few of the contenders, the typical norm, are:
Kenda K-RAD
Maxxis DTH
Maxxis Hookworm
Maxxis Holy Roller
Schwalbe Thunder Burt
Either running them as a same pair or possibly in one of the following combinations:
Rear: Maxxis DTH or Maxxis Holy Roller
Front: Kenda K-RAD, Kenda Hookworm, or Schwalbe Thunder Burt
Being a hybrid, in this case a peculiar cross between an Urban Street MTB, FGFS, and BMX Cruiser, I hope that my Fully Rigid Single-Speed Urban Assault Bike proves welcome here.
This bike is used daily on paved streets that are rough and dirty with short hill climbs (up to a maximum of 85 meters in elevation) and occasionally across a short light dirt path. As I particularly do so enjoy the burning sensation of single-speed hill climbs they are my usual haunt.
Currently, I am in deep contemplation regarding which tires I will upgrade to. I am looking to size up to a 2.3" to 2.5" in the front and 2.3" in the rear (that is about as wide as I can go back there). Priorities are bomb-proof durability against curbs and potholes; grip especially on dusty shoulders and slightly sandy corners; and comfort battling rough pavement, speed bumps, and large cracks before speed and/or weight which I could care less about.
A few of the contenders, the typical norm, are:
Kenda K-RAD
Maxxis DTH
Maxxis Hookworm
Maxxis Holy Roller
Schwalbe Thunder Burt
Either running them as a same pair or possibly in one of the following combinations:
Rear: Maxxis DTH or Maxxis Holy Roller
Front: Kenda K-RAD, Kenda Hookworm, or Schwalbe Thunder Burt
Back in the day living in Santa Cruz, I had a similar yet very different bike. I got a Santa Cruz made Bontrager 24" BMX frame and built it up with a single crown DHO with a disk brake, 5" cruiser bars, profile cranks and two grind pegs. It was my short commute and dirt jumper slash skate park ride for a while.
That frame sat on the wall for a decade or so until one day I got the idea to turn it into a gravity bike, Now it has knee pads where the BB is, foot pegs at the rear axle, and upside down BMX bars mounted atop a set of DHO's with a disk brake leading the way.. And the same old Comp 3's.
Vee tire co does a tire called the speedster. It only comes in 2.1 (maybe 2.3 but they only had 2.1 when I ordered?) But regardless of size it would work very well for you. I used to not run anything below 2.3 because I thought I needed muh big tires, but on my street bike I'm down to 2.2 up front with a 2.1 speedster in the back and it's the best tire setup I've run.
If only the micro knobby still existed in 26x2.3. Ran mine for 3 years on the back of my dj. Fav tire of all time.
Your bike looks hella fun, enjoy that thing man! Just picked up my first bmx ever (hello again micro knobby!) And I'm sold. I've been wondering about a Mtb/bmx hybrid like yours. Looks killer.
What 2.2" do you run on the front of your street bike?
Being a very nice group of young men, including one young Thai girl who was riding (more like dancing) on an ultralight thin-tubed neon pink colored fixie, they were more than happy to oblige an old man and allowed my wife and I a number of test rides to feel the difference between the tires and bike types the group had. They were also kind enough to thoroughly demonstrate why they preferred and recommended slick tires for urban use and dirt covered city pathways and alleys.
There is a mini waterfall area built flush into the walkway so there was a lot of wet and dry surface to ride on and I was most definitely surprised how well both of these tires performed on wet granite, concrete, and brick... the transition from dry to wet and back to dry was smooth. I was actually dumbfounded. I had heard/read so many horror stories about Thick Slicks but they felt very nice... grippy and super smooth, and the fact that so many of these urban riders were riding on them either as a pair (front and rear) or mixed (with a RibMo on the front) really has given me some food for thought.
I believe I liked the feel of the 2" RibMo best so I am now seriously considering it for my rear and possibly the front (but I am leaning towards a Hookworm as they are suppose to dominate curbs and potholes like nothing else).
REAR:
Panaracer RiBMo 2.0"
Maxxis Pace 2.1"
Vee Speedster TwoSix DJ 2.125"
FRONT:
Maxxis Crossmark 2.1"
Conti Race King 2.0"
Vee Speedster TwoSix DJ 2.125"
Besides running either the Maxxis Paces or Conti Race Kings straight, front and back, here are some combinations that I am mulling over:
Rear: Maxxis Pace 2.1" // Front: Maxxis Crossmark 2.1"
Rear: Vee Speedster TwoSix DJ 2.125" // Front: Conti Race King 2.0"
Rear: Panaracer RiBMo 2.0" // Front: Vee Speedster TwoSix DJ 2.125"
Time to rethink where I am going with this build... both tire and gearing wise as I found me some even steeper slopes and DIRT!
Within 2 kilometers of my home I have discovered: a flat loose dirt and sandy trail; a small gravel path; a few steeper dirt hills (light and hard packed) with max slopes/pitches of 60-70%; and a semi-hard packed dirt track that makes a complete circle offering a pseudo-pump track experience with max slopes ranging from 15-25%.
Besides my current haunt of urban tarmac/concrete hills reaching max slopes/pitches of 25-30% I have also found a couple more steeper paved hills with short sections (5-10 meters) of slopes reaching 30-35%!
GEARING:
I am seriously considering dropping my gearing down some (nearing trial bike ratios/inches) so that I can conquer these steeper hills and mess about in the dirt. Current gearing is at: ~1.84 / ~47.8"
TIRES:
Also, after a few LBS visits I have learned that Speedsters are horribly prone to punctures here in Thailand due to the combination of road debris (glass & metal) and albeit, very small, but rather sharp pieces of limestone. So Maxxis DTH and Vee Rubber Speedsters are definitely off the list now... :-(
Maxxis Hookworm (2.5" so Front Only)
Schwalbe Super Moto-X (2.4" so Front Only)
Schwalbe Crazy Bob / Fat Frank (2.35" so Front Only)
Schwalbe Big Apple (Front & Rear)
Schwalbe Big Ben (Front & Rear)
Panaracer RiBMo (Front & Rear)
I will be in Japan for a few days so planning to check out a few bicycle shops to see what is available.
As I was concerned about the Hookworm even fitting my front rim, a Bombtrack FR32 Double-Walled 26" x 25mm (559 x 25c), I contacted Bombtrack in Germany directly. They said that a Hookworm would indeed fit my double-walled rim and that this tire/rim combination was actually quite popular with Freestylers there in Europe. The recommended rating for my rim model is ~33mm to ~65mm (1.3"-2.55") which means a 1.3-2.6 sizing multiplier.
Makes sense as my particular model year the rims were fitted by Bombtrack with a 2.25" wide tire on the front and 2.0" on the rear and subsequent model years the very same rims were fitted with 2.3" tires both front and back... which means a 2.286x or 2.33x sizing multiplier.
So it seems that there may be a little bit more leeway there in sizing as given by that Maxxis engineer (maybe it was a 'preferred' rating rather than 'recommended') and that it probably does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, model to model, usage to usage, etc.
On the front is a newer model 2.35" and on the rear is an older Dual Compound 2.10" which barely fit. Thank goodness I didn't order a 2.25" which I was tempted to do!
Now onto my next upgrade... a new rear hub. Nearly decided upon a 120mm Profile Track Fixed/Free Hub with an upgraded 14mm chromoly axle and Elite 16T Freewheel.
Profile Mini Cassette Hub with 15t Chromo Splined Driver with 120mm Track Cone Spacers.
The headset & head/steerer tube were all in nearly pristine condition so just cleaned, re-lubed (greased), and dropped 'em right back in.
The bottom bracket was also very clean though the bearings were suspect so we took 'em out; cleaned up the bottom bracket shell; and pressed in some new bearings from Primo. We messed around with spacers/washers until we lined up the chain-line nicely as it had been off by a few mm before causing some minor occasional chain-rub noise that was driving me nuts.
@Ricochet I know it's been a while but I'm wondering how did you like those SB8 in terms of durability etc?
I'm considering getting a pair for a similar SS project based on Trek 820
Post a reply to: Urban Hill Slayer