Front trials tire???

Front trials tire?

For casual trail riding - trials tire or knobbie? "Any thoughts?" as people say so often...

Sorry in advance - I know trials tires have been discussed ad nausum (sp) but cant find threads or post regarding a front trials tire, just the back.

The reason you can't find info is because almost all people who run rear trials tires continue to use a front Knobby. There are people running the fronts though and I'm going to put a Dunlop 803 trials tire on a spare front rim and give it a try. There's a old time racer on PlanetKLX that is running the trials tire on the front and he swears by it. he's not racing anymore, but he says it's killer for trail riding. He says (and now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense to me) that they will allow you to climb right out of deeper ruts that a knobby keeps slipping down into and that the front tire sticks better in corners than most of the knobby's he's run. I'd like to give it a try next time I replace my front tire on the spare.

I'd like to give it a try next time I replace my front tire on the spare.

Thanks. Funny though - from all the posts I have read I had the impression you were running with front trials tire. The only other comment I saw was that Velosaipens (sp?) thought it was not a good idea.

You out there Velo? 2PLY?

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Sorry, I have no idea. Please remember that in my posts, I really only tell you about the characteristics of the tire and the reason they work the way they do on our Trials Bikes. I have no real experience with them on Non-Trials Bikes.

I can only help stop the wives-tales and some of the guess work about the nature of these tires.

I can say this: On my Trials Bikes, the front seems to work very well as long as I keep the pressure at about 5 PSI. I will use 6 on faster dry rides. Also, the front tire is a different animal. It is NOT radial ply and as far as I can tell does not come in the tubeless version. However, I do remember when tubeless first became available, there were a few bikes that came with the tubeless front tire.

Only available in 2.75x21 size. That is probably more narrow than the front tire you use now.

My guess is that they would be good for trail riding where control and traction is more important than speed.

Because they are not radial, over time at low pressures, the sidewalls seem to deteriorate. The current front tire on my 300 Gas Gas is on it's third season of use. They almost never wear out in the tread area, just the sidewalls. But that's at 5 PSI so who knows about life on a sit-down bike?

Only 3 seasons? I can live with that! As mentioned in my similar post in the trials section I actually have the Dunlop 803's front and back. Back 7psi and front 8psi at least for the 2 days I could ride it. My bike is not that heavy (250f) and neither am I so the combined weight on the tires may not be that much heavier than a larger trials rider on a light trials bike. It would certainly NOT be in the same category as Dwight's big bike!

Just wondered what issues (besides pinch flats) there might be running a front trials tire - the rear trials tire has been talked about a lot. I have been reading and I got the impression that some of the trials bikes are running knobbies during trials events...are they? If so why?

I DID try to go see a trials event this weekend to gain more knowledge but could not make it...

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Thanks. Funny though - from all the posts I have read I had the impression you were running with front trials tire. The only other comment I saw was that Velosaipens (sp?) thought it was not a good idea.

You out there Velo? 2PLY?

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i haven't personally tried it. i'm taking the word of orbabill, who i have the utmost respect for. he's the one that originally turned me on to the rear trials tire, and his riding skill and trail preferences are similar to mine. bill said it broke loose too easily in hard cornering.

fwiw, i have no problems riding pretty bald front tires, so it probably wouldn't make much difference to me.

i haven't personally tried it. i'm taking the word of orbabill, who i have the utmost respect for. he's the one that originally turned me on to the rear trials tire, and his riding skill and trail preferences are similar to mine. bill said it broke loose too easily in hard cornering.

fwiw, i have no problems riding pretty bald front tires, so it probably wouldn't make much difference to me.

Velo!!! Thanks! Breaking loose too easy in the hard cornering....I will keep an eye on that. If you had to guess under what conditions might have Orbabill have been riding in with that trials tire he had? Hard pack? Sand? Mud?

edit - info on size of bike, rider, and tire pressure? Any guesses?

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