the BMB

Last night I noticed that the sidewall of my rear tire had blown out. I've been looking at some new tires on Huck-n-Roll and eBay and noticed that some mention that there are front and rear specific tires.

Any tire shopping suggestions?

Heres my bike currently. New custom Velocity Deep V wheels on their way.

^ Nice
Here's mine:

I'm looking to get a Deep V in the back sometime soon.

I was thinking of going aerospoke in the front. How do you like it. I wanna go coaster brake hub in the back

JoshuaParker:

I was thinking of going aerospoke in the front. How do you like it. I wanna go coaster brake hub in the back

The Aerospoke is nice.  I like not having to worry about tuning my front wheel on a regular basis.  It also seems quite bombproof.

Since last time I posted here:

1) Sold my '06 Gary Fisher Marlin to my aunt for $200, she gave it to my uncle for Father's Day.

2) Got onto a park bench with the P1.  Approached it at a 45 degree angle, got the front tire up on it, grabbed a handful of brake and lifted the rear wheel up there.  It was awesome.

3) Bunny hopped up a curb, landed in a manual, kept it rolling for 3 or 4 seconds before I put the front tire down.

Other than that, not much new or exciting on two wheels to report.

I have my cannondale hardtail to ride all summer, (I am in Delaware at the moment) and I already twisted my shocks in an ungodly way- the spill over this bigass log was worth it though.
PM me if your ever in DE and wanna ride.

jibhucker:

PM me if your ever in DE and wanna bone.

fixed.

Forgot to share this after my ride in Marin last week. Quite possibly the greatest sign I've ever seen on a trail before:

shralp:

Last night I noticed that the sidewall of my rear tire had blown out. I've been looking at some new tires on Huck-n-Roll and eBay and noticed that some mention that there are front and rear specific tires.

Any tire shopping suggestions?

Unless you race at the track only, you guys should tape your whole bars properly. Ditch the shitty arrowspok, one of those rims are almost as heavy as a quality wheelset, and have more lateral flex. Other than that, Those are some sweet fixed gears:)

I finally figured out how to hop around on the rear wheel of my P1.  Consequently my normal biking callouses weren't thick enough and I got 3 big painful blisters on my hands.  That was a week ago and they're still not healed.  *sigh*

Cool. Not the blisters part, but the hoping around bit.

My brother took some pictures while we were riding today.  The first one is a crudely-cut jump in a pile of gravel, the second one is me hopping around on my rear wheel.  Fun story with that, my rear wheel pressed forward into the frame till it wouldn't spin at all today.  Turns out those bolts come loose when you ride two months without checking them.  Who knew?

shralp:

Last night I noticed that the sidewall of my rear tire had blown out. I've been looking at some new tires on Huck-n-Roll and eBay and noticed that some mention that there are front and rear specific tires.

Any tire shopping suggestions?

I haven't run front/rear specific tires in awhile but some people swear by the set up. Generally, this setup is designed around a front tire that is better suited with cornering and/or lower rolling resistance and a rear that either brakes really well or climbs really well. Honestly, you can find non front/rear specific tires that work really well for your style of riding and they'll last longer as you can rotate them (generally, your rear tire will wear faster as that tire gets abused by braking forces more). Also, tires generally come with a "recommended" rotating direction. Sometimes you can flip the tire for different performance characteristics....for example, if you have a tire that climbs really well but you really don't find yourself climbing anything loose or difficult flip it around and you may notice an increase in braking performance (at the expense of some rolling resistance).

What kind of riding do you do and what kind of trails do you ride? I've always been a big fan of WTB tires (particularly the Weir Wolf) but on my Santa Cruz I've been using the Kenda Nevegals and those have been awesome for me in the very dry, loose stuff that I normally ride.