Mountain Bike Tire Selection Tips

Video Transcript

"You've got something that's a heavier, a harder compound, lighter, really light casing. So you've got a casing like this which is just as you can see it's really soft and pliable and that helps it conform to the ground so you get better grip. And also you can guess its probably a little bit lighter. Then you've got a medium weight casing. Like this tire, and this is semi slick tire like I have on the back of my bike, except that it?s designed more for a downhill application, so the rubber is a lot softer. You can even see that it conforms a little bit better and rebounds a little bit slower. But this one, you can see it's you know, a little bit stiffer, still a light weight casing. But then your sort of ultimate type of casing is a really heavy weight tire. This thing is like a motorcycle tire. I mean look at it, it has big knobs, is 2.8 inches wide, the rubber is super super soft and you can see how long it takes for it to confirm. And a tire like this has one use and one use only. That is downhill riding. You don't want to peddle this thing around in the woods; you don't want to peddle around on the streets. You don't want to do anything with it except ride it down a hill and it does that really well."