How to Choose Tires for a Downhill Mountain Bike

Video Transcript

"MICKEY DENONCOURT: So, you're riding down hill or free riding. You already know that you need down hill tires, but how do you choose, you know, the tire that's right for your riding style and your conditions. You know, there's a couple of basic tread patterns that all the various companies offer, slight variations of, but for the conditions I'm riding in today, which is, you know, damp, there's some, you know, hard rocks, there's some loose soil and stuff like that. A tire like I have here, is a pretty good choice. It's fairly open so it sheds mud well, it's not chalk full of knobs, lots of working edges that, you know, hook on things and give you traction, and I'm going to serve a medium size. Downhill tires range from 2.2 inches wide, which this is what is, to 2.8 inches wide which is, you know, almost 3 inches wide, that's a huge tire. Generally, you want to go with the smallest tire you can get away with, cause they're going to roll quicker and handle better cause they're going to be a lighter weight. In a harder condition, you might want a tire that has more lateral knobs, here which you're gonna, just give you a little more grip and roll a little bit quicker, so the more rubber you have touching the ground, and the less individual knobs that quicker tire will roll. And then another, you know, the most--the complete opposite of the tire that I have on the front, is the tire that I have on the rear. Not too many people use this style of tire for downhill riding, it's not very predictable, it's kind of sketchy, but it rolls really fast. It still has, you know, the good soft, downhill rubber that rebounds very slowly. But instead of having tread in the middle, just has, sort of this little file pattern which gets fairly good traction. The reason I'm running one is 'cause I was too lazy to change this morning, but also because, these tires are very fun to ride. They force you stay on top of your game, and they're very easy to break loose without skidding, you know, you don't have grab your brakes to make these tires break loose and slide around corners, which is good. For a really dry terrain, or a really good grippy, loamy terrain, tires like these are great. It will add a lot of speed to what you're doing, and can make you go a little bit quicker. But you know, once again make sure you're running at the right pressure, and that you've chosen the right thread pattern, and you should be pretty good. So, 2.2 inches about as small as it goes, 3 inches is as big as it goes, and just once again, ask around your local riding spots, see what the other riders are riding, cause it probably works well for where you are."