No more rants

Letting slip with that rant was an error in judgement. Here is my latest and most successful stab at getting a really sweet handling mountain bike.

First some background. A good 60% or more of a rider's mass is on the back wheel. 60% or more of your braking force comes from the front brake (all this assumes seated rider, level ground). I think that last one is the reason why some mountain bikes use larger front rotors, though it seems to come from some fuzzy logic. Larger rotors are good for the following reasons: better heat dispersion (larger rotor area), higher initial bite (greater leverage against the hub), and greater brake force for a given hand effort. Larger rotors are bad for the following reasons: greater weight, higher initial bite (can be difficult to control for novices).

Some more background. I have never owned or even ridden a bike where the natural tendency was for the rear wheel to let go first during a corner (in a car, this is oversteer). I've owned and ridden a couple two three bikes, let me tell you. Every single bike I've ever ridden is an understeering pig with the front wheel letting go long before the rear. Many riders solve this by using a larger front tire (say a 2.5" front vs. a 2.3" rear). This is a good start, but isn't enough. In theory, that difference in contact patch shouldn't make a difference at all if the coefficient of friction is the same for each tire. So what to do!?!

You go here and you purchase one of these soft tires for the front:

and one of these harder tires for the rear:


Durometer is how tires designate coefficient of friction, by the way. Lower is softer, stickier rubber. Higher is harder, less tacky rubber. Maxxis is the only company I know making different durometers available in single ply tires. Of their tires, the High Roller, Minion and Larsen are the only tires I see like this.

This combination allows greater overall traction to the front tire, has numerous benefits and almost no drawbacks. Benefits: greater brake force available, greater cornering force available, more neutral handling (the front wheel still lets go first). Drawbacks: Your front tire will wear more quickly than it used to. I'm guessing it'll last about as long as your rear tire. Now you need that heavier 185 rotor, there will be a slight increase in rolling resistance while climbing (but only on the front wheel).

Seriously, for the mountain bikers out there, if you only learn one thing ever from the internet, it is this. Buy a softer durometer front tire. You'll be faster and have way more fun once you're pointed downhill.