Which tyres do you ride on your ebike?

[Razor1972]

Okay.. here's an update. Pumped up the tyres to 140 and they are rock hard. Like scary hard. I don't know how you can even go harder than that. Took it for a ride with a friend who trains mtb. I It was the K@#!ist ride I ever had and my friend confirms it's the tyres. She took the bike for a ride as well. I live in Tokai, Cape Town, so regularly ride Tokai. I know the trails like the bike of my hand. If you know Tokai, you know the trails are not manicured like the ones in the Northern Suburbs. Tokai is rough and after the heavy rains and landslides, it's gotten worse. Today, I almost wiped out twice on bends and had to slow down dramatically to get traction. I don't think these tyres work for enduro on an ebike. In fact, I honestly think the tyre is shite for the price, compared to the Maxxis. I need something more aggressive and will look into the Maxxis Assagai.

[thebob]

140 what? PSI? Bar? Using a proper pressure gauge or the one on the pump. You still haven’t said what tyres they are not have you answered my question about your suspension setup. Seems you just want to drop some money on tyres without making sure they are the root cause of your problem

[BaGearA]

10 hours ago, Razor1972 said:

Okay.. here's an update. Pumped up the tyres to 140 and they are rock hard. Like scary hard. I don't know how you can even go harder than that. Took it for a ride with a friend who trains mtb. I It was the K@#!ist ride I ever had and my friend confirms it's the tyres. She took the bike for a ride as well. I live in Tokai, Cape Town, so regularly ride Tokai. I know the trails like the bike of my hand. If you know Tokai, you know the trails are not manicured like the ones in the Northern Suburbs. Tokai is rough and after the heavy rains and landslides, it's gotten worse. Today, I almost wiped out twice on bends and had to slow down dramatically to get traction. I don't think these tyres work for enduro on an ebike. In fact, I honestly think the tyre is shite for the price, compared to the Maxxis. I need something more aggressive and will look into the Maxxis Assagai.

Clearly your setup is the issue here.

 

As said above I run xr's which are the softer bontrager's and have a good few top 5's on some rocky trails here.

 

First thing would be what is 140 ???? 

 

Your first post said 1 psi ?????

 

Get something accurate and post the real numbers and you might be legitimately surprised by the advice that given earlier in this same thread

[BaGearA]

I ran this in rocky fast trails in Pta in 2019 and never struggled to find grip.

 

Ran 30psi front and rear back then 

[Me rida my bicycle]

15 minutes ago, BaGearA said:

Clearly your setup is the issue here.

 

As said above I run xr's which are the softer bontrager's and have a good few top 5's on some rocky trails here.

 

First thing would be what is 140 ???? 

 

Your first post said 1 psi ?????

 

Get something accurate and post the real numbers and you might be legitimately surprised by the advice that given earlier in this same thread

I have to agree I've had xr5's aswell and the grip was great. If you run them to soft it feels like you are sliding all over but that's the tyre moving/folding what ever the right word. I now have a set of the less aggressive xr4's for a little less weight and rolling resistance and still no issues with grip. 

I would say get a decent pressure gauge and start with the recommended pressure on the side of the tyre and go little down or up to find the sweet spot. 

Otherwise get a set of Maxxis and see if it changes the bike 🤷🏻‍♂️

Edited January 1 by Me rida my bicycle

[Chadvdw67]

Pretty sure he is working with kpa, 140kpa would be roughly 1.4bar

[Simon123]

I'd rather give up cycling than use Bontrager tyres again on an Ebike.   I've never had to plug tyres as much as those absolute piece of **** *** tyres.   Was recommended by Gear Change in Tokai (needed a 27,5 x 2.6) when I couldn't just get the usual Maxxis DHRII Exo+.

Not a SINGLE issue on multiple DHRII tyres, yet every single ride without failure that rubbish Bontrager needed to be plugged or the like.    And it was R1650 fitted. 

Trek can shove those rubbish tyres up their bum.

[Simon123]

I forgot to add, the minute I could get a Maxxis (R900 which was almost half) I put it on and magically all the issues went away and I threw that Bontrager in the bin.

[LazyTrailRider]

6 hours ago, Simon123 said:

I'd rather give up cycling than use Bontrager tyres again on an Ebike.   I've never had to plug tyres as much as those absolute piece of **** *** tyres.   Was recommended by Gear Change in Tokai (needed a 27,5 x 2.6) when I couldn't just get the usual Maxxis DHRII Exo+.

Not a SINGLE issue on multiple DHRII tyres, yet every single ride without failure that rubbish Bontrager needed to be plugged or the like.    And it was R1650 fitted. 

Trek can shove those rubbish tyres up their bum.

Dramatic much?

[Simon123]

36 minutes ago, LazyTrailRider said:

Dramatic much?

Not at all, just not come across such a POS product in modern mountain biking.   There is no reason to have such **** products sold to us in this day and age.

Reminded me of the "DH Casing" Tioga tyres from 1999. More flats than Table View.

[BaGearA]

10 minutes ago, Simon123 said:

Not at all, just not come across such a POS product in modern mountain biking.   There is no reason to have such **** products sold to us in this day and age.

Reminded me of the "DH Casing" Tioga tyres from 1999. More flats than Table View.

You know Bontrager also do a DH casing ? 

 

Not sold in RSA , hardest is the SE 

 

You're comparing your experience with DHR's with EXO + , DD OR DH or whatever to something that's more comparable to dead normal exo casing..

 

Perhaps you should go get Chaoyang tyres before you complain about 'this day and age ' 

[Simon123]

11 minutes ago, BaGearA said:

You know Bontrager also do a DH casing ? 

 

Not sold in RSA , hardest is the SE 

 

You're comparing your experience with DHR's with EXO + , DD OR DH or whatever to something that's more comparable to dead normal exo casing..

 

Perhaps you should go get Chaoyang tyres before you complain about 'this day and age ' 

LOL The BikeHubbers keyboard warriors return.

 

I dont give a f*ck about Bontrager casings.  The dude at Gear Change sold it to me as a replacement for the DHRII I couldnt get.   Raved about it and told me it was amazing.  Like every Trek fanboi does too,  it's kaaak.  Simple.

That's all I've said.    And it's enough consistent feedback for me from friends who've bought Rails or Slash with Bontrager tyres too.  Changed within a few rides.

You're welcome to your Chingchong tyres, I'll stick to what works.  I'm not a Maxxis fan, but they appear to be the best and most consistent offering with a variety of options   (Assegai/DHRII on eeb and enduro bike,  DHRII and Minion SS on Trail bike etc).

[Razor1972]

18 hours ago, Simon123 said:

I'd rather give up cycling than use Bontrager tyres again on an Ebike.   I've never had to plug tyres as much as those absolute piece of **** *** tyres.   Was recommended by Gear Change in Tokai (needed a 27,5 x 2.6) when I couldn't just get the usual Maxxis DHRII Exo+.

Not a SINGLE issue on multiple DHRII tyres, yet every single ride without failure that rubbish Bontrager needed to be plugged or the like.    And it was R1650 fitted. 

Trek can shove those rubbish tyres up their bum.

Yeah. Same for me. People here saying the bike is not setup properly... lol. I know Bontrager is a good brand, but I'm not sure the SE5 is meant for E-bikes. It just doesn't feel right. I suppose a lot depends on the way you ride, but Maxxis are very forgiving. Bontrager is ridiculously priced for what you get. My bike shop didn't have any Maxxis in stock, so in my excitement of wanting to ride the new ebike, I went with Bontragers. I should have waited, but thankfully the tyres have a money back guarantee.

[thebob]

Share your setup then. Height, weight etc. You can lol all you want, but tyres are one part of the equation. That bike runs possibly the worst fork ever made as well as a very basic shock. If the pressure and sag aren’t correct then new tyres will do bugger all to help

Edited January 2 by thebob

[ChrisF]

39 minutes ago, thebob said:

Share your setup then. Height, weight etc. You can lol all you want, but tyres are one part of the equation. That bike runs possibly the worst fork ever make as well as a very basic shock. If the pressure and sag aren’t correct then new tyres will do bugger all to help

 

You are 100% correct.

 

Very sad that the bike shop did not take the time to set up the bike at delivery..... at least it sounds like they did not.

[Jimmy 2.0]

Onza do a very nice ebike specific casing for their tyres and are super robust and shred the trails beautifully. I run the Ibex and the Aquila