Explain wide front tyre, narrow rear tyre setup

I always have one size wider tyre at the front than the rear (an ideally rim width also), for the reasons explained above. I suppose if if I were more full-on in the my cornering technique and laterally loaded the rear as much as the front, then there might be an argument for equal sizes.
 
A wider front tyre gives better grip where you need it - on the front when cornering.
 
I used to run a 1.9 Smoke lite on the rear, quite narrow & they dig in & find better traction in mucky/wet conditions.
Bigger fr tyre offers better grip when leaned over aswell as a dgree of extra comfort/traction over a narrow tyre.
 
BITD i thought this tyre set up wrong and still do. A narrow knobbly on the front keeps the handling quick. A fat tyre on the back with big knobbly for grip as bikes are rear wheel drive.
 
I'm using 2.4" front (15-20 psi) and 2.25" rear (20-25 psi) on both of my ugly modern bikes as I like the big footprint of a wider front tyre for braking and cornering and unfortunately a 2.25" rear tyre can more than cope with my limited power output.
I'm using 2.1" F&R on my '88 Explosif as that's all the forks have clearance for.
On my Greek Kilauea I have 2.35" front and 2.2" rear.
 
kampos":e9r2cvbx said:
Joe Murray was all over it 22 years ago:
Only 22...

32 years ago some of use older fellows were whizzing about on BMXs with a wider front tyre
than rear. I just figured mountain bikes followed this convention.

Rear narrow whitewall shopper tyre with front wide knobbly tyre was very popular for freestyle.
Some of the racers had crazy narrow rears with normal fat fronts.
 
MADJEZ":2ua4hrzs said:
kampos":2ua4hrzs said:
Joe Murray was all over it 22 years ago:
Only 22...

32Rear narrow whitewall shopper tyre with front wide knobbly tyre was very popular for freestyle.

Hahaha takes me back I remember running whitewall shopper tyres! Thanks for that memory jolt!
 
wookiee":lcnp4aex said:
MADJEZ":lcnp4aex said:
Rear narrow whitewall shopper tyre with front wide knobbly tyre was very popular for freestyle.

Hahaha takes me back I remember running whitewall shopper tyres! Thanks for that memory jolt!

Hehe sure it was all bo**ocks. Recall there was a stage where shopper rear was thought better for turning on quarter pipes. Later on it was shopper front fat rear for doing 'endos'. Fully slick was thought a bit too wimpy tho. And you tell it to these kids today with their stunt pegs & giros..... :roll:
 
MADJEZ":379gijvi said:
wookiee":379gijvi said:
MADJEZ":379gijvi said:
Rear narrow whitewall shopper tyre with front wide knobbly tyre was very popular for freestyle.

Hahaha takes me back I remember running whitewall shopper tyres! Thanks for that memory jolt!

Hehe sure it was all bo**ocks. Recall there was a stage where shopper rear was thought better for turning on quarter pipes. Later on it was shopper front fat rear for doing 'endos'. Fully slick was thought a bit too wimpy tho. And you tell it to these kids today with their stunt pegs & giros..... :roll:

Ha for me it was that they were cheap freestyle tyres and looked good on my black skyways and the Mongoose I had with white acorns!
 
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