The basics are obvious when looking at tyres, larges knobs (no laughing!!!) are good for dirt, Light even tread is generally regarded as good for street, and in a park you can get away with slicks. Companies can put a lot of effort into refining their tyres; let us take a look into some of the features incorporated in some of today most popular tyres.

Basic tech:

P.S.I.

The amount of pressure the tyre can hold, measured in pounds per square inch. The higher the psi rating the more air the tyre can hold. Running a tyre at a high psi can decrease rolling resistance, make punctures less frequent and pro-long the life span. However you may feel you have less
grip or that landings become unforgiving when venturing beyond 110-120 psi.

D.P.S

Rarely abbreviated to that but just increase, this stands for Dual Ply sidewall, in the same way that ply wood is made of layers this refers to the fact that the sidewall consists of two layers increasing durable, but also adding a little extra weight.

Weight

A lot more often than not i would discourage people from going after those super light parts, over something a little heavier and much strong. However tyres are somewhere where weight should be taken lightly into consideration. Although the difference may only 30 or 40 grams, the difference in feel can be immense when taking into account the centrifugal forces this extra generates.


Materials:


The two most outstanding materials in my mind that were recently used are silkworm (Ruben tyres) and Kevlar (KHE folding tyres). These materials give the tyre an edge on the rest of the market, with benefits from the traditional rubber compounds used. The silkworm material use in Ruben’s tyres was initially sought after to reduce punctures, less penetrable. However many other strong points where soon found. The tyre absorbs impacts better, thought to be because of the way the material stretches when pressure is applied, it also claimed that they can be run at a lower psi (although I still run mine at 100, 110 is quoted on the sidewall). The Kevlar used in KHE’s folding tyres is also impressive, allowing their tyres to be run at 120psi for a decrease in rolling resistance. The Kevlar is also able to meet the demands of today’s street riders at a fraction of the weight due to Kevlar’s tensile strength.


Devils in the detail:


Ok so you have your chosen material, not it’s time to put pen on paper and design the actual tyre. I feel the most important part of a tyre is the tread, or some cases lack of. This is usually regarded as the defining details as to which style of riding the tyre will be most appropriate for. The maxxis miracle tyres uses treads running in single slits around the entire circumference giving optimal lateral grip. This proves using for park riding as rotations on a quarter pipe are rarely landed exactly to 180, 360, 540 degrees and the tire prevents you from sliding out. Another good example of tread innovation leads me once again to the Ruben tyre, with the cut outs increasing in size the further down the sideway, giving you most grip when leaned over, and minimal rolling resistance when up-right. Then you can consider the Holy Roller from maxxis as well, with the deep cuts giving you amazing amount of grip on even the softest of dirt.

Now we are getting somewhere, next it time for those little extras that make all the difference. And I must apologise but once again I must refer to the Ruben Tyre. He aimed to increase the durability of the tyre further without adding weight; he accomplished this by a thing strip of rubber running along the sidewalls of the tyre. When grinding you are most likely to hit this line of the ledge (or obstacle that you are grinding) preventing serious damage to the sidewalls. Another way of increasing the life span of your sidewall is to add an extra layer, known as dual ply (seen in the Mike Aitken tyre).


A collection of reviews, taken both from this site:

Primo Wall tyre - Ranch
Animal ASM - Ranch
Animal GLH - JustinCarter
Animal ASM - Parklife
KHE Folding tyre - Gladius
Khe Folding tyre - Bonde
Odyssey Mike Aitken tyre - Rossbmxs2007
Maxis mniracle tyre - Michael Hardman
Ruben Tyre - Ectolo
Odyssey Dirt Plyte - Beto
Maxis Holy Roller - hgermainpare
Primo V-monster - Bonde
Kenda Tyre - dksixpackrider


PS - I am sorry if I missed your review, if you would like it added to the page please send me the link in a PM and i will edit in immediately. Hope you enjoyed the read. As a final note I feel my knowledge may have let me down, post any corrections so I may get them ironed out as soon as possible.

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