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I am cuurently running Forekaster up front and Ardent Race rear on a HT Stumpjumper. Both 2.35 on 27mm IW rims. I never think about the Forekaster which means it works. No complaints, wet, dry, good all around front trail use tire.
FWIW I mounted the Ardent Race reversed in the rear. Little more bite on slickish conditions or loose climbs. Still feels like it rolls pretty good even mounted reversed.
Good to hear they work. I’ve got a Wheels Mfg thread-together BB in my tool box in anticipation of the next time my pressfit BB gets “cranky”.
Hard to say what kind of difference it will make for you. Lots of variables go into the perceived feel of how a bike ‘fits’ each rider.
My experience: I shortened my stem and at the same time put on wider bars with 15 mm of rise. Felt like riding a brand new bike. For me it was exactly what I needed to make the bike fit me and how I ride. Hope you have the same experience.
Definitely a love hate relationship. It gets a little easier with time but can still be challenging.
My son’s Orbea came with 24″ tubeless ready wheels. I was at my LBS when it came in arrived and when the mechanic asked if he should set up the wheels tubeless I said yes. It took the mech, another employee, and myself 45 minutes to get the first tire mounted. Another 30 minutes to get the other one. The next morning both tires had gone flat. I fought to get them sealed and pumped up again just for them to lose all pressure in less than 12 hours. My son’s bike has tubes now. In this case the tires and rims just weren’t a good match.
As you continue with your tubeless experience you’ll find some rim and tire combos work really well and others will seem impossible.
Same deal for me. 2.35″ rear is what I’m running with very minor chainstay rub. Alloy frame so not a concern.
Also running 2.35″ up front and I am just now realizing my new front fork (15 x 100 fox 34) should fit 2.5″ tires. Hmmmm. Thinking I might be shopping for a new front tire to try out this winter.
First things first. Check the specs for your fork and rear triangle to make sure 2.5″ wide tires will have proper clearance.
Second, what is the internal width of your rims? There exist recommended rim to tire width ratios which you should take into consideration. Here’s a link to the chart I prefer to reference that also includes maximum tire pressure recommendations – https://www.eastoncycling.com/media/Easton%20Rim%20pressure.pdf
Update for anyone still following this discussion. I was able to find a last year’s model (2018) Fox Factory Float 34 with 120 mm travel that wasn’t boost for about $700 (with 2-day shipping). Had it on and ready to ride just in time to get a full day of riding in on Sunday.
Holy crap, what a difference!!! All the other upgrades and changes I’ve made on the bike finally made sense once I got this new fork. Felt almost like riding a completely different bike after learning I can put a lot more trust in my front tire now that it doesn’t bounce off of everything. And it soaked every jump and drop I threw at it without ever bottoming out hard. Most the time when I checked the o-ring it was at 100mm of travel or less.
By the end the ride I found that instead of finessing my way around chunkier sections (as I thought you were supposed to do on a HT) I was lining up and attacking every bit of the chunky stuff I could find, especially the descents and through corners. Basically I was taking all of the lines that I was going ride someday . . . when I could afford that tricked out new FS ride. No need to wait anymore.
Maybe part of the perceived difference in the overall ride experience is just in my head. In that case the new fork gave me the confidence to push a little harder and trust in the equipment under me. Or maybe my riding was pushing the limits of the Reba’s capabilities and a little more performance was the next step that needed to be taken. Either way I can’t wait to get out and on more single track so that’s means the upgrade was money well spent.
Thanks everyone for your insight. Lots of great advice and intetesting to see that a few of you have been in the same predicament I am currently in.
At this point I think I’m going to see if I can find a good deal on a Fox 34, non-boost of course. Checked with LBS and 120mm fork is acceptable for my frame.
Kind of funny how you get attached to a bike over time. It probably doesn’t make the most sense to spend the $ it’ll cost for the fork upgrade, but I’m just not ready to put the old HT ou to pasture just yet.
I think my back can hold out for a few more years before I really have to more strongly consider a full squish for regular trail riding : )
New frame is an interesting idea . . . Main reason for not doing a new frame would be that I’m thinking I want 27.5″ tires on FS setup despite the current trends.
I rode the Hawes loop trails roughly 2 years ago when I was in Mesa visiting family. Chatting with some locals in the Walgreens parking lot (where a lot of the trail users park to access the trails) I was warned to stick to the marked trail while riding adjacent to some properties along the access route to the main trails. Now I know why I was warned about not doing something so obvious.
- Alcohol was a factor . . . (my firt assumption when I hear about things like this).
Reminds of a time I hit, or at least skimmed, 2 trees and won.
There’s a real narrow section between 2 trees on a trail I ride ocassionally. The 1st is on the right and the 2nd is a on the left about 2 or 3 feet further down the trail. Ever since going to wider bars I’ve always slowed down a little extra and turned through the trees.
One day I decided to go for it and shoot through the trees at speed. The plan was to go straight and just leans the bars to one side and then the other to avoid the trees. Well my timing was just a little off and I caught the inside edge of the 1st tree which tossed my bars hard to the the left. Luckily the end of my bars hit the 2nd tree on the left just right to throw them back to center and I continued down the trail.
It’s better to be lucky than good sometimes.
Another +1 for tubeless. Been tubeless for about 3 years. Zero flats in that time. I’ve removed broken glass, nails, and thorns out of my tires in that time, but no flats.
Never could have dreamed of going that long without a flat back in my days of riding tubed tires.
If tubeless isn’t for you then pay attention to how the tube, rim, and tire are aligned to each other. Remove tube and inspect where leak is and then inspect corresponding location on rim or tire for cause of leak.
Look where you want to go. If you look down, you’re gonna fall down.
Same concept as “If you look at the thing that you don’t want to hit, you’re probably going to hit it.”
+1 for Kenda Nevegal’s
Not sure how they’ll do on FL trail conditions but I have found them to be decent in the sandy areas that I’ve ridden.
Like fredcook, I too am trying some new treads right now but I’ll be rolling Nevegals again very soon. They just work well on everything I typically ride, even in winter or when I travel to new places.
The only thing I have to add that hasn’t already been said in other replies is that you need to be careful if you ever decide you want to try higher pressures. This may be obvious to most but since the OP is new to tubeless this is worth mentioning.
A 2.3″ 29er makes one heck of a kaboom when the bead lets go with 40 psi of pressure behind it.
Is your BB PF30? If so there are ‘threaded’ PF30 BB on the market you might want to consider. I go through atleast 1, usually 2 BB rebuilds or replacemets every year. After the last rebuild the mech at my LBS said I might want to try a threaded PF30 to see if it will last any longer.
BB started making crunchy creaking sounds again on my last ride so I’ll be trying out a threaded PF30 BB real soon.
Learn about the basic trail riding techniques and skills beforehand so those little things that make trail riding faster, more efficient, and safer become instinct. Otherwise you’ll have to break yourself of bad habbits later.
Also, don’t let your front tire drop into a rut while trying to see how fast you can go.
