Tires & Tubes Street Tires For A City Ebike

[penndan]

I'm a city dweller and haven't ridden any of the ebikes I've owned over the last four years on anything but paved streets. My bikes have hardly ever touched grass. Yet all of my bikes have come with knobby tires. I got tired of the constant buzz of the knobbies on the road.
So, for my latest bike, a Heybike Explore, I traded the knobby tires for some city tires front and back.

They are very quiet. BUT, there are handling issues. The front wheel is squirmy and tends to hunt. Don't know how else to describe it. Front wheel braking causes a pull to the left. When turning left, the wheel kind of dives into the turn. Don't like it! I'd rather have the knobby noise.
Have I mismounted the tires? Anybody have an idea what might be the problem?

 

[Smaug]

Give it some time. You've got a lot of miles on the knobbies and maybe all that's needed is a period of time to acclimate to the new tread.

I'll be following this thread though, as I'm thinking of buying some new street tires for my incoming eMoped, based on the reputation of the OEM ones.

Surprisingly, there's not a lot out there yet in 20x4 street tires. (compared to 27.5 x 2.1 or 2.5)

Are these the ones you ordered?

There seem to be endless clones of them on Amazon.

 

[penndan]

Yes, those are the ones I bought.

 

[Smaug]

I just took a look at Walmart.com (they are getting as big as Amazon) and there are some more (seemingly quality) options there:

20 x 4 ebike tires - Walmart.com

20 x 4 ebike tires - Walmart.com

www.walmart.com

These pique my interest:

These are the OEM tires on the Ride1Up Revv 1, and everyone seems to like them:

These are well-reviewed on Amazon:

These look good; too bad they're out of stock. Vee Tire is an OEM manufacturer, so you might see these re-branded elsewhere, in time:

These Kendas are knobbies, but have a bit more meat in the middle, so they should last longer. Popular Price and a known brand:

Then of course a million clones of your tire.


This one, I would avoid:

I read a review of these on CST's site by someone who seemed to know what he's talking about; these are to be avoided. Reviewer said they wander, just like you're saying yours do:

 

[DieselTech]

If your bike is pulling to the left under braking pressure, that is telling me that there is a rotor to disc brake caliper problem. Either they need adjusted or possibly a spacer got lost or something when replacing tire.

 

[DieselTech]

The hunt in the tire you described could be when you transition from the high speed center tread of the tire to checkered side tread while turning/steering. Them tires you got I think have a fairly good review/following for street tires.

 

[Smaug]

If your bike is pulling to the left under braking pressure, that is telling me that there is a rotor to disc brake caliper problem. Either they need adjusted or possibly a spacer got lost or something when replacing tire.

This is a good point. It may not be the tire, but that the brake disc got tweaked a bit when the wheel was off for mounting the new tire. It's REALLY easy to mess up these thin bicycle brake discs...

 

[DieselTech]

This is a good point. It may not be the tire, but that the brake disc got tweaked a bit when the wheel was off for mounting the new tire. It's REALLY easy to mess up these thin bicycle brake discs...

Well I have found it with disc brakes it's best to readjust the disc brake caliper everytime the wheel is off. I may be wrong on this but I've found out, it's just better to do a caliper readjust.

I have had many times where I did not readjust the brake caliper & the brakes would then go to squeaking & squealing on occasions.

 

[biknut]

If you want good cornering, no bicycle tire can touch these Maxxis Hook Worms. I run 26x2.5 on my 80mm rims.

 

[DieselTech]

If you want good cornering, no bicycle tire can touch these Maxxis Hook Worms. I run 26x2.5 on my 80mm rims.
View attachment 12120

Yeah I wish they made hookworms in 20x2.5 or 3" I would have tried them out. All the motorbike guys I run with swear by them in the 26" tire sizes.

 

[penndan]

I will adjust the front wheel brake.

I think I've diagnosed the squirminess. The rear wheel is out of balance and moving sideways in each revolution. The inner tube may be twisted or bunched up in one spot. I'll look into that.

 

[fabbrisd]

Look - the "better urban tires" (like HookWorms, Sand Storm, Sunlite UtiliT and 100 others that are 3.25-4.0) - you are looking for Clincher/Wire Bead. 30-60 TPI and tires that will run 50-60PSI - cornering with any "Fattie" tire running 20-and-under PSI is a wallowing experience. Street tires - tread pattern is a visual vibe - whatever floats your boat mate !

 

[penndan]

I'm returning the tires to Amazon. I'd rather put up with the knobby noise than the feel of these street tires.

 

[fabbrisd]

Of course you should return those "sh*t tires".

You have a Low Pressure Fatty Tire with Street Tread = Sh*t Tire that you paid Really/Twice-the-Price

1. Loose Surface Riding = Fatty Wide 4" = Low Pressure (20PSI and Under) = Knobbies

2. Pavement/Park/Packed Trail = 3.25-3.5 Wide = Higher Pressure 35PSI-55PSI = "Street Tread"

 

[DieselTech]

If you want some good street tires, look into the Sunlite UtiliT Seaside tires.

Or the Sunlite Superdan tires.

 

[Django]

It sounds more like a suspension fork than a tire issue. The forgiving nature of the knobbies could have been masking a fork issue, (road tires grip the road better than knobby tires).

 

[penndan]

I sent the street tires back to Amazon and put the knobbies back on. Took a ride in the COLD in Minneapolis this morning. It's a whole new bike. No squirm, no wander, no diving into the left turns. Just knobby buzz that I can live with.
I think Fabrissd is right about low pressure fat street tires.

 

[m@Robertson]

They are very quiet. BUT, there are handling issues. The front wheel is squirmy and tends to hunt. Don't know how else to describe it. Front wheel braking causes a pull to the left. When turning left, the wheel kind of dives into the turn. Don't like it! I'd rather have the knobby noise.
Have I mismounted the tires? Anybody have an idea what might be the problem?

For what its worth, that problem you describe is known as 'self-steering'. Not every fat tire has the issue, and the ones that do can usually be fixed by airing the tires up to a higher psi closer to their sidewall pressure rating. At 20 psi they will be really solid and roll smooth. I've got many commuting miles on those tires in the Vee-branded version, which is who the actual manufacturer is.

You described as an uneven spot on the tire that you thought was the inner tube being bunched up. It almost certainly was not. You get uneven quality on mainland China-manufactured tires. I have many thousands of miles on Chaoyang Big Daddy knobbies (that are also sold under many different brand names) and those tires are either splendid... or the tire has that 'jig' in it which is a sign it was manufactured incorrectly and the casing is crooked under the rubber. All you can do is return the tire. There's no fixing the problem. I'm pretty sure thats what your uneven spot was.

The tires @DieselTech linked from the Carson City bike shop are also Chaoyangs, which they self-brand as the Sandstorm, but they are most often seen as the Origin8 Supercell. As he has shown they're also found with a Sunlite sidewall and I am sure others. They are probably the best street fatties you can buy. Especially if you can find the 30tpi versions that wear like iron and still grip the road in hard cornering. BUT the 120tpi version of those tires self-steer at any pressure I am told. The most-common 60 tpi tires seem to be fine. You have to look out for the same jig in the casing, so don't buy them and let them sit. Install them and see if they are straight.

The Arisun Big Smoothy - if you can find it - is similar but not identical to the Speedster and is smooth and grippy. Arisun is the North American and EU brand for ... Chaoyang.

 

[hsdrggr]

Here’s a post I had in another forum. I love these on my 20” fat tire modded Juiced RipRacers. No issues at all. I have run these as low as 12psi with a 200lb rider.
It is unfortunate that they don’t do them for 26” fat rims or I’d have them on my other e-bikes also.

Specialized Carless Whisper Reflect 20" Bike Tires

The tire is great for around town, daily commuting, weekend travels and wherever exploration takes you. Smooth center tread rolls silently while tall and strong shoulder knobs provide confidence if your route takes you off the road. The casing is designed to carry high loads and has extra...

bicyclewarehouse.com

“Just ordered 2 sets of these Specialized Careless Whisper tires for my new RRs. Best deal I could find was from Bicycle Warehouse. Use discount code WELCOME15 for 15% off. Free shipping for orders over $99 and no tax. Price came out to $34 per tire. Haven’t seen many reviews but I think they will be good. They have to be heavy duty since they are oem on a cargo bike.
BTW these tires are UNI-DIRECTIONAL tires. There is a rotation arrow on the sidewall. I have no idea why since the tread is identical in both directions. Saw it after I installed them. I’ll be darned if I’m going to RR them to get it right. They are staying the way they are.”

 

[addertooth]

I just pulled the trigger on two of these tires. I haven't found much in the way of reviews for them, but they look like many other rebranded tires. These are a bit thicker and good to 35 PSI. The bike they are going on is dual suspension, so the ride shouldn't be horrible at 25ish PSI.

They will certainly be quieter than the knobby tires the bike came with.