Mountain Bike Tire Sizes Front Back

Downhill bikes which are meant to withstand the abuse of drops and rock gardens are typically equipped with tires up to 2 5 wide.

Mountain bike tire sizes front back.

26 inches 27 5 inches and 29 inches. All mountain and trial bikes have tire width in the range of 2 25 to 2 4. Tread profile is also important. Fat bikes have tire width over 3 7.

We selected tires in the 2 3 to 2 6 inch width range. 2 2 and 27 5 indicate a tire that has a width of 2 2 and an outer diameter of 27 5. Tubeless tires are recommended when you want lower tire pressures. Most riders prefer a tubeless system.

Once you ve identified your tire diameter 29 27 5 or 26 you ll want to dial in your width. Share a link to this answer. Tires come in three diameters. Sticking with only a wide front tire is a good compromise.

Read our review on the michelin wild rock r2 all mountain tire. Typical mountain bike tire. Some special tires can even be wider up to 3 inches with some models. As tires continue to trend wider so too are the tires in our test.

For downhill bikes the tire width can go up to 2 5. In general the desired tire width for the most common biking styles are as follows. With mountain bikes you re mostly safe from fractional sizes but it s worth mentioning them for completeness. When wtb redesigned the vigilante last year they went all out on a modern front tire for aggressive mountain biking.

Additionally rear tire tread designs should complement the front tire but can be very different to achieve rear specific goals. Alongside the tire size you have the option of running tubeless or tubed tires. Cross country bikes have tire width between 1 9 and 2 25. Measurements like 26 1 which is the 27 5 size and 28x two fractions which is the 29 size are fractional inch markings.

By necessity those run very different tires front and rear. Frame limitations while there is generally quite a bit of room in the front suspension fork a 2 3 2 5 tire can probably fit the frame can only accommodate a certain size tire. On the typical cross country mountain bike you won t get bigger than a 2 1 tire back there. Check your tire s sidewall the numbers there indicate your tire size roughly its outer diameter and its width but not always in that order.

We now have several models in the 2 5 and 2 6 widths that are becoming much more common in the current mountain bike tire market. This varies from 1 6 to 2 5 inches. It s lighter requiring less energy to rotate. A cross country bike will have tires in the 1 9 to 2 25 width range.

Mountain bike tire size and width. At the extreme end there are 69er and 96er mountain bikes that mix and match 29 622 and 26 559 wheels on the same bike as well as terry women s bikes with 24 520 front wheels and 700c 622 rear. Tires are also measured in width. This is also why a narrow tire goes on the rear wheel.

We mounted tires to 30 mm internal diameter wheels.