Pressure recommendations for tires > 60 mm wide; + general question

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Patrick Moore

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Nov 7, 2021, 6:09:21 PM11/7/21
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I use my Matthews 1:1 (2015 "road bike for dirt" designed to more or less fit, feel, and handle like a road bike while accommodating 60 mm tires, for our bosque sand, with a Q of no more than 160mm) -- where was I? Oh. I use this bike for rides that include substantial distances on pavement as well as on our (riverine sand; the "river" is El Rio Grande). I have 2 pavement only (or, for the 41 mm Naches Pass bike, "pavement mostly) and 1 riverine sand bike -- Monocog with 2.8" actuals at 13 psi, so this one is a betwixt and between.

Anyway, I've found that 2"+ tires at lowish pressures (as low as 20 psi for a 50 -- F Fred -- and 17 for the 61+ mm Big Ones) tend to wallow or hesitate when cornering on pavement; my sensation is of a dive into the corner cut short so that you end up running long: initial oversteer followed by understeer. It's not horrible, and if I heartily and deliberately, and almost in an exaggerated fashion, counter-steer, the bike turns in just fine.

Note that Matthews 1:1 has, I think, a 71.5* head and 55 mm of rake. But I felt just the same things on my first-edition Fargo, with quite a bit more trail, IIRC. So I put this experience down to the tires.

And, after that exhausting  leadout, the questions: 1) What are your experiences with 50mm+ tires on pavement. That is, how do yours handle, at what pressures?

2) What pressures, for what width/s, do you find to minimize "wallow" in pavement turns?

3) Do some fat (50mm+) tires handle better on pavement than others? If so, what are they?

Quoting Beryl Burton: "Ta!"

Patrick Moore, in pleasant fall weather in ABQ, NM

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Patrick Moore
Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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