So I tried running a 2.35 Racing Ralph on a 30iw LB WG44, and then in the rear, a 25iw with a Pirelli Cinturado M and it feels amazing!
Front tire measures 59 and rear 52 which brings the cockpit slightly higher stack. Rear wheel/tire combo felt quick while front felt plush and tracked amazing up and downhill. I suppose this is similar to a mullet but not something I’ve ever encountered in a build before. First I experimented with bigger tire up front on same wheelset but then realized it would make sense to match the IW to the tire size. And honestly the 50mm Pirelli feels better with the 25iw than it does with the 30, where it’s stretched out.
Has anyone else tried this? Thoughts?
Bike is an XL Ari Schafer 3.0 which I absolutely love highly recommended.
by DesignerCommercial94
13 Comments
Big tires are Literally the most popular trend in gravel riding right now haha
Lachlan Morton is running this style in the Traka. It’s definitely more common to run the same tire front and rear, but seems like it’s mostly an aesthetic consideration rather than pure performance.
My bike can’t fit 2,35 but I am thinking about a 55mm in the front and a 50mm in the rear.
I have plenty of space in the fork with a 50, if 55mm is similar, I’d feel very comfortable with going to 57mm/2,25. That’s on 32mm rims.
Hutchinson just released new versions of the Caracal and Touareg and they recommend running Toureg front and Caracal rear. Pretty common to run different tires but I haven’t seen people run different internal width.
Holy cow, you’re a genius and the first person to do this.
Coming from a BMX background this is commonplace.
Most gravel bikes won’t fit 2.35. My Fargo fits 29×3, and I’m running 29×2.5 on 35mm iw MTB wheels. Fast AF and fun as heck.
Looks so fun!
So kind of like mullet MTB but different tire widths instead? Sounds cool
Yeah mahn!
Pro tip, swap out to 650b’s and you can run even bigger!
You’re obviously the first person to ever think of running different front and rear tires on gravel. Not like a ton of people were doing that for Traka, Sea Otter, Big Sugar, etc. Hell I ran a 50 Cinturato M up front and 45 H rear last year in Mexico and I wasn’t out here crowing about it
At some point you will all just become actual mountain bikers again and buy a proper mtn bike