LOL, the title says 4.5 CA, I meant CE=Cake Eaters… 🙂
The 4.5 cake eaters were HUGE! And after my first ride I ordered the 4.0 Van Helga’s to try out a smaller tire. But the 4.0 VH tires are WAAAAYYYY smaller than what I assumed a half-inch difference would be! (I know, tire manufacturers love to all measure differently and all of them lie! 🙂 ) I wish I would have measured the difference when I had them both mounted. (but the picture shows quite a big difference) And I actually meant to do the back wheel first and try it with mullet tires. Anyway, my next couple of rides with the 4.5’s were good and I kind of regretted ordering new tires so fast. And after seeing how small the new tires were I had another set of tires in my cart and the only reason I didn’t hit buy was because I thought I ordered too fast the first time! 🙂 BUT… I’ve done three rides on the new tires and I ordered a 4.5 Van Helga to try on the front because I feel like Im missing the “float”? The bigger tires were better in the sand, but felt a bit unwieldy sometimes and just a lot of tire on climbs. The smaller tires are better on everything but sand. I almost just ordered some Yippie Ki Yay’s at 4.3. But read the 4.5 Van Helga might not even measure 4.3 so I thought I’d give that a try first.
I am a little concerned the small 4.0 VH’s don’t balloon enough on my 85 ID rims and might not give me enough rim protection in the back where I tend to sideswipe rims into rocks. But I’m going to try the mixed tire size and see how that goes and then decide if that’s fine. Or if I should order another 4.5 VH for the back. OR if I should give the 4.3 YKY’s a try?
Also, holy CRAP these tires are expensive! But everything is and I’ll just sell off the extra tires when I figure out the best setup for me and try to get some of the money back! 🙂
_TommySalami on
I started riding on 4.8 Maxxis Minions and whenever I ride my widdle tire bikes I hate how jarring it is and how little traction I have…. much faster though
Aupstate on
I felt the same way when mounting a spare 26×4 after one of my 26×4.8 ripped a sidewall. Ultimately you got to find what’s right for you on what you regularly ride though.
ElevationEveryWeeknd on
Yeah, people don’t seem to realize how massive a 27.5×4.5” actually is! 27.5×4” are actually really good summer do it all tires too, I really like the 4” Cake Eater too.
Edit: I have the YKY’s too and they are a great combo of mid volume but high traction in a 27.5” wheel size, I love them.
4 Comments
LOL, the title says 4.5 CA, I meant CE=Cake Eaters… 🙂
The 4.5 cake eaters were HUGE! And after my first ride I ordered the 4.0 Van Helga’s to try out a smaller tire. But the 4.0 VH tires are WAAAAYYYY smaller than what I assumed a half-inch difference would be! (I know, tire manufacturers love to all measure differently and all of them lie! 🙂 ) I wish I would have measured the difference when I had them both mounted. (but the picture shows quite a big difference) And I actually meant to do the back wheel first and try it with mullet tires. Anyway, my next couple of rides with the 4.5’s were good and I kind of regretted ordering new tires so fast. And after seeing how small the new tires were I had another set of tires in my cart and the only reason I didn’t hit buy was because I thought I ordered too fast the first time! 🙂 BUT… I’ve done three rides on the new tires and I ordered a 4.5 Van Helga to try on the front because I feel like Im missing the “float”? The bigger tires were better in the sand, but felt a bit unwieldy sometimes and just a lot of tire on climbs. The smaller tires are better on everything but sand. I almost just ordered some Yippie Ki Yay’s at 4.3. But read the 4.5 Van Helga might not even measure 4.3 so I thought I’d give that a try first.
I am a little concerned the small 4.0 VH’s don’t balloon enough on my 85 ID rims and might not give me enough rim protection in the back where I tend to sideswipe rims into rocks. But I’m going to try the mixed tire size and see how that goes and then decide if that’s fine. Or if I should order another 4.5 VH for the back. OR if I should give the 4.3 YKY’s a try?
Also, holy CRAP these tires are expensive! But everything is and I’ll just sell off the extra tires when I figure out the best setup for me and try to get some of the money back! 🙂
I started riding on 4.8 Maxxis Minions and whenever I ride my widdle tire bikes I hate how jarring it is and how little traction I have…. much faster though
I felt the same way when mounting a spare 26×4 after one of my 26×4.8 ripped a sidewall. Ultimately you got to find what’s right for you on what you regularly ride though.
Yeah, people don’t seem to realize how massive a 27.5×4.5” actually is! 27.5×4” are actually really good summer do it all tires too, I really like the 4” Cake Eater too.
Edit: I have the YKY’s too and they are a great combo of mid volume but high traction in a 27.5” wheel size, I love them.