Tires

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Having a set of solid puncture-proof tires can be a huge relief.
I think people who have had flats know this better.

ebikes being heavy, need extra resilience against all kinds of thorns, glass, metal etc.
Lot many people across the forums think Schwalbe Marathon Plus (HS 440 or similar) is an excellent choice. Other Schwalbe ebike tires.

Here is a video demo'ing its capability.

Marathon Plus is more of a hybrid tire and not like Nobby Nic or Hans Dampf, which are specifically designed for trail riding. Also, plenty of choices for 26" or 700C wheels, not so much for 650B.

Please share your thoughts if you know of other models from good brands like Michelin or Continental.

 

[James]

My bike came with the Schwalbe Big Bens and I've had no complaints so far! I would love the peace of mind the ERW wheels offer. They however are only in pre production phase as far as I can tell. You can order them for way too much money, and there's no set date as to when you'd receive them.

 

[JoePah]

My bike came with the Schwalbe Big Bens and I've had no complaints so far! I would love the peace of mind the ERW wheels offer. They however are only in pre production phase as far as I can tell. You can order them for way too much money, and there's no set date as to when you'd receive them.

I'd like to get the Big Bens.. But my Maxxis Excels are wearing like iron and no flats after 1100 miles.. Hard ride 1.75"x26" tires.

 

[Admin]

Thanks for sharing this perspective and creating a space to compare and recommend tires and wheels Ravi. I agree that getting a flat is such a bummer... even on a regular bike but especially heavy ebikes with hub motors. When you use the bike for transportation to work and back it becomes a huge hassle to get a flat but these tires all seem good and I agree with James that the Energy Return Wheel looks cool but is way too expensive at the moment.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Thanks guys.
As the weather is warming up, it is tempting to go on longer rides.
One bad experience can ruin the sweet memories of many rides. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

I love the look of Big Bens and they can take a lot of abuse but the downside is they only come with 26" size, not the 650B size my bike needs.
Marathon Plus is an excellent choice but it is heavy at ~1Kg and slightly thinner at 27.5"x 2". The Schwalbe Rapid Robs that I have right now, looks great with 27.5"x 2.35" but they are not made for supreme durability like the Marathon Plus. I guess it's a trade off.

 

[Admin]

Andrew just posted about some new Schwalbe Flat-Less tires here. Sounds kind of neat, especially because the press release mentions ebikes specifically.

 

[Aushiker]

One thing to keep in mind is that by all accounts the Marathon Plus are pretty hard tyres to get on and off rims ... might just ruin your day

Andrew

 

[James]

I'm pretty sure any flat on any Ebike is going to ruin your day!

 

[EddieJ]

I'm still in love with my Panaracer fire xc pro tyres for off road riding. I saw a lot of people of them today, and all of the riders that I spoke to, rated them very highly.

One lad went the extra distance and told me to fit this Kevlar lining to the inside of tyre. He seemed to think that for puncture free riding, it was the way to go.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

A new video Schwalbe. simply awesome. [If only they release it in 650B format, sigh...]

 

[Chris Nolte]

A new video Schwalbe. simply awesome. [If only they release it in 650B format, sigh...]

I have been talking with the guys at Scwalbe about trying to get a 650b version of these tires among many others. The closest you'll get to this right now is the Big Ben's . They're the same tires that come standard on the Stromer and we use them quite often at the shop. I'd say they are the best hybrid street tire available for 650b electric bikes right now.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Today, I had my first flat.
I was heading home after attending Alexandria half marathon event and noticed terrible shaky rear wheel and sure enough, it was flat.
It was painful experience because I was 20 miles away from my place and 5 miles away from DC where most of the bike shops are.
So I had to push my bike for 5 miles to get to a nice shop in DC called BicycleSpace.

It got me thinking and today I have been searching for Marathon Plus in 650B size and unfortunately 650x40A on Schwalbe website is out of stock.
I looked at Big Ben for ebikes but they don't come in performance line. The active line is not better than the existing Rapid Robs.

The Big Apple's also don't come in 650B size. I am thinking of using 26" wheel on the rear, 27.5" on the front so that I can put on marathon Plus on the rear.

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Today, I had my first flat.
I was heading home after attending Alexandria half marathon event and noticed terrible shaky rear wheel and sure enough, it was flat.
It was painful experience because I was 20 miles away from my place and 5 miles away from DC where most of the bike shops are.
So I had to push my bike for 5 miles to get to a nice shop in DC called BicycleSpace.

It got me thinking and today I have been searching for Marathon Plus in 650B size and unfortunately 650x40A on Schwalbe website is out of stock.
I looked at Big Ben for ebikes but they don't come in performance line. The active line is not better than the existing Rapid Robs.

The Big Apple's also don't come in 650B size. I am thinking of using 26" wheel on the rear, 27.5" on the front so that I can put on marathon Plus on the rear.

Any advice will be appreciated.

The 650x40A is not the same size as your wheel. You need to look at the ETRO (European Tire and Rim Technical Organization) European standard. The ETRTO size specification 50-584 indicates the width of 50 mm and the tire inner diameter of 584 mm, which is the 650b rim size. The 650X40A has an inner diameter of 590, which is 6mm more than the rim diameter. I would advise against using those. You might be able to get them to fit, but they won't fit right and you'll wear the sidewalls real quick. I would run the Big Ben's with a tire liner or thornless tubes if I were you. It's really the only street tire option, believe me I looked. We have accounts with all the larger brands, Schwalbe, Maxxis, Panaracer, etc. You might be able to find something overseas, but the 650b market is just starting to pick up speed here in the US and the tire manufactures are still expanding their offering.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Thank you Chris.
The problem has been resolved for now.
I spent sometime reading up on Schwalbe and Maaxis and for 2014, Schwalbe has released a ton of e-bike ready tires with extra protection.
Very impressed with their offering for 2014.
I ordered from a UK company called ChainReactionCycles and I will update once I test the new tires.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

For those who are interested in tires that are specifically made for e-bikes, here is an option from Schwalbe. [pic attached]

Amazon does carry a lot of these and tires that are not available on Amazon, you can order from Chain Reaction Cycles. Standard shipping is $9.99 and expedited shipping is $19.90 from UK.

They carry almost everything from Schwalbe. Maaxis has tires with "ProTection" labelled on them and they seem to be very good for MTB's but not sure about E-bikes.

 

[Chris Nolte]

What tires did you end up getting from them?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

What tires did you end up getting from them?

I ordered Smart Sam Plus which are specifically made for E-bikes and fits the Jumper 650b exactly. If this product works as expected, I would be very happy. I will keep the Rapid Robs on the front and Smart Sam Plus on the rear.

Here is a link to their site where the tires can be purchased.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Ah cool. They are nice. Schwalbe ebike rated tires are great. I thought you were looking for a street tire, but they are a bit less aggressive than the Rapid Rob and have more protection which is cool. We're trying to get a special order in with Schwalbe for some other ebike rated tires not available in the states right now.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Agree. Schwalbe North America are terribly slow and haven't updated the inventory (on the web) in ages. Specialized has a bunch of street slicks in all kinds of sizes but I wanted to maintain the grip and have extra protection, so went with Smart Sam Plus.

Rapid Robs are rated 3 on protection scale and Smart Sam Plus are 5 while the Marathon Plus HS 440 are 6 (highest rated). Rapid Robs are nothing but rookie tires and I think Easy Motion is using these to make it cost effective.

There is also a regular Smart Sam but those aren't for E-bikes. Hopefully, they will release Marathon Plus HS440 in 650B soon.

This is what I found after reading several reviews and forums, in terms of protection from least to highest. [ Schwalbe MTB, e-bike ready tires]

Rapid Rob < Rock Razor < Hans Dampf < Dirty Dan with vertstar < Smart Sam Plus < Marathon plus MTB

 

[Admin]

This is from another thread where we were talking about tire and tube sizes for different wheels.

Here is a good resource on understanding bicycle wheel and tire sizes: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html Some 700c and 29" tires will work on the same rim, some won't depending on the BSD.

559 BSD--> 26"
584 BSD --> 27.5" or 650B
622 BSD --> 29" or 700C

In matching tires and tubes to rims it is important to use the Bead Seat Diameter (622mm).
The 700C (27.6"), 28", and 29" all refer to the tires outside diameter. As long as the bike has frame and fender clearance, the tire width fits the rim width, and the BSD is 622mm, all three sizes 700c, 28", and 29" can be used. The 47-622 specification is for both tubes and tires, although it is more important for tires.