Wattsup

I just swapped my Teravail Cannonball (Light and Supple) 42'a for a pair of new Teravail Rutlands (durable casing) 47's. First thing I noticed is that on the asphalt sections of the trail, I can't ride with no hands anymore. I had no problem riding no hands on the Cannonballs. Now the front wheel wants to veer left, or veer right...but won't stay in center. I gave up trying.

I did also install a new headset, but that seems fine, not too loose, not too tight, wheel swings freely from side to side, with no rocking with the brake test.

Has anyone else experienced this after changing tires? The Rutlands seem to roll on the center section, I noticed that the wet track I was laying down on the asphalt was much narrower than the tire, but I don't see why that would matter. The min pressure on the Rutlands are 40psi. I have them set up tubeless, and ran them at 35psi. The Cannonballs, (also tubeless at 40 min psi) I ran at about 38.

Links to tires:

https://teravail.com/tires/rutland#TR2669

https://teravail.com/tires/cannonball#TR2681

katsup

Put the old tires back on and test to confirm it is not the headset.

Wattsup

That would be definitive, but it would also be a chore....they're tubeless. I don't see how I could possibly have screwed up the headset. The cups seated perfectly, put in new bearings, greased everything properly. I left the old star nut in the steerer. The wheel moves easily, flops easily from side to side when I pull the bike up by the top tube.. I put the brake on and try to rock the bike back and forth. No steerer movement, even putting my fingers on the seams. The wheel seems true, doesn't wobble in relation to the inside of the fork. I did remove the the calipers, but the calipers were easily adjusted after the reinstall to have no rubbing on the disk. The bearings in the wheel are relatively new, were installed by the LBS, with new spokes. The bearings seem ok to me, wheel spins forever, and there's no movement in the wheel at all, side to side, that I can feel when I grab it with my hand and try to rock it side to side.

I gave the spokes a finger-flick test. I don't think I'm experienced enough to recognize anything but a really loose spoke.....a buzz. A few of the spokes are deeper than others, but again, I don't have enough experience to judge that.

There's no shimmy in the front wheel when I ride. It's just that the front wheel doesn't find a stable center line. It wants to flop to one side or the other. I didn't see if it was *impossible* to ride no hands. I did manage do it for a couple of seconds, so with more practice, I might be able to do it more successfully, but I doubt it. I was able to ride with no hands very easily with the old tire.

katsup

You may be able to test with just the old front tire. It would help isolate the cause and be faster than looking for answers here.

In any case, good luck.

Wattsup

I just spoke to someone else with a lot of experience, and he said that new tires are often difficult to ride with no hands...too sticky, too good a grip. He said as the tires wears a bit and the grip lessens, it will become easier.

Who've thunk!

downtube42

That's a weird one to me. From both unicycling and no-hands riding, I've learned that wide grippy tires are hard to control on asphalt, but because they don't want to change direction. It takes a lot of english to force a turn, and when it does break loose it's more turn than you want.

I suppose if you were accustomed to manhandling a sticky tire, going to a less sticky tire might seem uncontrollable.

Wattsup

Well, the proof is in the pudding as they say. A little time will time. I don't think the bike is unsafe, so I'll just put a bunch more miles on them. The tires have quite an aggressive tread, with a special pattern in the center to help the bike roll well on asphalt. Maybe it has to do with that too.

I'll report back...

ofajen

You switched to bigger tires. That would increase trail, and wheel flop factor is proportional to trail. May be what is changing the feel when riding no hands.

Otto

Wattsup

Yes, that occurred me, although it was quite a change...from being able to with no problem, to basically it being nearly impossible.

Troul 

adjusting the psi in the tires might yield favorable results. have you tried that?

Wattsup

And that was the answer: new tires! 50 miles later, no issues riding hands-free!

rsbob 

Just like new car/truck tires are squirrelly until broken in.