Electric Mountain Bike Tires Tips
Choosing the right tires for your mountain bike is essential for your fun and safety. It is even more critical when it comes to electric mountain bike tires. Here are my top electric mountain bike tires tips.
What's Special About Electric Mountain Bike Tires?
Electric mountain bike tires have a stronger casing than tubed ones. The casing is the sidewalls and the top of your tire, and they need to be pretty tough to cope with the demands of electric mountain biking.
When you ride an electric bike, you tend to run lower pressures than you would on a regular mountain bike. The extra squidge increases the tire’s contact patch with the ground, giving you more grip.
However, lower tire pressures increase your likelihood of getting a puncture. So, electric mountain bike tires need to be more robust to cope with the extra forces. Tire manufacturers strengthen electric mountain bike tires with reinforced sidewalls to prevent pinch flats and reduce the chance of tears.
Ride With Tubeless Electric Mountain Bike Tires
Not everyone likes riding with a tubeless setup. But I’ve always been a fan of tubeless mountain bike tires and the advantages they give you. OK, it can be a messy job, but I’d rather keep riding than changing an innertube in the rain or for a puncture to slow down an incredible day.
A tubeless tire setup consists of tape inside your rim to create a seal, a liquid sealant, and a specially designed valve. When you get a puncture, the sealant fills the hole and either solidifies or packs it with fibers. Most of the time, you won’t even notice you’ve had a puncture unless you get a big hole.
Tears in your tires’ sidewalls are inevitable for most of us, especially if you ride in rocky places. A tear in your sidewall will end your ride, even if your tires are tubeless, as the sealant can only fill a hole so big. But the extra reinforcement of an electric mountain bike tire will stop the sidewall tearing in most cases.
Take A Spare Innertube With You
I always ride with a spare innertube, just in case I get a split in a tire. The terrain around Morzine and the Portes du Soleil can be pretty brutal, especially off the beaten track.
An alternative solution to significant punctures is a tire plug. Once you’ve located the hole in your tire, you can stab it with a tire plug to fix it. This is a cheap and easy way of continuing your day of riding.
Tire Pressures
As I mentioned earlier, running low tire pressures gives you more grip. Therefore, climbing and stopping quickly become more manageable and safer. Riding with an electric mountain bike-specific tire will provide you with sufficient support to run lower pressures. If you were to ride with a regular tire, it would just fold under load and possibly come off the rim during hard turns.
Check out my guide to tire pressures. These tips are based around regular mountain bikes but are also valid for electric ones.
Choose A Tire With Chunky Tread
Electric mountain bikes tend to roll faster than regular mountain bikes. Therefore, having a high level of grip is more important than rolling resistance, especially as you overcome it using the motor.
Tires with chunk tread patterns will dig into the dirt, improving your climbing, cornering, and stopping performance. However, the conditions and your riding style will affect any tire’s effectiveness. So, before you choose your tires, find a brand and research their different tread patterns. For example, you may want to select a tire with a mixed terrain pattern.
Embrace The Weight Of Electric Mountain Bike Tires
With all this reinforcement and the addition of sealant, tubeless electric mountain bike tires are heavier than regular ones. But the extra weight is an advantage on an electric bike.
As you ride into challenging corners and over features, the extra weight is low, dropping your center of gravity. The result is a more planted ride quality and traction, which are always beneficial.
What If I Keep Getting Punctures?
If you get flat tires regularly when riding your electric mountain bike. There’s a good chance you’re running the wrong tires. This is more likely to happen if your tires are not specific to electric bikes or the ones you have are no match for the terrain you ride or your riding style.
Final Thoughts On Electric Mountain Bike Tires
Whether you ride an electric mountain bike or a regular one, tire choice is essential. If you get it wrong, you may not trust your bike, feel like you’re underperforming, or constantly get punctures. All these things affect your enjoyment of electric mountain bike riding, so correct tire choice is essential.
If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave them in the comments section below.
