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I currently run a full suspension bike with rather thick tires. I have however been thinking of changing the rear tire to something a bit thinner as the current tire I run makes the wheel very close to the linkage and frame.

When there's even a bit of mud, the mud tends to stick to the wheel and the frame causing the rear wheel to completely jam. Is this a good idea or not recommended?

L.Dutch
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Derek Chen
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2 Answers2

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This is not a problem at all.

What you see quite often is that riders use tires with a lighter tread and harder rubber compound on the rear of the bike to get the benefits of good grip on the front and less rolling resistance on the back. A common example combination would be to use the grippy Schwalbe Magic Mary on the front and the faster-rolling Hans Dampf on the back wheel. (I am not affiliated with Schwalbe, I just don't know the names of similar combinations of other manufacturers.)

Sometimes, this also includes using a slightly thinner tire on the back wheel. A small difference is fine, though I probably wouldn't go as far as using a heavy downhill tire on the front and a skinny gravel tire on the back ;-)

anderas
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  • Thanks I'll give that a try. For me it's just that a slight amount of mud gets the wheel stuck and it's very frustrating to clean – Derek Chen Dec 18 '19 at 00:32
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It is common to run different sizes front and rear however your tire should never jam into the suspension. It seem like a larger diameter wheel has been installed. Like a 27.5 wheel into an older 26” frame. Could be dangerous if that occurred at the wrong time!

Velobuck
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  • The frame that I bought said it was a 29 frame so I assume that meant for both front and rear. Normally it doesn't jam but when there's any amount of mud it causes issues. I think it's because the tires I run are very large – Derek Chen Dec 17 '19 at 18:05