Different Size Tires

[smurfy]

I'm wanting to replace the 30mm Ritchey Speedmax tires on my Bianchi Axis since they are getting worn out. After I saw pics of a Ti Moots 'cross bike with a 44mm tire in the front and a 37mm one in the rear I was thinking of doing this (it looks kinda cool), except I don't have room for tires quite this big so I was going to do a 35 in the front and a 32 in the rear.

Is there much sense in this? I do take my bike off road and it seems to handle very difficult sections quite well, but I would like something to take big hits on rocky "moonscapes". Has anybody else have their cross bikes set up like this?

[M_S]

Cross bikes aren't meant to take "big hits on rocky 'moonscapes.'" Bigger tires will smooth out the ride a bit, but having to pick your way through rocky downhills is the nature of the beast when riding a cyclocross bike on rocky trails. I should know: much of the singletrack around here is fairly rock strewn.

[c_m_shooter]

I ran a 1.9" front and a 44mm rear for awhile. It rode great.

[cachehiker]

A 44mm and 37mm will slacken the head angle about a quarter of a degree making the bike a bit more stable in the rough stuff at the expense of quicker handling on a road-ish situation. A 35/32 combination would only affect geometry by a tenth of a degree.

I've often run 2.1/1.9 combinations on the mountain bike before for better straight line high speed stability on dirt roads. I don't think I'd bother with such an arrangement on the cyclocross bike.

[ou98dtbiggs]

I ride 42mm 40mm Mthyos CX only because the 40mm is as fat as I can go in the back. I like these tires for riding dirt trails, they even work for certain cross courses.