I have a set of panaracer fire xc pro and a as in 1 kenda smb 8. I was thinking the tire with the least rolling resistance goes up front so you have the more aggressive tire in the back for traction because im light and have traction issues. However, on the bikes here that use different tires, I commonly see the tire of least resistance in the back and the more aggressive one up front. So can someone shed some light on this? Thanks!

Your ass provides the traction so put the stickier tire up front

You want your more aggressive tire in the front because when you're going around a turn at speed you Don't want your front tire to slide out. Under-steer is a bad thing when you're on two wheels. The tire with less rolling resistance would also be good to have in the rear because that's where your weight is most of the time. Less resistance where the weight is equals an easier and faster ride, and the weight also provides traction there anyway.

I have no idea how skilled you are, so disregard this if it doesn't apply, but I'm finding the more I ride the more I learn to find traction just by shifting my weight, getting lower on the bike, evening out my pedal force, etc. I'm still pretty new to mountain biking in particular so I'm still learning better technique with such things.

EDIT: Or see the post victim made while I was typing for the nice summed up version. Either one will get you to your answer.

ok. its backwards right now then

and thanks guys

I thought we had been through this already this week......

and how many times have you been through "what's a good bike?"

Ahhhh, you are correct sir.

sorry if I reposted

Its hard to know everything that gets posted and reposted, so post on BRO!

My LBS even told me that I could run a slick on the back as long as I had something aggressive on the front. I just picked up a bike from a "racer." He had a SMB 8 1.95 on the back and a Karma 2.35 on the front. It looks weird to me, but it holds well. But then I grew up loving drag racing and you know how those look.

Everything is a repost if it's a question. So long as it's not a Really basic on then it's all good.

haha thanks

That's a bunch of crap. What do you guys think the search function exists for?

It is a really basic question for a lot of people.

I agree that someone should Always search before starting a new thread. I think anyone who's belonged to a forum for a decent amount of time will agree. However, Everything is always a repost unless it's something that's happened very recently. So long as you do actually search first, it's all good. You can't always find the answers.

...Though I do think OP definitely could/should have found this answer fairly easily. I was just commenting on the "repost" issue.

Agree with having good traction up front, particularly with mountain biking. I just learned that lesson again on some very soft doubletrack in the Mojave, was glad to have a good knobby in front of me (at low pressure) to float on top of it as much as possible. Locking out the fork and keeping weight forward seemed to help too.

Again, sorry for the repost. But if everyone searched before they posted, majority of the questions would have been posted on here killing the forum. Don't know/care why my post was singled out to be the example of how someone should have searched first before posting but I will in the future.

That was weak sauce.....jump in with both feet and flame whoever called you out. NEVER BACK DOWN! Man up sunshine.

The only bad question is a question not asked. Somebody will need the answer some day, use the search function and get the answer

well, i saw the vid with the guy crashing it was like look here for a laugh or something and I didnt wanna go down that road...

Dude why not???? This place has been dead for along while. New blood will shake things up a little. It's just some fun and games....until some psycho starts calling your workplace and hunting you down,then you have problems.

Im still in highschool lol. I guess you could call my school... that may not go over too well though.

unless it was to check you out of class.

Id be perfectly ok with someone calling me out of class.