The East Coast MTB Road Trip has been a great opportunity to ride new places, work on my riding skills and put the Ibis Mojo HDR 650b to the test.

The Mojo HDR has been a lot of fun to ride everywhere, though ultimately it feels more at home in faster AM flavored terrain e.g. Ricochet at Atherton, Rock and Roll at Townsville etc, versus slower, tighter XC stuff such as Daisy Hill. As expected really given the specs, geometry and setup of the bike. Yeah, lovin the HDR!

The only niggle I’ve had along the way has been with tires. It’s not that the Nobby Nic 2.35 (front) and Racing Ralph 2.25 (rear) aren’t great tires in their own right – it’s just that ultimately I prefer the feel of bigger, chunkier tires run at slightly lower pressure. Run the larger than life Hans Dampf 27.5×2.35 up front and you know what I mean – it’s one nasty, confidence inspiring donut!

Out back the Racing Ralph has been an awesome tire on XC trails but it’s undoubtedly taken a beating on the rougher, rockier AM terrain I’ve ridden along the way e.g. Mt Joyce. On last count it had ~70 punctures (!), ranging from pin holes to cuts, mainly between the tread blocks. Silicon sealant is amazing stuff but for maximum joy and confidence it makes sense to run a tire designed for the terrain you like to ride, even if it means sucking up a small weight penalty.

 

With more fun riding looming on the hippie horizon I’ve opted to swap back to the Hans Damp 2.35 on the front, and try out the Hans Dampf 2.25 on the rear. I prefer running a slightly smaller, lighter but still chunky tire on the rear and practically the 2.35 Hans is too tight a fit in the rear of the HDR anyway. In terms of clearance the 2.25 is just right.

 

With some time to spare and a set of calipers handy I thought I’d measure up the two Hans to see how they compared. As you can see the 2.35 is MUCH chunkier than officially spec’d!

	Claimed Width	Actual Width	650b Diameter	Actual Diameter
Hans Dampf 27.5×2.25	57.15mm	57.52	698.5mm	694mm
Hans Dampf 27.5×2.35	59.69mm	63.48	698.5mm	711mm

 

Do two Hans make bike work? I’m looking forward to finding out 🙂