• Hi everyone,

    As you all know, Coffee (Dean) passed away a couple of years ago. I am Dean's ex-wife's husband and happen to have spent my career in tech. Over the years, I occasionally helped Dean with various tech issues.

    When he passed, I worked with his kids to gather the necessary credentials to keep this site running. Since then (and for however long they worked with Coffee), Woodschick and Dirtdame have been maintaining the site and covering the costs. Without their hard work and financial support, CafeHusky would have been lost.

    Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working to migrate the site to a free cloud compute instance so that Woodschick and Dirtdame no longer have to fund it. At the same time, I’ve updated the site to a current version of XenForo (the discussion software it runs on). The previous version was outdated and no longer supported.

    Unfortunately, the new software version doesn’t support importing the old site’s styles, so for now, you’ll see the XenForo default style. This may change over time.

    Coffee didn’t document the work he did on the site, so I’ve been digging through the old setup to understand how everything was running. There may still be things I’ve missed. One known issue is that email functionality is not yet working on the new site, but I hope to resolve this over time.

    Thanks for your patience and support!

MY First REAL Mousse Experience

Huskynoobee

Huskynoobee

CH Sponsor ZipTy Racing
Staff member
So, there's plenty of threads, and plenty of opinions on both sides of the mousse issue. Just thought I'd relate my recent thoughts.

I had never, ever ridden anything but good ol fashioned tube set ups until I borrowed ajaxauto's WR250 earlier this year for the 2 Stroke Natls at Glen Helen. That was just 2 motos of getting used to a bike I'd never ridden on a track I'd never ridden so I didn't have much to compare to.

Yesterday I took out the same former ajaxauto, ZipTy prepped bike that I somehow convinced John to sell to yours truly for a ride on trails that I know and regularly ride on my still conventional set up TE449.

My first impression: I forgot it had mousses until I rolled through a rock garden on a single track trail. Just felt like it sailed over and didn't deflect. I'm not that nuanced of a rider where I could go into much more detail than that. I run the same Golden fatty 216 on both bikes so it's a good comparison.

Next I thought about it on some two track I rode to get to a cool trail. Seemed stable at speed like tube tires, but again, soaked up trail trash like washboard and rock ripples.

After that I looked for the most rocky, gnarly ways up hills to see about rolling traction at controlled speed avoiding wheel spin. Felt great!

Final thoughts...I like them! I know that I can't change pressure on the fly, but I also know there's no pressure to lose in a race. They don't feel vague or like they're flat at all. If I think I need a stiffer feel, I can just stuff them, but I'm going to continue with how they are now, because he's got years of experience with them and I'm not about to question a national plate holder.

I've been told by just as many people NOT to run a mousse as those who said to go for it. My suggestion is to try if you can before you buy because they are kinda pricey, but give them a shot. If you race cross country/hare scrambles, hare n hound/desert/etc. or just don't want to carry spare tubes, tires tools and such they are something to seriously consider.
 
It would be cool to test it back to back with both, if I had to guess I would say you are feeling a well set up suspension from Ajax...

I have both tubes and mouses in different wheel sets and run them both on the same bike. I don't really notice a huge difference between the two, the peace of mind knowing I won't get a flat does go a long way though.

Later,
 
Is it a used tire and used, broken in mousse? Your experience may be different, when you put a brand new mousse in a new tire. Usually you would put a new one, in a used tire for at least one ride and then swap it into the new tire.
 
Good point jmetter, but same guy (Ty Davis) did front suspension on both bikes the WR has TXC449 KYB forks close to same as my TE. I tried to match the basic settings in the forks especially to rule that out, but I think the valving is slightly different.

And also the tire age and mousse age are close. I think the front tire is within 100 miles of brand new and the rear is closer to 40 miles old (well 80 after yesterday). So you may have something there Norman, but I'm a total newbie to the mousse world.
 
I have run bib mousse inserts for over 25 years and I love them. To me a mousse in the front tire is a no brainer, You hit rocks, square edges etc. with the front tire first and most trail side flats are on the front. The rear is another story. Michelin designed the mousse to be used in conjunction with their Michelin Desert tire which has a very stiff sidewall. If a mousse in installed in a soft sided tire it will squirm around in the tire, deliver spotty handling and create heat which will kill the mousse. For best results in the rear run a stiff tire and lubricate the snot out of it. Mousse lube, truck tire mounting lubricant or KY Jelly all work fine. Most of my riding/racing is in Baja with high speeds and half buried rocks and knowing I will not suffer a flat tire gives me great peace of mind.
 
I have had great results so far though am always nervous when I hit the pavement. I ran at least 2lbs more in tubes so that is mostly what I'm feeling. Not sure how far I can run and how fast on pavement but I keep it to a minimum until I see how my mousses look in the late fall. I just love the set and forget aspect and in that light am not experimenting with anything but the best manufacturers of the things. Performance off road has been great since I have better traction at better pressures and not noticing any side affects.
 
I have a mousse question...

How many tires do you get between changing mousses.... Do you change mousse every other front or 3rd or 4t...What about rear.....

I run bridgestone ultra heavy duty tube with a old tube around the outside and have yet to get a flat and thats running Baja, BITD, D37 and MRAN.... I usually replace the tube once a year...
 
I fitted a set of these technomousse a while ago since they where on special and I'm a cheapas...
Really enjoy it as it is really dry and rocky where we ride. It gives me peace of mind not to have a flat in the middle of nowhere and having to do a 30miles walk in hot conditions.
In regards to suspension I'm not sure how much difference it makes as the suspension was done after the mousse where fitted so I can't compare. All I can say is that it works for me.
I do ride them on the road a bit to riding spots and so far no issues.
They are supposed to last about 3 tyre changes I have been told.
We'll know more when the rear comes off soonish to be replaced.

I had an idea a while ago why no one made a mouse with a small inner tube in the middle so the pressure could be adjusted. Apparently Mefo does now.
 
racemx904 said:
I have a mousse question...

How many tires do you get between changing mousses.... Do you change mousse every other front or 3rd or 4t...What about rear.....

I run bridgestone ultra heavy duty tube with a old tube around the outside and have yet to get a flat and thats running Baja, BITD, D37 and MRAN.... I usually replace the tube once a year...
Click to expand...
The lifespan of a mousse will depend on your "mousse maintenance". As I stated earlier mousse inserts must stay lubricated. If they are allowed to run dry they will run hot, crack, tear and start to fall apart. After long Baja races we would tear down the wheels, and the mousses that were still well lubed still looked fine. We would re-use those mousses for trail riding and pre-running for the next year or so until they finally would wear out due to tears from poking them with tire irons, rock impacts and just hard use and age.

Something we started doing on our Baja 1000 race wheels was drilling, threading and installing grease fittings into the rims between the spokes just like a rim lock hole, usually 2 per wheel. Around dusk when were taking a longer than normal pit stop to mount lights, change air filter, check oil, refuel etc. we would pump some KY Jelly into the grease fitting fitted rims using a hand held pump style grease gun. When those wheels were torn down post race there was a noticeable difference to the mousses that were not re-lubed mid race.
 
Huskynoobee said:
So, there's plenty of threads, and plenty of opinions on both sides of the mousse issue. Just thought I'd relate my recent thoughts.

I had never, ever ridden anything but good ol fashioned tube set ups until I borrowed ajaxauto's WR250 earlier this year for the 2 Stroke Natls at Glen Helen. That was just 2 motos of getting used to a bike I'd never ridden on a track I'd never ridden so I didn't have much to compare to.

Yesterday I took out the same former ajaxauto, ZipTy prepped bike that I somehow convinced John to sell to yours truly for a ride on trails that I know and regularly ride on my still conventional set up TE449.

My first impression: I forgot it had mousses until I rolled through a rock garden on a single track trail. Just felt like it sailed over and didn't deflect. I'm not that nuanced of a rider where I could go into much more detail than that. I run the same Golden fatty 216 on both bikes so it's a good comparison.

Next I thought about it on some two track I rode to get to a cool trail. Seemed stable at speed like tube tires, but again, soaked up trail trash like washboard and rock ripples.

After that I looked for the most rocky, gnarly ways up hills to see about rolling traction at controlled speed avoiding wheel spin. Felt great!

Final thoughts...I like them! I know that I can't change pressure on the fly, but I also know there's no pressure to lose in a race. They don't feel vague or like they're flat at all. If I think I need a stiffer feel, I can just stuff them, but I'm going to continue with how they are now, because he's got years of experience with them and I'm not about to question a national plate holder.

I've been told by just as many people NOT to run a mousse as those who said to go for it. My suggestion is to try if you can before you buy because they are kinda pricey, but give them a shot. If you race cross country/hare scrambles, hare n hound/desert/etc. or just don't want to carry spare tubes, tires tools and such they are something to seriously consider.
Click to expand...

I'm seriously considering at least a front mousse.
In the last 5 or 6 years I've had roughly 1/2 a dozen flats out in the bush and all but one of those on the front.
It's never stopped me riding out (and repaired a few invite trails) but it makes more cautious on rocks etc. as a result.
Keen to try them.
Thanks for your thoughts.
 
once you go with it and you find peace of mind you will never go back......remember to pull it and relube it to give it longer life as well as stuffing a piece in as the it breaks down.
 
I packed my mousses full of lube and lube was oozing out for a bit from every orifice and initially splattering my bike so I know I got it well lubed. Only thing...I am super careful when riding the road since don't want to roll a bead off the rim or overheat the mousse and tire and just plain cautious as I want to make it last till late fall. Sure helps not riding due to this heat :rolleyes:
 
I've gone to a mousse front and back. Before I installed my front, I used an angle grinder and removed about 1/16" off the disc side of the rim all the way around, then smoothed it and rounded it slightly with a palm sander. This made installing the tire noticeably easier. I'm not going to take credit for this idea. I got it from a pro rider who was teaching a riding clinic. This was in the bike setup portion. I figure if the tire is easier on/off, I'm more likely to lube it. I removed, relubed and reversed the motoz tire the rear after about 500km of racing /trail riding. The mousse still looks great. I figure I should get a couple years out of it. I also saw a tip from Chilly White thathe cuts the old mousse and adds sections of an old mousse to take up space as they shrink with age.
 
Feedback on the technomousse!
After +/- 10 hrs I pulled the rear off to change the tyre and relube. Result the mousse is totally sh!t! Not cause of lack of lube and diintegration but it's gone hard and stays in a reduced shape.
No high speed or long raod trips. Max 10 min from here to the riding spot and max 80 km/h
Well lubed when I put it in and the correct size.
Will pull the front off too next week as it still feel ok for now.
In other words don't buy it!!!
Pretty much same result as in this video!
 
bikesparky said:
I fitted a set of these technomousse a while ago since they where on special and I'm a cheapas..
Click to expand...
You ever hear the saying "you get what you pay for..."? Pony up the extra money for a Michelin Bib Mousse and install it inside a Michelin Desert tire and you will be singing their praises...
 
rwgregory said:
You ever hear the saying "you get what you pay for..."? Pony up the extra money for a Michelin Bib Mousse and install it inside a Michelin Desert tire and you will be singing their praises...
Click to expand...

Agreed! Only reason I took the bait was that their normal prices are only slightly cheaper than Michelin or GT ones. They claimed to be good and the importer sold them off (for a reason I assume).
I normally let sellers- manufactures know that either their product is good or bad without shouting profanities (initially). I emailed both the old seller and the manufacturer and they both responded immediately. :applause: and yes from Italy for the manufacturer!! . See what happens!
 
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