The thunder Burt at 2.1 seems to be the consensus, no?
I got the 48mm Thunderos as well (happy with them) and 1 2.1 thunder Burt to try out. Turns out it can fit fine in the front on my bike (checkpoint) but not the back. I’ve tried it out a bit, but haven’t yet committed to running it full time.
From what I’ve seen about the thunder Burt’s, while generally comparable to race kings performance wise, I’ve seen many reports about them seeming prone to flats.
Getting a flat you have to plug/refill in a race will quickly negate any performance gains from a good tire that wouldn’t have flatted.
It was mentioned in a thread (maybe this one) where Dylan Johnson said that it rubs his frame when he runs a mtb tire on the back. I’d love to see the watts/data on that and whether it is still faster than something that doesn’t rub…
I am curious to hear others experience who have run both Thunder Burts and Race Kings extensively, be it on gravel or on trails.
I’ve run various versions of the Thunder Burt as a rear tire at various points over the last few years and have been lucky and not flatted. This was all on an XC bike. This year I ran the 2.35 TB’s on a Supercaliber with Super Race casing and did a bunch of gravel and then some riding out in Leadville including the SR and again no flats. I did have the front tire wash out though during what felt like “routine” riding, so agree with the prior comments of it being sketchy. The lack of knob certainly would in theory make them prone to punctures through the tread.
I’ve got Race Kings on my gravel bike at the moment (Lauf Seigla), so will see how they hold up. Big Sugar is in a couple of weeks so should be a good test. I’ve flatted on Race Kings in the past including at Leadville when I tore off a side knob and then had a hard time getting it to plug.
I have a Raceking 2.0 mounted front and rear on 23mm IW rims on my carbonda 696. They measure 50.5mm and I don’t there’s any chance I could get 2.2’s on there without contact.
55.3mm on a set of ENVE 4.5s that are 25mm ID.
I pre rode the (little 50 mile) big sugar course today on my MOG with 2.1 burts. Got 6 punctures. Finally had to plug one. Back to 47mm pathfinder pros 
6 punctures in one ride?!? 
Wow. SuperRace or SuperGround casing?
The 2.0s are the slower compound, but I wonder if they have better puncture resistance as a result. It could be unrelated, but hopefully there is some benefit to the higher RR. If that is the case, maybe they’re actually the better choice, esp. since they actually fit.
This is the way.
I can’t help feeling like Big Sugar should have a similar tire choice to Unbound. I’m thinking of the Panaracer GK series with “+” protection or Maxxis with silk shield. Sure ride quality will suffer but six punctures?
Yeah, they were small punctures that would seal up on their own if I stopped and let the sealant work for a second. Otherwise it was spraying everywhere. Never have I cleaned so much sealant off my bike
Super race in the front (1 puncture) super ground in the back (5 punctures)
Yeah, I think many of us (including myself) are getting too caught up in chasing low RR. It’s one thing for the pros racing 30 races a year and flatting in 5 or 6 of them and another for an amateur like me racing 5-7 races a year and flatting in 2 or 3 of them. I’ve decided to lean more towards anti-puncture with some OK RR. Trying mezcal XC trail 2.1 front and torreno dry 2.0 endurance back combo. I run Barzo trail/mezcal trail on my MTB and love them for XC races.
Yup, flatting is always slower.
I’m have the Vittoria Mezcal XC Race G2.0 XC Race (sidewall) on my gravel bike. Their mezcal line is confusing. I had a sidewalk puncture this past weekend that I had to plug. To be fair, these tires likely are the most supple in their line. It was easy to tell installing them how thin the sidewalls are. Makes for a cushy ride but wouldn’t trust them for places like unbound which shred tires.
Yeah, try the “trail” version, which has reinforced sidewall protection. Likewise for gravel the extra protection is the “endurance” casing. They still feel very supple to me, but , I’m sure not as much.
I’ve skimmed many rocks during XC races on my barzo and mezcal trail casings with no issues. Hopefully the same robustness is found for gravel.
I’ve settled on the Race Kings on ENVE 4.5s for Big Sugar next weekend. No inserts, Silca sealant.
I ran that set up in a local gravel race last weekend and it felt really good. Big Sugar will be a much tougher test in terms of punctures so it will be interesting to see how they fare versus what @atdaberry experienced on the TB’s. Planning to do some pre-riding Thursday so will be watching the puncture situation closely…
What frame? MOG?
And sometimes there’s just bad luck. I don’t know what caused the puncture. Pretty smooth gravel when it happened.