50, Keegan ran 50’s at Unbound. He says it in the cooldown video. And yes, I think he needs to promote all the new tires Maxxis just came out with, absolutely. Just like all the Specialized racers HAD to ride the new Diverge with 50 tracers. I just can’t imagine they would all land on the same bike/tire combo unless it was mandated.
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They both have bikes that can squeeze in MTB tires on a day where mud clearance isn’t an issue. Neither of those bikes are rated to properly support MTB tires (front or rear). Big difference between making it work and designed to work that way. Keegan also ran a 40 (or maybe 42) chainring on his MTB at a race last year. He had to offset the crank to the right and it was still grinding into the chainstay at times. I’m all for making things work and hacking together solutions, but prefer to work within intended design limits when possible.
I ran a MTB tire on the front of my checkpoint most of the season without issue, until I ran into conditions where it was an issue. It’s just not designed for tires that big. Lots of folks went smaller this year at Unbound due to the mud risk, not because they believed smaller was faster. Keegan switched from his suspension fork to a rigid fork specifically for more clearance in case of mud, not because he believed it was faster.
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I’m pretty sure he ran 50 ramblers (not a new Maxxis tire). Durable, but about as slow rolling as they come. He almost certainly would have rolled an Aspen ST over a rambler 50 if not for the mud risk. The new gravel tire from Maxxis is the Reaver (which I think tested pretty decent), but it only goes up to a 45mm at this time. Maxxis have said a 50 is coming (since every other tire company is talking about their 50’s), but Maxxis is behind the curve. I’m sure Maxxis would have liked Keegan to run the Reaver, but I think Keegan has the juice to make his own tire selection based on what he thinks is best. Unfortunately, his choices are limited to Maxxis.
Isn’t that Rambler a new version of the rambler though? I thought I heard they had re-done it kinda like how Spesh has new pathfinders? I could def be wrong because I wouldn’t even consider a rambler.
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I didn’t think about that. Looks like it is same tread pattern, but they have recently updated the compound. Not a full update like the pathfinder, but maybe it’s better/faster than the old one (a low bar). Haven’t seen it tested.
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Keegan was talking about a new Maxxis Gravel Tire and compound that was testing really fast on the podcast he did with Jonathan pre-Unbound. Not sure if that’s what he ended up running though.
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I would like to see more aero data for gravel suspension forks. As far as I can see we have nothing for telescoping forks (only Lauf?) right now and given the speeds under discussion this is going to be a major factor in determining the comfort/suspension, rolling resistance, aero matrix.
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She also punctured and managed to nurse it to the finish.
Men’s winner rode 45/50 schwalbe R series and as far as I am aware had no issues.
Lots of selective hearing here. It’s wrong to ignore the science when it comes to pure RR speed, but the title of this thread also includes ‘the best’ and that covers far more aspects than just speed.
It’s quite possible that many of the pros that have gone for narrower tyres have done so for other reasons than RR speed.
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This one might throw some folks for a loop.
Race King Pure Grip 29 x 2.0 outdoor Chung Method testing RESULTS.
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Since I have a Checkpoint, I’d be curious to hear where you found the actual (vs published) limit to be.
On a gen2 checkpoint, I believe the published limit is 45mm. On a dry day, I have no issues running a 2.2 Race King in the front (measures ~56), It’s a no go in the back with a 2.2 RK, it sort of fits, but knobs rub on the drive side chainstay. I know some people have talked about dishing the wheel over a bit and shaving the knobs, so maybe that’s an option but I never tried. A 50 fits fine in the rear when dry and you could probably push a little bigger depending on the tire. So, that’s what’s possible under ideal circumstances. It just doesn’t work in the mud and you might get the random rock sucked/wedged between the tire and frame.
With mud, it just depends on the type of mud and how much you care about your frame. I ran 42’s front and back at Unbound in '23 due to the mud risk and still had some nasty rubbing (scraping of fork and chainstays), but it probably did better than most setups that were out there. So, even being under the rated limit of 45, you can still have issues. But 47’s would have been a disaster in '23 and I would have been walking a bunch. For typical (not super sticky) mud conditions, I’d say a 47 is a relatively safe tire for the checkpoint, particularly if you aren’t particular about scratching up your frame a bit (it’s a gravel bike, so it’s gonna happen anyway). That is what I’ve been running for the majority of races over the last 3 years. Enough clearance for a little mud, but still a risk of scraping and just a bit beyond the rated tire limit. And also keep in mind that tire sizes vary by brand and rim width mattes also. My go-to tires have mostly been pathfinders. A 47 pathfinder pro on my 25mm internal rims measures 48 wide.
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Trey from the Bicycle Station posted his Unbound 200 recap video and it was pretty concerning all the punctures he got using the Dubnital’s. He was running them on Reserve wheels, which he also cracked to end his day.
Unbound is so much of a crap shoot on tires that I don’t read too much into it. But durability is still a question mark for me. All the testing I’ve seen is that the new Dub 2.2 isn’t any faster than the 2.2 Race King, so I went ahead and bought up some extra race kings that I’ll use at chunky races like Big Sugar, Rule of 3, and Unbound for the next couple years. Maybe the new dub will eventually prove as durable (or more), but I’m kind of hedging my bet and there isn’t much downside unless the tests are underestimating the speed of the new dub. I do plan to ride the new 2.4 dub at leadville if it holds up in testing, but leadville isn’t much of a durability test (knock on wood).
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Rosa Klöser ran 2.2 Dubs, and also experienced a flat. Of course she was still in the mix for third place until she spaced out and took a wrong turn into the finishing chute and ended up fourth. Of course, any tire can flat, at Unbound. For races like this the best bet is likely to try and do your best with line choice to avoid flats in the chunky/sharp sections, so maybe you have to be a little conservative with your drafting in these sections, and allow a little bit of a gap.
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This seems perhaps premature, but wrt Continental tires; are Rapid/Grip compounds a downgrade from Black Chili?
I suspect many more people were on 2.2 Dubnitals this year than 2.2 Race Kings last year - but even then the reports don’t seem to be positive. Lots of punctures and cut tires.
In a similar aspect, I have seen more punctures on the ‘new’ pathfinder pro’s that I would expect. I actually purchased a 40mm for a backup mud tire for unbound but after seeing enough reviews of punctures, I returned it.
Maybe it will gain a better reputation over time, but what I’ve seen so far leaves me a bit skeptical.
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Impressive. As the BRR article noted, this tire is a lot different to the G-One Speed they tested previously in the smaller 40mm width. That previous 40mm G-One Speed had a carcass thickness at the centre that was almost twice as thick as this latest 60mm Pro variant (3.1 mm versus 1.6 mm). That probably goes a long way towards explaining the huge difference in rolling resistance numbers between those two variants, which look identical from the tread patterns.
Indeed this 60mm G-One Speed pro is more similar to the old Liteskin Big One from 2016, which isn’t so easy to find nowadays on BRR.
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It seems like this could be crazy fast on the right terrain. Some hard packed down smooth and/or sandy gravel with no rocks. Maybe some rails to trails type terrain.
It seems it would likely get ripped to shreds on anything with sharper rocks/stones.
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Mental results, really interesting tire. Very tempted to slap a pair on my hardtail just for the funzies.
I foresee a lot of these on drop bar converted MTBs