Have you had a chance to ride the Race King back to back with the Thunder Burt? I’d be curious your thoughts on this.
I haven’t. The Race Kings have worked well for me, so I haven’t yet needed to further experiment.
Whatever tire you pick, ride it on rough rocky trails to test puncture resistance. There are sections in Leadville where pinch flats are a real risk - mainly the descents on both sides of power line. Maybe upper Columbine if you can actually ride fast enough with the crowds. Test ride your tire beforehand on fast rocky descents.
How do the Schwalbe tires (or really any other brand) compare on puncture/slash resistance to Maxxis Exo?
I’m riding very technical and rocky trails on my regular rides for training and for the few races I plan on doing this year. Typically I’m the fastest guy out on these sections and believing in the tire making it out in 1 piece is worth whatever weight penalty versus a light casing.
Ran Aspen 2.25 Exo with no issues until the end of tread life, and want to repeat that. Kenda Boosters with the SCT were alright but didn’t love them in other areas. If there was a stronger option out there honestly I’d take it, have already added a rear insert with the Exo tires. The tread pattern of the Racing Ray/Ralph look really good to me, but worried about sidewalls and punctures.
I’ve run a lot of Schwalbe’s that past couple of seasons, but almost always with Snakeskin. No punctures or slashes to speak of.
I did get a puncture on a Nobby Nic 3 or 4 years ago on a really rocky fast descent into Minturn, Colorado when I was riding around Vail. It sealed before I hit the bottom of the trail but lost about 6 - 7 psi in the process.
When I ran Maxxis tires previously (main Ikon and Recon Race) I also had good success, so personally would be comfortable with both.
Recently added the Race King Protection to my tire options (see review above). Will see how it holds up relative to the other tires I’ve tried in the past.
I have been using the Tubolight inserts with my Schwalbe RR and RR with no problems.
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Thinking about replacing my 2.1 fast trak with a 2.3 on the rear. Think that’s too big or should be fine?
2.3 should be much better than 2.1
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It depends on the course. 2.1 may be better for some courses as it’s lighter and spins up faster out of corners.
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I race XCO, XCM and MTB 100s with 2.35 f/r Vitoria Mezcals and they’re great. I’ve tried to go back to 2.25 and it feels like a downgrade in cornering, traction and handling. In XC the current trend is wider with up to 2.4 becoming popular. So you’d be right in line with 2.3. Most go wider up front at the minimum, so I’m assuming your front is already 2.3?
Caveat, what’s the inner dimensions of your rims?
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I have a 2.3 ground control for the front and this fast trak was actually my old front wheel. Wheels have a 22mm inner. Descending is still my biggest weakness so hopefully this will help out a bit.
22 id rims are a little small, but it looks like 2.3 should be ok. You’ll probably have more of a teardrop profile.
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I think you will find that the 2.3 is just a tiny bit larger than the 2.1. I am guessing 2 mm.
The 2.1 was a bit big for its size and the 2.3 is a bit small for size.
It will be better though
Same boat here, every time I go wider with my wheels and tires, I am happier. I currently run 2.4" tires on 27mm rims and love it. I am 170lbs and can comfortably run anything from 16 psi to 22 psi depending on terrain. My next set of wheels will likely be >30mm. I started with 19 mm rims years back and found that anything over 2.25 felt a bit squirrelly trying to put the corner knobs into the right place on the dirt (teardrop mentioned above) and even pulled a tire off the rim experimenting with lower pressure. At 22mm, you are going to be on the higher side of low pressure to keep the tire in the right place but otherwise, Go try it out! Playing with tires size/types is probably the best way to change the feel of your bike and in the world of bikes it is relatively inexpensive.
Not sure if anyone will read this far down in the thread, but I’ve been using 2.35 Barzo front and 2.25 Mezcal rear for the past year on my hardtail and really enjoying the grip, but I feel rolling resistance is a bit high. No flats to report.
I’ve been considering a set of Pirelli Scorpion XC RC front and rear for this year. Does anyone have experience with these? They look promising to me, very much like an aspen or a thunder burt from the looks of them. They only come in 2.2, but my rear is already maxxed out with the 2.25 so I wouldn’t be losing anything significant in the width category.
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Which version of the Vittoria are you running?
Sorry, XC/Trail casing
I feel the Barzo is overkill. I use 2.35 Mezcal F/R and for the Midwest it’s plenty of grip as long as your tire pressure is low enough (17-18 front and 18-19 rear , +/-). I use this from dry and loose, sandy and wet with roots. Love these tires!
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You’re probably right about that. I have more than enough get on the front with the Barzo and could use some more straight line speed as I tend to pull away from those around me in twisty technical sections, but don’t quite have the horsepower for the pedaly bits yet.
I think I’m out of touch with Vittoria. I didn’t even realize they had come out with a version 3! I’m definitely on some G2.0s. Admittedly I get bored with one set of tires and want to try something new just to see what all is out there. Ideally I suppose I would buy 6 or 8 and ride them back to back, select my favorites and sell the rest, but that’s expensive, so I’m working through the xc category slowly and hadn’t even looked at vittoria this year.
Is the race casing really that much faster than the trail casing? I always just hear about minimal weight differences and didn’t think it would affect speed that much.
I don’t think they have a G3. Their website still only mentions G2.0.