When I switched from Mezcal f/r to Ray/Ralph I couldn’t believe how much more grip I had. For that reason, I’m never going back. I can rail single track so much faster. Particularly in the Midwest when it’s mostly twisty with tight trees.
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Gotta find that balance of good grip and fast tires. It doesnt matter how fast the tire is if you’re taking every corner at a snail pace
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Even the difference between Mezcal f and Barzo f are almost night and day. the Barzo doesn’t roll as fast on tarmac, smooth dirt, but leaned over it’s so much better. (Now I’m questioning running the 2.1 Mez f/r over the winter, but remember that I’m doing it to intentionally have more sketchy handling and the fact that once the rains start, I’ll be on more gravel/levees, than trails.)
I was impressed how grippy the 2.6” T7 specialized butcher was compared to an XC tire but it turns out lap times were much slower (30 seconds on a 15 minute lap at the same power with just swapping the front wheel). So now, for me, it’s a question of “is it that much grippier or are you going that much slower?” I think you need a stopwatch at a minimum to make any sort of comparison.
Joe
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I’m surprised a Butcher was only 30 seconds slower.
The Fast Trak actually corners super well as a front tire. I always end up coming back to the FT. The Ground Control is surprisingly fast as well but is usually a tad overkill for XC style riding.
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Yeah, great point. I was rolling TB’s front and rear for a while this summer and did have the front end washout in an instance during a fast downhill portion on a trail. After peeling myself off the deck I realized pretty quickly I should probably be running something with a little more grip up front… 
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The most scared I’ve ever been on a bike was on a muddy, rooty, rocky endurance race with some slick bridges with Mezcal/Barzo’s. Ripped them off the next day.
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Ray/Ralph in what compound?
2.35, transparent, Super race
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I’ve been using the Ray / Ralph here too - Super Ground in my case. I have lost the front once, but that was probably my fault happened so fast I don’t even know what happened. I did lose the rear in a scenario that I really didn’t think I should have - basically went down about 200 yards after leaving the truck this summer and was hardly riding yet. It was super dry with some loose over hard, but I’ve heard some others say they don’t like the Ralph either. Pretty sure that was somewhere here in this thread.
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I mentioned in a review that the Ralph is a sliding tire (more or less).
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Yep but once you get a feel when it brakes and slides, it’s an advantage. They do so predictably through out the life of the tire.
all four rides left in them at that point … 
It’s odd to me how little braking traction the Ralph has compared to something like an Aspen when you look at the difference in tread pattern. You would think the aspen would be worse.
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In my personal experience, the 2.4 Aspen has better braking and climbing traction than the 2.35 Racing Ralph
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Yep that’s my point.
Where are you riding where you get traction from the Aspen? Where I am at you might as well be on slicks (sandy trails). At 770g its heavy for not a lot of traction, at least where I ride.
I found the aspen was as grippy on corners, but struggled more under braking. That didn’t surprise me based on the tread pattern though
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What’s the big draw to Aspens? I hear constantly that they’re heavy and have poor traction, so I assume it’s a rolling resistance thing?
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I think it’s a volume thing. At the right pressure (lower than many people are comfortable with) they’re good all-rounders and have good trail speed, though not the best in any one thing. That’s been my impression, at least.
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