You are right, I had my numbers mixed up. It’s that its the Mezcal III (3) G2.0. Third version of the Mezcal but 2nd iteration of the graphene.
Deleted the previous post.
The Race casing is faster and wears faster than the trail casing, along with being lighter.
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I was running Mezcal 2.25 front and back here in Northern Nevada, but found a mezcal in the front made for weak corning. I switched it out for a 2.25 barzo and never looked back. I thought this was a winning combo, but I have gotten 6-7 sidewall tears on the mezcal over the past year, so they don’t hold up well for me. If they didnt keep ripping, I would keep running this combination. I was running the TNT casing. I am going to start testing a Kenda Regolith front and Booster rear here really soon, both in the 2.4 flavors.
I keep reading older posts about the Barzo running relatively narrow, i.e. the 2.35" is actually more like a 2.25" in other brands. Is this still the case with recent production batches? I’m planning to replace 2.25" Pacestar Nobby Nics with the Barzo, but I’m not sure which size to go for. If the 2.35" runs true, it might rub my frame, but if it is undersized in terms of width, the 2.25" might be too narrow for me (and in that case, the 2.35" would probably fit fine in the rear too). My Nobby Nics measure just over 56mm on a 22.5 mm internal rim (so pretty much true to ETRTO size), which is kind of in between the listed ETRTO widths for the Barzos.
I hope not! I’ve just ordered a set of 2.6 Vittoria’s for a winter race reconnaissance weekend in a few months. I’d be a bit disappointed if that were the case.
Interested to hear from other purchasers. I’ll report back when mine arrive.
Looked through the posts here and I don’t see this question addressed. I currently have a set of Schwalbe Ray/Ralph in both the Ground and Race performance levels, running with PTN inserts on the Ground set and Tubolight inserts on the Race set.
My question for those of you with more experience…do you run your race tire/insert setup for training? I can see pro’s and con’s to both - switching to a different tire compound/build, even if it is the same tread pattern, for a race seems like a bad idea; benefit also would be getting used to the required line choice for your race tires (vs banging into everything with a tougher tire in training), but durability concerns do come into play for the lighter/race construction.
Thoughts? Thanks!
Depending on the race and course conditions I swap between 2.25 Ikons and Aspens. For Leadville (I know not considered a XC) 2.25 Rocket Ron F/R. No inserts… yet…
I run the same setup for race and training. I want to know exactly how the tire will perform in all conditions, pressures and speeds. Hard to dial that in if you’re constantly swapping out setups. Plus tires ware in so a new tire that gets little use (races) may feel/perform differently than your everyday tire.
Knowing how your setup runs and feels is so important! Well said.
Awesome, appreciate your response!
Not sure how XC this is but I’ve got a few rides with my Bontrager XR3 in the back of my FUEL EX. Seems to move notably faster than the old XR4 for the same effort. I know the XR3 is more of an in-between tire (center tread of XR2, side knobs of XR4) but could make a good front tire for more aggressive XC potentially paired with a lighter duty rear like an XR2.
Honestly, if its the same tread pattern, I run a longer wearing tread in training.
I do so many miles on the road in between trail systems that I’d go broke running softer race casings for training.
Is it ideal? No.
But it’s not my job, I’m not sponsored, and running race compounds wear nearly twice as fast for me 
Good perspective, thanks!
I also love that mental gain from new rubber. I put my race tyres on just before race day.
My 2014 Stumjumper FSR 29er came with Purgatory F & Ground Control R tires. Those were the pre-Gripton generation with a different tread. I liked that setup and then replaced them with the same Purgatory F & GC R combo (Control casing for both) when then new Gripton models rolled out in 2018 or so. So, I kept using the Purgatory Control 29x2.3 as a front tire, but that still had a different tread pattern from the current version. This was it link
Last year, I finally replaced that front tire with the latest Purgatory Control, which has a rather different tread link
I’m still happy with this setup (btw, running the latest Ground Control in the rear as well), but I keep reading about the Purgatory as primarily a rear tire. So I’ve started wondering if I’m missing something or even riding the wrong tire in the front. This latest Purgatory tread pattern does look somewhat similar to the updated Racing Ralph, for example, which is explicitly a rear-specific tire (though obviously the RR is lighter and its tread height less aggressive). And it is rather different from the earlier versions/generations of the Purgatory.
Would I be better off switching to Ground Control in the front (while either keeping the same Ground Control in the rear too, or switching to Fast Trak)? I ride light trail/XC, so definitely don’t need anything more aggressive. Or is this latest Purgatory still a good choice for the front?
For XC, I currently use Ground Control front and Renegade rear. I love this combo.
Purgatory looks like a pretty good mid grip front tire option, and if it works for you don’t worry about changing it. What those reviews are likely saying is that it is a good rear tire option matched with something much more aggressive on the front (Eliminator or Butcher from Specialized). The same things that make it good for hard trail riding/Enduro on the rear usually make for a good light trail front tire option, but that is just a less vocal internet group.
Thanks, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear. 
The Eliminator/Butcher would definitely be overkill for me. The Purgatory is hardly any heavier than the Ground Control (775g vs 760g) and they both roll pretty well imho.
I’ve just installed my Barzo 2.6 on my spare front rim and can confirm it didn’t measure 2.6". According to my calipers it is 61mm wide at the casing. It may stretch some yet, or might measure a smidge wider on wider rims (my spares/winter wheels are ~27mm Syncros wheels).
I’ll report back when I install the rear/go back to the front. I will get more pictures and measurements, I just wanted to slap it on there for the thread.
I will say that it looks visually/noticeably larger than the 2.35 Schwalbe’s on my main wheels.
I wish tire manufacturers specified what rim width is assumed when they quote their tire width.
Seems like the widths of newer cross country tires assume they will be mounted on 30mm rims. I have 25mm rims, and all the tires I try are consistently about 1/10” narrower than spec.
If the 2.6” Barzos assume a 35mm rim, then on a 27mm rim, they’ll measure about 4mm narrower - which is about what you are seeing.
