Depending on your tire and rim, the bead/rim hook interface sometimes doesn’t always seat exactly in the way you would expect.
Pumping up to the maximum PSI for the tire not only allows for the bead to seat properly and settle, it helps to loosen some of the fibers in the tire to make it more pliable and supple, which helps the tire get to its stated size more quickly.
You’d get the equivalent result just by riding the tire for a long enough period of time, but most people don’t measure the tire mid way through the life.
If you think about how a tire feels when it’s folded, and then unfolded before you try to put it on the rim, you’ll probably get what I’m talking about.
It’s been a number of years since I rode on Ikons, but I distinctly remember a ride at Mohican in Ohio running 2.35’s front and rear on my Niner Rip 9 RDO at the time. It was damp and the roots wet, I remember being surprised how well the tires worked that day. So maybe something to that for Ikons on slippery roots like they saw last weekend (those conditions were way worse than what I was riding in with all that wet mud).
I had 2.3" Fast Traks mounted on 25mm Specialized Control wheels on my Epic. I just mounted a 2.4" Rekon Race on the front and 2.4" Aspen on the rear. The Rekon Race added 160g to the front. The Aspen added 120g at the rear. Measured at the knobs the Rekon Race measured 2.35", between the knobs 2.31". The Aspen measured 2.38" between the knobs and 2.4" at the knobs. The Fast Traks measured exactly 2.3" at the widest part. That measurement doesn’t include any knobs because they don’t sit far enough out to end up part of the measurement.
The Fast Traks feel a lot faster to me on smooth surfaces. The Maxxis combo adds a bit more grip but is 300g heavier and feels slower. I’m really interested in the results of @Jonathan test because it’ll likely end up more scientific than what I manage but I’ll report back.
The 2.3 Fast Trak definitely “feels” faster to me than the heavy 2.4 Aspen. We have to remember that we don’t get the “pro” only 170TPI Aspen that Nino rides. He’d probably use something else if he had to use the 120TPI Aspen.
I poked a hole in my rear Cross King Friday descending one of our local downhill trails - in a rock garden section. Not a pinch flat, just a sharp rock poked through the center of the tread.
2 plugs didn’t seal it, and I needed to put in a tube. The tire was a year old, and needed to be replaced anyway.
Tires are in short supply these days, so didn’t have a lot to pick from to replace it. I have an XR3 that I put on for my Saturday ride - but don’t like these as a rear tire, as they wear out too quickly (although they perform well).
On Sunday, I picked up a Racing Ralph, 2.35” - which measures less than 2.25” on my 25mm ID rims.
The tread pattern looks interesting - low profile like the XR3, but more rubber in the center part of the tread so I expect will last longer.
I’ll be interested to see how the Schwalbe does as an all rounder - XC tire, with occasionally being thrown in over its head on some gnarlier Colorado and Utah rocky trails.
I have a Racing Ralph and Ray Combo for most riding and they have survived everything from rocky trails to mud and roots. I have a Thunderburt for a faster track and a Nobbly Nic for slower tech/ mud so I use these 4 as a sliding scale depending on the time of year and conditions. Seem to work well and they look great in the skinwall if that is your thing.
Barzo Fan here but definitely think they size a bit small. I think it has to do with the casing where the thinker casing (i’ve run both) runs thinner. I’m a big schwabie fan too and ran ray/ralph combo in 2.25 this spring for a few MTB XCO’s and always like them. I think the rolling resistance is better than the barzo’s but i run them in a 2.35.
I’m not by any means fast - but I rate the Ikon 2.35 faster than the 2.3 Fast Track and with more reliable grip.
Ardent race much better grip again - but also seems much slower/heavier. Aspen’s don’t seem popular around where I live.
1st marathon XC race yesterday on the 2.4” Aspen on 30mm inside width rims. Fast rolling tire. Found that for me they required a little more lean angle to bite in the loose corners than my usual Ardent Race 2.35” / Ikon 2.35” setup. Able to pump flat and loose corners to generate speed once I got them sorted. Braking traction was limited, but tried to stay off the brakes unless required. About what I expected for such a fast rolling tire though. Combination of big volume, low pressure, and inserts resulted in less fatigue and general beating in an almost 3h MTB race. Fortunately during pre-ride I figured out how to ride this rubber! 16.5 / 17.5 psi w/ Tubolight XC inserts @80kg.
Yes, The Aspens definitely require more lean angle to get the cornering knobs to hook up…even more so if you run the 2.4 on 25mm rims. I don’t recommend 25mm rims with this tire.
Are the 2.4 Maxxis Aspens only for shorter courses (olympic marathons), without out long climbs (leadville)? They are really heavy compared to other tires, natably the Continental Race Kings. The weight penalty rotating around and around and around seems like it cannot be worth it. 320 grams is a lot of weight on the wheel.
IMO it’s terrain dependent not length dependent. If it was 100 miles of rough terrain then I’d run the 2.4s, but with the smoother sections of Leadville then I think weight and RR optimized for less rough surfaces win out.
That said, I don’t have a super strong / informed opinion on what the ideal tire is for Leadville. I’ve ran Mezcal 2.25 in the past, debating between that, Race King, and Aspen all in 2.25s for this year.
@Dr_Alex_Harrison For me it’s primarily weight but I also don’t think that wider = lower rolling resistance for all conditions. For some yes, but clearly there’s a course-dependent sweet spot or we’d all be riding plus tires or fatties all the time and that trend has died off hard.
@Jonathan also briefly mentioned in a recent episode (309 or 308) that he wouldn’t ride 2.4 tires at Leadville but it was a very quick exchange. Would love to hear what he’d ride instead.
