I’ve been riding MTB for 5 years now, save from a piece of glass I was able to remove and plug from a sketchy rail trail I have never flatted a MTB tire before a Little Sugar pre-ride. I swapped to Super Trail Wicked Wills for the race and didn’t flat.
There’s clear distinct levels to the casings and with the XC realm prioritizing weight we’re giving up the sidewall protection something like an EXO+ or DD provides. Light and tough don’t really go together when it comes to tires.
Totally, I went through a string of sidewall tears during pre-covid times that soured me on anything other than thick, slow, Maxxis for a long long time. Currently in a tire limbo for my new aggressive XC-ish build. Want to try something new but also have old favorites. Love the 2.4 Rick and I have this on my HT with a TBurt in the back for climbing races. Durability could be questionable in rocky races tho. Used dual Kings on my single speed and they are phenomenally fast in a straight line but I don’t love how they corner (or don’t, I may just be going too fast!) I like to have a bit more meat out front. Want to try the Ralph/Ray combo as the grip you gain from the knobs seems like a good trade off in only loosing a few watts in RR vs some other brands but they don’t do a proper 2.4 (yet). Maybe Schwalbe has just cracked the good numbers on the BRR drum code? Been interested in Barzo/Mezcal/Peyotes. For now running some clapped out Rekon/Aspen hoping I can hold out till Spring. Maybe Sea Otter will showcase some new tires!
The recent results by @jkarrasch show these to have good rolling resistance. They come in Trail and XC versions - so can pick a version that prioritizes flat protection or speed.
I think a contributing factor to my flat woes is I have only one bike that I use for races and general trail riding. I pick a tire that is an “in-betweener”. Currently running Vittoria Agarros. Previously running Wicked Wills and Nobby Nics.
Maybe I just need a dedicated trail bike and put EXO+ or similar tires on there.
Could consider a second wheel set as a “best of both worlds” option. Don’t need a full bike if you’re comfortable with the setup - just a wheel set with the same hubs, a set of rotors, and then the other set of tires you want to run….
I’ve thought about this. Would want a cassette on the rear also, as would not want to swap cassettes every time I swapped wheels. Starts to get trickier if the cassettes and chain wear at different rates.
Or - I could adapt my riding style and dial things back a notch when riding through flat-prone terrain. My two recent flats have been on terrain where I should have known better, and slowed down a little.
Totally understandable. I have one-piece cassettes (SRAM) and I’ve found it takes about two minutes to swap a cassette between wheels. I wasn’t sure about it when I first started doing it, but now that I have some experience it actually feels very doable. Especially since it’s about the same amount of time as getting tire pressure or suspension settings adjusted
Given that I don’t change wheel sets every ride, it works for me to keep one cassette and swap between wheels.
But that may not work for you.
Second to this idea. I have two wheelsets for both my MTB and gravel bikes, allows me to have a both a '“trail” and “race” setup on the MTB and a “road” setup on the gravel bike. Kind of like four bikes in two. I have two different cassettes/chains on the gravel/road setup for gearing differences so a bit longer to swap over but on the MTB I have DT Swiss hubs so I just yank the whole freehub body off and pop it on the other wheels which luckily the brakes are lined up on as well. This setup is what really got me noticing the impact of tire rolling resistance when all else is held equal. Ruint forever and now eternally chasing the fastest tire with the best grip and durability…
Dubnital Race Grip results are out (not great )
Barzo Race made to the top 3 last month, what’s next to vote?
I use the Dubnital Race Grip on the front and the Trail Speed on the rear. I’ve found the Race Grip to provide plenty of grip for cornering and I roll faster than I did when using my old Rekon Race/Aspen setup.
not saying its a bad tire, but as Trinotal Race Rapid is faster and offers way more grip i would stick with it definitely (rode Dubnital Race Grip on front earlier also)
Would just like to check in to update on my experience with the Barzos 2.4 Race. After roughly 2 months on them:
Really easy to shim rotors so no need to faff with brakes and transmission makes the shifting bang on hub to hub IME.
just saw that the new Pirelli XC RH is already on the list, so my vote went for that hopefully super fast tire
Pirelli Scorpion XC RH Lite 29x2.4
I am really looking forward to more data about the Barzo’s. I have a spare wheel set that I want to set up for long rides in wet conditions. I was considering the Barzo’s, but behavior on roots is something to consider on east coast. Would you say that their performance is poor enough that I should consider other options?
I’ve been running the Trinotal Race Grip recently as my every-day tire, and I recently took them to Coldwater Trail which was 100% singletrack, good amount of rocks, and while nothing like Little Sugar - there were a decent amount of flats there. They didn’t feel slow, and as a daily driver so far I’ve been a fan especially in scenarios where traction and durability has been a factor or I just didn’t want to worry about babying the tires.
Always difficult to judge, as this is a bit subjective. I eoul say that the Barzos are noticeably worse than the Aspen/Aspen ST 170, and maybe a tiny bit worse than the Racing Ray/Ralph in Super Race. The Barzos limit on roots seems to be compound related. If on a technical climb one goes over a root perfectly perpendicular, they bite better than almost any other XC tire I tried. But as soon as the root is at an angle, they have a propensity to send the bike sideways
I’d be inclined to throw my vote behind the Dubnital as that’s the one I’m most interested in as well.
Very interested in the different versions of the Dub myself, especially the amount of free speed I lose when going to the more durable and/or grippier versions. Horses for courses. I love a good cost benefit analysis and want to compare them 
. While I would love to see the numbers from the Terreno XC because if you look at it from purely a tread pattern perspective, it looks fast as heck as a gravel tire. That being said, the prior versions weren’t as fast as other MTB-on-gravel options and have limited applications outside of gravel unless you are riding dry, hardpack singletrack.
A vote for the Dubnital is a wasted vote, it’s making it through regardless of how you vote. Throw it towards the Terreno or another MTB tire further down the list.
