My unpopular opinion is, I don’t like vittoria tires.
Oh wow, very stoked on all these options. I wonder if its the same as the old XC casing. Will be ordering 1 of each, barzo, mezcal and peyote soon. I’ve also been interested in their gravel tires, so they seem to be checking all the non-enduro boxes for me right now (radials have a chokehold there)
Finally a Peyote in trail casing. I’ve been wanting to try it but i dont trust a rear tire in race casing.
They’re not bad if the conditions are good. They’re basically useless if there’s a hint of moisture. I’m intrigued by these new casings/compounds they’re releasing.
Very weird the Syerra Trail is 40g lighter (860g) than the Barzo XC Trail (900g)
I’ve had bad luck with them, specifically the mezcal and barzo combo. Never felt as comfortable as I do on maxxis rekon race up front. Maybe it was the dry and loose conditions but I crashed 2 times with the vittoria set up. Definitely conditions will make a big difference. They are popular in my area but maxxis have always been good to me.
I’m thinking about trying them again but right now the rekon race up front and aspen out back has been serving me well. The rolling resistance isn’t the greatest compared to the vittoria but it’s what I’m comfortable with.
new month - new BRR round
- my vote went to Pirelli XC RH
Seems like this month the Schwalbe Ray could make it easy, and with a little luck even the Pirelli also. But after that, honestly i couldn’t find any interesting tire left in the whole list (for mtb )
I’m interested in the Conti Trinotal Race Grip- would be helpful to see how the tread and/or compound differences (between that and the Dubnital Race grip for instance) affect RR…
its the same compound as the Dub grip, so i would be very - very surprised if it wouldn’t be just as slower as in case of the Dub grip vs race.
But the trail version which made it to the test list last month, will be interesting. My bet that trail - rapid (Dub) will be faster than race - grip.. will see.
Same
The fact that the Racing Ray is in “winning position” in a size that (to my knowledge) doesn’t even exist is quite amusing
Same. I’ve got them on my bike right now.
Random thoughts, since I started using some different tires in 2025…
In 2024, I mostly used Vittoria Barzo in the 2.35 race casing/compound.
This year, I wanted to try something a little more “trail” and less “XC” and went with the Continental Xynotal (2.4 trail casing). So far, it’s been a great all-around tire where I ride (mid-Atlantic USA). Thought about the Kryptotal since Conti lists then as more “all-around”, but it’s been a moment since I tried any sort of trail tire so picked the Xynotal. Anyway, super happy with them. They don’t feel much slower rolling than the Barzos and grip better overall. These are only used on my Fuel EX (2018, so before it went really long/low), which pulls double duty for XC races (where I go back to Barzos).
I also built a new hardtail for neighborhood “green” trails and chunkier gravel. Picked a Mezcal front and Peyote rear (both 2.4). So far, they’ve been great for this. I’ve used the Mezcal as a rear before, so knew roughly how it would be in the front. And as I suspected, the Peyote is kinda shit in the wet roots, leafy stuff we get here sometimes, but as long as it’s dry-ish, it’s really fast.
Similar experience, different brand.
During the summer, I ran XCRCs and liked them pretty well for East Coast/Carolinas riding.
Switch to Forekaster F/ Recon R for fall and winter and also didn’t feel a noticeable difference in speed on dirt, maybe on pavement.
Epic Evo for reference
Dubnital Trail Rapid results are on air
ps: anyone with vote left: pls show some love for the Pirelli XC RH 
Looks like a very small penalty for the Trail vs Race casings in contrast to the larger difference noted between Grip and Rapid compounds.
what happend with testing them???
In process. About half done.
Edit: Definitely faster than the old Scorpions for anyone really chomping at the bit to get some.
Note: Updated table based off some comments below.
Apologies if someone did something similar already. I hadn’t checked this thread since 2023 and it’s simply overwhelming to try and read through thousands of posts to try and gather a sense of what the consensus best tire options are. So I did what everyone seems to do these days and turned to AI.
Gemini built a sweet little comparison table. It’s overall recommendation to me depends on the use case (surprise) that I had specifically. But I thought this table was worth sharing. Some notes:
- I asked Gemini for a top 3 tire consensus in the nearest 2.4” width and to give me how they rank on rolling speed, durability, weight and grip. It gave; Rae King (dubs), Racing Ralph and Maxxis Aspen.
- I asked it to include Mezcal and Rekon (Race) as well as those are tires I’ve got experience with.
- Based on my use case (western Canada/Rockie) it’s suggesting a Schwalbe combo; Ray/Ralph
Does this table jive with people who have experience across these tires? LLM’s just regurgitate what’s on the internet so if the internet is wrong (gasp! never happens) then the output is likely skewed as well.
| Tire Model | Weight (2.4") | Lost Watts | Protection | Cornering | Best Use Scenario |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunder Burt (S. Ground) | ~630g | 15.7 W |  |
|
Short Track / Fire-roads / Hero Dirt |
| Dubnital (Race / Rapid) | ~690g | 17.2 W | |
|
Technical XC / Modern Marathon |
| Racing Ralph (S. Ground) | ~730g | 19.0 W | |
|
All-round Marathon (Rear Specific) |
| Rick XC (Speed) | ~760g | 19.0 W | |
|
The 80% Trail “One-Tire” Choice |
| Peyote (XC Race) | ~720g | 21.3 W | |
|
Dry Hardpack / High-Speed Desert |
| Mezcal (XC Trail/TNT) | ~820g | 23.5 W | |
|
Rocky Endurance / Bikepacking |
| Barzo (XC Race) | ~740g | 24.7 W | |
|
Wet Roots / Loose Loam / Light Mud |
| Aspen ST (Team Spec) | ~685g | 26.7 W | |
|
Pro-Level Race (Dry & Smooth Only) |
| Rekon Race (EXO) | ~815g | 27.8 W | |
|
Light Trail (Your Current Rear) |
| Aspen (Standard EXO) | ~770g | 29.9 W | |
|
Dry Mixed Terrain / Daily XC |
| Rekon (Standard EXO) | ~830g | 32.0 W+ | |
|
Aggressive Trail (Your Current Front) |
I wouldn’t trust this.
First off, Race King ProTection was never offered in a 2.4 and rates higher on Puncture Protection than many of the others on that list. And, it’s no longer available so should be including tires like the Dubnital instead.
Raw wattages somewhat in the order I’d expect, but also off from other testing results and pressures / conditions aren’t included.
Better resource will be testing @jkarrasch has done or BRR.
I will give Gemini a nod - Rekon Race and Rekon are SLOW 