IMHO that’s my only complaint is that they haven’t been true to size (always measure small for me on 30mm iw rims).
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@jkarrasch i’ve seen somewhere you say you test at “preferred pressure” per tyre rather than a set pressure which seems reasonable. have you/could you publish what those pressures are? while your preferred pressure might not be mine, the relative pressure between tyres could give us all a headstart on determining our preferred pressure when trying a new model and also give some insight into the casing properties - dampening, stabilty etc.
TIA and for all you’ve contributed
Call it wolf tooth advanced tire calc +/- 1 psi. For off road tires it’s usually lower psi is fastest until it hits the rim or acts weird going into turns.
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If you ride a lot of East Coast Trails, or assuming the upper West Coast, Guys reviews are spot on.
We don’t need as much straight line speed, but we do need root and rock grip as well as the ability to make quick turns, and off camber stuff.
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Schwalbe is killing me - I mounted my 2.4 Rick this morning on a 30mm IW rim and it is only measuring 59.5mm at 50psi to stretch. I forgot that the 2.35 Ray measured 58mm at racing pressure.
GEEZ!!!
All Schwalbe tires I’ve tried recently are undersized. Even a nominal 2.6” Nobby Nic measured only 2.3”.
I’m currently running Vittoria Agarro 2.6” that measure 2.5”.
My Dubnital 2.4s will also be undersized. I haven’t mounted yet, but know from the bead to bead measurement.
It seems like many tires are undersized. I think it’s because as wider tires have become more popular, brands are just changing the quoted nominal size of their tires, but not resizing the tooling and tire molds needed to actually manufacture wider tires.
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Yeah same conditions here. Rooty, rocky, usually damp if not wet. Testing Ray/Ralph at the moment as a potential racing setup and impressed so far.
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I’m about to hit my first race this season and I’ve decided on a Trinotal on the front. In my tests, it’s saved me a couple times now when I hit a wet mud patch. It’s the best gripping lightweight tire I’ve tried.
I’m never all that confident on wet roots. At speed it just seems like they deflect the tire and throw me off my line no matter what or how I ride them. In the wet they’re even worse. I hate roots, but I’m in the PNW so it’s unavoidable. We get these mattes sections of roots that all sort of grow together. I was on Rocket Rons for this race last year, and the grip was Ok, but they’re undersized and sort of heavy. I did crash on my second lap in the root section, but I was smoked at that point.
What’s your go to move for riding roots like that?
In those damp rooty conditions I drop tyre pressure pretty low, especially on the front tyre. Even 1 PSI lower can make quite a big difference. At 77kg (170 lbs) I would have a Rocket Ron at 16 PSI, maybe 17 or 18 in the rear. Other than that, stay loose and let the bike dance!
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Wet-roots-everywhere rider here also. I second the low PSI, staying loose and let the bike dance method! Setting up early, establishing your line and unweighting/floating/gapping them also very helpful.
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Wet roots are very common here in northern Europe.
Guy Kesteven is a very well renowned UK bike-tester on YT. He has recently done a series of tire tests for XC. Its well worth the time.
Correct tire pressure is also plays a signinficant part.
I have always found the Specialized Fast Tracks to have better grip on wet roots and rocks than what one would expect. There is something about those small knobs with sipings combined with the T7 rubber. After a season on Rekon Race I am looking forward to trying FT again. I will miss the Size/volume of the RR though.. Conditions in my part of scandinavia does have some similarities with the pnw, only less loam and more roots.
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This. 
Unweight the front tire, commit to your line. As soon as the front wheel is on something solid, unweight the back. If it’s over your ability, run it. Not worth a broken clavicle.
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@XCO_mtb @Bdchunk @stefanf @natron5000
Thanks all! Good advice!
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Ok, I’ve finally got some non paywalled 29 inch vs 32 inch Aspen results on my regular courses that give some context to other tires.
For MTB use, there is more to the story obviously and I’m working on the rest
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I’m surprised that no one here is mentioning the WTB Macro and Peacekeeper, both in 120 TPI.
I’ve been riding these for a while now with the 120 TPI Macro on the rear and the 120 TPI Peacekeeper on the front. These are my favorite tyres so far.
In the short time I’ve been riding these I’ve set more PRs than I did on the Continental RaceKing 2.2, the Dubnital 2.4 Race Rapid rear with Trinotal 2.4 Race Rapid front, the same Dubnital with Magnotal front, Peyote 2.4 Race front and rear, Aspen ST 170 front and rear, Pirelli XC RC 2.4 front and rear, Hutchinson Python Race 2.4 front and rear, Kenda Rush 2.4, Thunder Burt rear with Rick front, Rick/Rick 2.4, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few.
So more PRs, even though I’ve ridden all the tyres mentioned above for longer. They’re very comfortable—729g for the Macro on the rear and 736g for the Peacekeeper on the front—so nice and light, with very confidence-inspiring cornering. Too many advantages to list.
Honestly, give the WTB 120 TPI a try—you won’t be disappointed.
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Oh, and I forgot to mention that both are true 2.4-inch tyres—actually a bit more than that.
Both the Macro and the Peacekeeper measure 62.2 mm wide at 18/19 psi on 30 mm internal width rims.
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How are the knobs holding up? I read some riders had issues with durability due to chunks getting taken out of the knobs.
WTB has had painfully slow tires for so long, I think many of us had written them off. They must have developed a new compound if they’re competing with the top tier of XC tires? Or is it just the advantage of volume?
Hopefully John test them for us!
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I’m sorta on the hunt for new tires. Been on the Ray/Ralph combo for years and have been pretty pleased using them for racing and my daily driver in the high country of Colorado. My only gripe is the size. I don’t think they ever measured 2.35 or close to that. Do we think 2.4s of those are coming out?
Been thinking of trying the Contis but goodness gracious there are a lot of options
I think most people are finding the 2.4 Contis undersized if that’s of concern. I haven’t taken a caliper to mine, but they’re definitely narrower than other 2.4s I’ve run on the same wheels.
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