I could see that being an issue for sure, perhaps also due to top fuel vs fuel ex geometries and efficiency too, but for my trail bike I prefer the confidence of grip since I can overcome a lot of the rolling resistance on my own. I asked one of my racer friends about this and he used to have a 2017 fuel ex and currently has an older Superfly FS (old race bike) and a Spesh Epic (new race bike) and he said at our local flowy park the current bikes are about 4 minutes faster than the fuel ex on a 45 minute lap. That’s definitely considerable for a race, but I really love my FEX and when I get up there into the top 1-5% on segments it makes me feel extra good doing it with a heavier less racy bike, like I really earned it because of me and not the equiptment
Contemplating switching to these from my Rekon Race / Aspen combo. Let us know how it goes!
Installed a Rekon Race 2.4 WT 3c EXO on the rear a few weeks ago.
Coming from a 2.35 Ardent Race, The Rekon Race rolls noticeably faster and grips just as well so far.
Currently running a 2.35 Ardent Race in the front but I think I’ll swap out for a standard Rekon 2.4 since it is getting pretty dusty around these parts.
I am running LB rims with 25mm internal width and Cushcore XC. With the cushcore and ~ 21 PSI I am loving the Rekon Race as a rear tire, I think the extra volume makes a noticable difference. Still a bit skeptical about running it as a front. I may try double Rekon Race in the OZ Trails Offroad in Bentonville this October though because they would be stupid fast and have plenty of grip for less technical trails.
Anyone have experience running a 2.4 Rekon Race as a front? with Cushcore?
No doubt made for an even harder day out in Les Get for the pro Vittoria riders. Interestingly though, they still went with the Barzo rather than one of their more trail tires. I guess weight is still more important.
Did anybody else catch that video (can’t really remember where I saw it) where the Scott-SRAM team pulled out their “Severe” tire for the mud course? I wonder if that’s a code name for a market tire or something completely left to the sponsored teams.
I really enjoyed my Barzo as a rear, but a slow leak and not being able to figure out where it was coming from (not the tape or valve) had me put an ikon on last minute for a race that barely fit in my Spark.
I have a Mezcal showing up today hopefully that will replace the ikon. I’m still looking for the puncture on the barzo to plug, but can’t find it.
I think they maybe were making a gamble that the rain wasn’t going to be as intense. The course deteriorated fast once it started raining during the womens race and at that point, not much time to change tires if you didn’t have a set already mounted up.
I doubt that they had a set of Agarro’s mounted up and even then, that’s about 600g of extra tire which is a tough sell from a time tradeoff perspective on the climbs.
How much rolling resistance improvement are we talking about if I were to move a Maxxis Aspen WT 2.4" from a 24mm internal width wheel to a 30mm internal width wheel?
Is there any RR difference or is the advantage primarily in traction?
Anyone have data on how this might change from tire to tire when swapping rim widths?
This year I’ve been running the 2.4" rekon race front and rear. I like the setup so far and don’t feel limited by the rekon race up front. I think it corners well and I feel confident with it. It also held up well in the rocks at the Mohican MTB race.
Finally got around to installing this Ikon 2.6 - I’ll measure it later but it’s not a true 2.6 (go figure) but I’ll report back after riding it (it’s up front). Historically the Ikon as a front (race) tire was adequate but probably not my favorite for control.
I have a bigger bike on the way soon so it was time to XC the Ripley again. Heck, I might even race it later this month.
How long are you riding your XC race tires or what signs are you looking for before switching?
My Rekon Race now have 800 mi of mostly Colorado trails (so lots of rocky stuff) - I think they’re still performing fine, but a) I’m not really experienced enough to tell and b) don’t want to push them to failure, as I have a lot of races coming up and don’t want to risk a puncture there.
Got a set of Rekon Race/Aspen ready, but since these cost you $150+ combined, I don’t feel like wasting my tires before I have to.
hello, some of you have been able to test the new specialized tires? the renegade seems to be the old fast track and the new fast track seems to be more aggressive.
The new Renegade looks a lot like the old Renegade. But you’re right, the new Fast Trak looks like it would handle loose conditions better than the old Fast Trak.
I use the Forekaster front and rear through the UK winter and they coped very well.
As a counter to that, I just raced my Barzo/Mezcal combo in a pretty muddy marathon on Sunday and I didn’t think they were that bad. Certainly no worse than the Racing Ray/Ralph combo I had on before. The Vittoria set up does seem slightly slower however, so I’m tempted to put another Mezcal on the front for dry days.
Was this the Vittoria Marathon at Pippingford? If sos I raced with Barzo/Barzo so am glad to hear that a mezcal held out ok, there were some pretty bad sections.
The weekend prior I’d done a 5hr wet forest singletrack ride on a Mezcal and I was surprised at the grip I was getting.
It was yes. I was pleasantly surprised by the Mezcal, as I thought it would pack up. However, I managed to get a decent level of grip out of it on the slick, rooty climbs, as well as that very muddy section before the finish line. The Barzo also held on very well and saw me through the descents with few worries. I’m impressed with them
What do you guys prefer for the super hard dirt, rocks, roots of the Mountain West… Utah Colorado etc? We don’t even have dirt here really, just rocks to ride on. I want a good hard terrain tire. My bike hasn’t hardly ever even seen a soft section of trail let alone any mud (if it’s muddy here usually the trails are closed.)
Most run aspen/aspen, ikon/ikon. I’m running fast trak and mezcal. I’m in CO in the mountains. Ride Summit, western CO, some front range.
Last year it was a Conti Cross King in the rear, XR4 in front.
This year, Racing Ralph in the rear, Nobby Nic up front. I changed mainly because of tire availability (although also wanted to try a different rear tire - I’ve popped a hole in my last two Cross Kings).
For my upcoming trip to the Pyrenees, and probably fall riding season in GJ/Fruita/Moab, I’ll probably also put a Nobby Nic on the rear.
I was thinking about the XR4 but LBS said they have like a 4 month lead time. So been looking around on Amazon or wherever for what is available.