Really impressed how the pros ride these crazy courses on tires like these. Shows how amazingly skilled they are!
Personally I am faster with more grip and will gladly trade some RR watts for more confidence. But my DH skills are mid-tier at best.
Remember, all of this is also the course(s) you run…
My two target events this year are Lutsen and Leadville, both 100+ mile courses, where neither are that technical, and rolling resistance is going to make the biggest difference for those two, so it’ll be the Race Kings for me, with Vittoria Airliner inserts for a little extra flat protection.
But, day-to-day, I run a 2.4" Wolfpack Speed, as it’s a much better all-around tire than the Race King.
That’s the advantage of having two wheelsets ready to go I can choose from.
If I start doing shorter courses where I need more traction, I’m sure that my outlook could change.
For all the BRR Folks, I think we need to get the Schwalbe off the board this month, and then throw our weight behind something like one of the new Vittoria or something like a Kenda Booster. Although, I’d imagine the Aspen ST ends up on the list next month too.
Indeed, BRR’s results show that rolling resistance always improves at higher tyre pressures and that is generally the opposite of what happens in real life off-road riding. I have done virtual elevation tests that show this, that reducing tyre pressure is faster, at least in the tests I’ve done.
The BRR results are the way they are because drum testing only captures the tyre hysteresis losses. Drum testing can’t measure the suspension losses (also called ‘impedance’ losses) or hysteresis losses in the ground, both of which also occur in real life off-road riding. However, tyre hysteresis losses still occur in real life, it’s just that they are also mixed together with the other losses that contribute to total rolling resistance. This means that a tyre that tests fast on the BRR drum is also likely to be fast in real life. I say ‘likely to be’ because this last point is contested by some people. There’s not a lot of evidence I’m aware of that a tyre that tests slightly faster on the drum (in BRRs results, for example) will definitely be faster in real like off-road too. Having said that, broadly speaking, a tyre that’s much faster on the drum is almost certainly going to be faster in real life.
I think this is the right approach. I agree with the latter statement but do think there is a lot of room for nuance when we are dealing with comparisons of different tires of different sizes.
Weight 770grams v 615grams for the Contis. Which is probbaly due mainly to 2.2 v 2.4 width. What about the Rolling Resistance watts though? Where did you find the info.
I am not sure if it was a rhetorical question but he uses Thunder Burt and also Conti Race Kings.
What’s the consensus on the Pirelli Scorpion XC/RC, or for that matter the whole XC line.
They missed the chance to name it the Thunder Aspen.
Joe
+1
Why are we worried about what Dylan Johnson runs? If you wanna copy the pros, copy the fastest pros. What do Keegan and nino run?
I’m always curious about new stuff, but in my experience maxxis exo far outweighs the puncture resistance of every other brand I’ve run and that’s why I stick with them, because not getting a flat will always be faster.
Just my experience. I have flatted every other brand I’ve ran, but in 5+ years running maxxis have yet to flat one. To the point where I don’t even have to ever carry CO2 or any kind of tools anymore when I ride.
My first thought seeing the Aspen ST and Peyote launches was “I wonder if this will make the Leadville tire selection any more interesting”. There’s always been endless debate about it, but IMO the clear fact based best choice for years has been Race Kings.
It’s seemed for a while now that question wouldn’t really get more interesting until the official RK 2.4 launch eventually happens.
I would really love to see tests of Mezcal and Peyote, Looking forward to the Kenda Rush testing, and I’d love to see a 2.4 Race King. I’m still not convinced any of those would be a better Leadville-specific tire though…
All you BRR folks - the Schwalbe Racing Ray is currently on the verge of getting voted in for this month, but probably about ready to get passed by a Pirelli Gravel tire. Give it a vote if you still have yours! (Would be good to throw votes behind something else next month)
Irrelevant. They get paid very well to run what they run, and have no ability to choose between brands because of their sponsorship contracts.
If your only interested in the fastest tire within the brand they’re sponsored by, then that’s about all you get out of their decisions.
DJ doesn’t have a tire sponsor and does a lot of testing to get where he is.
I’m more curious than anything why #1 and #2 ran, and won on 2.2s when the tr podcast, and Dylan Johnson always talk about how much faster 2.4s are
Dylan doesn’t say that, and he runs 2.2’s for many of the courses (e.g. Race King is only a 2.2, no 2.4)
I don’t necessarily agree with everything the TR podcast says, that’s a different story though.
That, and Keegan would likely still win on Gatorskins so it’s not very indicative of what is the best equipment.
This could be said of all the pros. All of these tires are very very fast at the end of the day and 5w isn’t gonna make or break anyone.
Also, to be fair, Jonathan has said he’s a fan of the Aspen on the TR podcast. Not sure if that’s still the case, but he’s also a pro-level descender. Go check out his times on the Powerline DH - faster than DJ and many of the LT pros, 21 seconds off Keegan 
https://www.strava.com/segments/1660937
He certainly has the ability to push a lot harder than I do, so is probably making different tire, durability, and traction decisions based on how he rides. For some people, that’s more important than utmost rolling resistance.
But 20w sure helps (10w/tire):
Is this on a drum test? Or in real life terrain with dirt and rocks?