That’s funny, I was volunteering at the expo and helped the conti folks set up their both. And the first thing I said/asked the guy was when they were releasing a 2.4 race king. He told me “soon”, but maybe he meant a suitable replacement for the race king in 2.4 or maybe I misunderstood him. Maybe it’s a “Super Race King”. Or maybe he is so sick of answering that question that he just wanted to move on.
Yeah Hundo. I ran Syerra as a front last year at Hundo and the prior model Forekaster the year before I think. I ran F/R Barzo at Breck last year and thought it was fine, or good enough.
Today was mostly that I crashed, got pretty banged up and twitchy, which made me crash again. Snowball effect. Still, I’d like to give something else a shot just to shake it up.
I don’t care what they call it - same or better compound that’s still fast rolling with the same good puncture resistance, just in a 2.4"
If they go and mess up a good thing we’re all going to be pretty pissed after all the waiting though 
What do you think about Ground Control in the rear as well? Too draggy? The T7 grid are on sale for $40 right now so getting 2 for less than a single Maxxis tire is appealing.
I’d say depends where you are riding and how ok you are with some slipping.
If you think youll frequently be riding/racing in wet conditions, the ground controls are a great balance. I rode front and back ground controls all winter in PNW slop, and felt quite confident in the traction. If was racing in rainy/wet conditions in the summer I would run them as well. Last year I did a super wet race in whistler and I saw a few people on that setup, and they seemed to be doing much better on the conditions than the more xc tires.
I find the ground controls are really good in the wet, but don’t notice the grip difference as much in the dry. So if you’re somewhere with typically dry conditions, or just don’t ride in the wet often, they are probably too draggy for a pretty small grip benefit.
I agree that Buff Creek can be really tough to pick a good tire. I’ve run dual Rekon Races both years I have done the event and they have been great. I think that the right air pressure is more important than tread for this type of super loose kitty litter type of terrain. The race is so long that a fast rolling tire is key for the Hundo
Figured I’d come back and update. Installed Racing Ray / Ralph on 25mm IW rims. Pressured them up and left them in the hot sun at 40 psi for a couple hours, after one “Stretch” the Ray was right at 2.35", the Ralph 2.32" ish.
You might think twice about getting the Grid casing ground control, extremely robust and you’ll probably never flat, but I find the tire nearly impossible to mount and it gets a firmer ride.
I recently got a 2nd wheelset and I plan to use my old set as more training wheels on chunkier terrain. The Ground Controls were so cheap I picked up the set in that T7 grid to try on the training wheelset where speed isn’t a priority.
For my main wheelset I decided to stop being a contrarian and try what seemingly the other 95% of people ride at the type of events I do in Colorado, a Rekon/Rekon Race. For the Rekon Race I did 2.4 WT with MaxxSpeed 120 TPI, for the Rekon up front I did 2.4 WT 3C but the only 120 TPI version I could find was with the new EXO+ casing which I assume is slow.
So a bold move for an XC tire thread to be moving to heavy slow tires in comparison to what I’ve been riding for years but wanted to try optimizing more for grip and fun than speed based on my current priorities
In that case I think they are perfect for a 2nd wheelset. Most of the time for me I’d say they are unnecessary, but if I were to travel and do harder rougher trails, they would be better for sure.
Ran they peyotes at a wet and slipper XCO yesterday, as the day went the wet and slippery got more tacky and stick.
Peyotes are trash in those conditions!!! They were fast and great on the section of the course that was hard packed and hero dirt, but cost me a lot of time and a crash in the slippery spots. Could feel the tire just pivot in place in the really grease spots and just completely fell out from under me when trying to lean and commit them.
They pack up really bad too…
Knew I should have changed tires, oh well, live and learn, still managed an AG 3rd place.
Awesome event. Couldn’t do it this year, but I’m definitely on minions for that one. I’ll run Aspens or for BCBR though. How’d you like the climb to Billy Epic?
It was great! 2nd year I did it and much more enjoyable with a bit better pacing. The climb to billy is brutal, but no more than I expected. Pura Vida was the unexpected brutality, man that descent is so physical it rocked me.
It’s amazing to see the skill level of the elite racers like Geoff Kabush. Obviously yeah, super fit and strong, but their descending skills are incredible. Their descents were significantly faster, and many of them were on aspens! Just unreal skill.
Eagerly waiting for the BicycleRollingResistance review of the Schwalbe Nobby Nic that is due soon. I haven’t settled on my tire combo for the Colorado Trail Race in August, but likely leaning towards the Rekon/Rekon Race as they’re just so tried and true in the durability and traction realm. I hate the idea of giving up 10+ watts over a Racing Ralph type setup, but I know the Racing Ray would leave me wanting, so could be swayed towards the Nobby Nic if it isn’t out of line in its testing.
Also, There was a quick mention of a yet to be released/named new XC tire from Vittoria in one of their recent IG videos… It was described as for “muddy conditions with an aggressive tread pattern”. With the new Peyote leaning towards “less aggressive” when compared to even the new Mezcal, it’ll be interesting to see what this other tire will look like. Likely a good replacement for the Barzo without moving all the way up to the Syerra.
Seems like the consensus in this thread is to get Super Race casing if you get Ray/Ralph, but the BicycleRollingResistance tests says Super Ground tested faster and closes out their review with:
If you’re interested in fast Schwalbe mountain bike tires, we recommend the Super Ground casing over the Super Race casing with the same compound.
Seems a bit counterintuitive?
I think the super race is softer than Super Ground
First off, you’re insane for doing CTR but more power to you, I wish I had balls that big. I’m sure that the guys racing at the pointy end are looking for something fast rolling, but IMO if I was going to be riding at night / and or sleep deprived across vast unsupported differences I’d suck it up and go with something you know that is durable.
That said, having just mounted Rekon/Rekon Race I regret the decision… purely because it was dumb given I have 2 wheel sets and had intended one to be for faster conditions and the other for burlier. Now I have Ground Controls on 1 and Rekon/RR on the other and there’s not enough differentiation. The Rekon/RR are grippy, but I can clearly feel the weight increase over my previous tires. I’m going to keep the Ground Control on my spare / training wheels, but pop off the Rekons and keep them around for after the Ground Controls wear out, then give Ray/Ralph a shot on my racier wheels as I should have from the start. Oh well.
@tgarson … It is a bit of a ridiculous undertaking, but kind of the next step for me after a couple successful seasons at other races. I’ll be one of the guys at the pointy end, amongst a handful of other really strong guys with some big accomplishments in their past. I’m certainly not underestimating the route, and know its as much a hiking race as it is a bike race…
I’ve tended towards your line of thinking in leaning towards a bit burlier tire in lieu of some speed, and it really has done well for me in the last two years(over 1,500 miles of off-road racing and zero punctures). But with that said, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m pretty “easy” on my tires. Full disclosure, in ten years of riding tubeless MTB and Gravel, I’ve never plugged a tire…insert touch wood. So, I’m willing to push that realm a bit in search of some obvious savings(weight and RR potentially). In fact, despite how everyone speaks of the Race King as a rather fragile tire, it was my choice for lasts month’s Pinyons & Pines. A gamble, but seeing as it was a “B” race for me, I wanted to experiment a bit. Over 60 miles of pretty infamously rough and rocky AZT was included in this years route(30 of which I rode at night), and without adding inserts or bumping my pressure beyond my normal values(18/19) I had no issues. Honestly if they made a 2.4 version, I’d be hard pressed to look past it. Zero experience with the Cross King or Mountain King, but they don’t seem as well regarded.
I will admittedly hedge my bets a bit in my search, by sticking to one of the three brands that I’ve had luck with; being Conti, Schwalbe, and Vittoria. At this moment, I’m thinking I’ll order the Vittoria Syerra 2.4’s, and a Schwalbe Will/Ralph 2.35 setup.
I know Conti has a “follow up” tire in the works, rather than simply a larger Race King. Whether or not that is what we want is yet to be determined, and likely still a year out at the rate things in the industry move, unless there’s a little nudge from the Olympics.
I’m signed up for Lutsen this weekend. And with a ton of mud, and recovering from flooding last weekend, regrading in spots, I think I’m going to give the 2.35 Ray/Ralph a try over the Race King for just a little more volume. (For those of you who don’t know the race, there’s a ton of fast gravel and pace-lining too, so rolling resistance matters and don’t want to go too aggressive, there will just be a whole bunch of brief muddy spots and puddles from 6-18" deep)