This is most important… I would rather have an extra 100ish grams of tire mass if I knew it would most likely prevent a failure during a race.
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Just to follow up I grabbed some quick pics of the tires.
I find the above photo very interesting because it is showing how much the rear is taking on my “leans” for steering. I am dragging the logos off the side of the tire. I ride this bike with intent or expectation that the rear is going to slide/skid in very aggressive corners or downhills. This rear tire is typically ran at 23psi and has never seen less than 20.5psi.
I think its never a bad idea to show stuff while talking about it! These are a little deeper than I remembered! I most likely will start with fresh tires next season but these are taking a real beating. I am 200+lbs!
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You know how many miles you have on these? Rough estimation is fine.
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That is a tough one!
Looking at my activities with quick math I would say 580-700 miles (933-1126km) and of that milage there is probably around 80-90 miles of road riding. 80% of the rest of the riding on my home trails is dirt with some sand mixed in it (not sandy enough to call it sandy, not dirty enough to call it primarily dirt).
Since you made me think about this - I would say I got my money out of them. This probably explains some shifting whoas I started having about a week ago. The cassette is about 3-4 seasons old!
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Interesting. I just checked and mine has about 600 miles or 960 km on it, so pretty close.
These are the Ground flavor and my guesstimate is 20% of those miles are asphalt, 20% fire roads, 20% jeep roads, 20% dirt trails, and 20% unmaintained jeep roads with lots of ruts, loose rock and roots. A good portion of the terrain is steep and so on downhills it takes a beating.
I weight about 150 lb or 68 kg, but don’t know the “whole system” weight. I run them at 20.5-21 psi.
No issues with flats. I did have to add sealant because of a slow leak that sealed after inflating twice during a ride (no apparent cause), and again last week (I think), as it was loosing air from the bead. I did have to take the wheel off and give it good shake but now it’s all good.
Anyways, it’s pretty clear that mine has worn out a lot faster than yours. Maybe the asphalt and steep descents. Personally I don’t find it to be fast compared to the Aspen it replaced, but I might be wrong. It will try to install a new Aspen without changing anything else to see if there is a difference in speed.
Thanks for your reply. It is pretty clear we’ve had very different experiences.
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Those bad boys are WORE OUT!
Maybe it has to do with a lot of steep downhill surfaces where the tire is dragging/skidding. I don’t come across that much, all the steep stuff is dirt/sand for me. This is interesting, you are significantly lighter than I am so this is interesting.
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Is that front or rear? Looks like rear. Can you post a pic of your front, which presumably wasn’t skidded much / at all?
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You are right, that is my rear tire. I could post a pic of the front tire, but that one is 2+ years old so it wouldn’t be illustrative. Also, it’s a different tire. A Pirelli Scorpion XC M. Love that tire.
I do want to mention: this R Ralph was installed 3-3.5 months ago. The Aspen it replaced was on the bike for 11 months under very similar riding conditions, though I don’t have to mileage at hand.
I wonder if I got a dud or, more likely, a post-COVID anomaly or something.
150lbs and 20+ psi? I used to do that…. Until I got tired of crashing!
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Really? Interesting.
What would be more reasonable? I’ve checked few calculators online a they’re all over the place. My wheels have a 25mm IW.
Funny that you say that. When the bead was loosing air I thought I barely hit the rim on the last technical descent on my way home. As soon as I arrived I measured the tire pressure and it was 19 psi. Maybe it just felt different than I am used to.
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I come from the old school high PSI road and bmx world so it took me awhile to understand it’s not only the tires, it’s also the tire pressures that are key. I’m a tad heavier than you and usually run 17f - 19r in faster XC races. Some of the fastest guys around run even lower (15psii). This is without inserts and on a tubeless setup.
It will feel odd and slower at first but I guarantee your times will be faster.
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I’m a big fan of Wolftooth’s.
It’s the only one that seems really close to what I’ve found on trail. For you (30 lbs of gear) it’s saying 17F/19R which seems bang on to me.
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I struggle with the Wolf Tooth Calculator, it gives me a estimate of 24.9-psi in the rear and I feel like I am all over the place when it is that high.
That is quite high. Wonder if it struggles with certain values a bit outside of the norm (I believe you mentioned you’re a bit on the higher weight side?)
Calculators are just baselines at the end of the day. I found my happy place 21R/19F before I found that WT calculator and it matched so I was happy to have something somewhat usable besides Silca which recommends 14R/13F lol.
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November BRR votes? Not seeing anything I’m keen on voting up…
I just submitted the Booster again but will likely take a few days to get added.
The Hutchinson Python 29x2.4 would be a good choice, but only has 28 days left.
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I don’t see a single MTB tire that isn’t a wasted vote yet. I’ll wait for the Booster or something similar and then throw votes behind that.
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I voted on the Hutchinson Python, keen to see the results on that one considering how well that brand has been performing lately on the tests.
Meanwhile, its just me or has the frequency of testing dropped somehow ? The queue list for testing seems to be piling up
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Hutchinson Python falls off the list and loses all votes at the end of this month unless it passes 4 tires ahead of it and moves into a winning position before then. While I wouldn’t mind voting for it, that’s feeling like a long shot. Holding onto my vote for now.
The same number of tires are tested every month. Just remember, it’s either something gets tested, or falls off the list and starts at zero unless they make it through in 3 months. That’s the whole reason coordinating voting makes sense and you don’t want to waste votes on a tire that won’t make it.
And, the Booster is back on the list at zero…
Voted for Booster.
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