Back at the turn of the century (now there’s a thing to say…) Tioga was big in the world of mountain bike tyres, with treads like the Factory XC 1.95 and its MASSIVE downhill tyres (some up to 2.5 inches!) being very popular. Then it all went a bit quiet for a long while, but now Tioga is back in the game with a pioneering front-specific tyre, the Edge 22, the likes of which, we’ve not seen before.
What is a nacihom?
The new Edge 22 is a dramatic departure from other front-only tyres. These usually have a collection of centre-based knobs to keep things rolling swiftly, or they feature toothy knobs for braking grip. Tioga’s Edge 22 is different in that it doesn’t actually have ANY centre knobs. there’s a big, empty channel instead.
Where are the knobs?
Tioga has done this on the Edge 22 in order to use the inner edge of its mid knobs as cornering knobs too. As the bike leans, the mid knobs are immediately in contact with the ground and biting in, as this handy set of diagrams show. As the lean angle increases, the outer knobs start to become involved, until at extremes, you’re only on the edge knobs.
We’ve had a tyre (where’s the innovative rear tyre, Tioga?) for a while and we’ll be bringing you a review shortly. First impressions, though, are that there’s certainly something to it. The tyre speeds along even without centre knobs, and cornering traction feels good. After a couple more thunderstorms, we’ll get it on some looser terrain to see what the dynamic response is like.
Tioga is going to be running the Edge 22 in two different casing options: Magnum120 and FlexGrid60.
Magnum120 is a lightweight 120 TPI carcass reinforced with a thin bead-to-bead protection layer covering the sidewalls and under the tread. FlexGrid60 is a more robust 60 TPI casing with a thicker cut and abrasion protection inserted within its sidewalls. Both will have Synergy Dual Compound Rubber with softer durometer on the sides for better conformity and harder in the centre for lower rolling resistance.
The tyre itself will come in both of the sizes (sorry 26ers!) and in a uniform 2.50in. Our test tyre looks pretty chunky and we’ve measured the tyre to be 2.5in across the carcass, so with the outside knobs, it’s more like a 2.6 or 2.7in tread. It’s certainly a beefy tyre. We forgot to weigh it before installing it, but Tioga is aiming for 1kg for the FlexGrid 60 casing on a 27.5in and a little less for the Magnum 120 casing.
Prices are said to be competitive with other big brand tyre companies and we’re hoping to see the Edge 22 in the UK by the late summer. It’ll be distributed by Ison Distribution.
And because it’s now a new century (OK, a while ago…) there’s a natty video to explain it all for you.
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I like the look of that, makes sense too. Is there any reason why it couldn’t be used on the back too?
In fact looking close up at the vid and the back tyres look similar and are branded Tioga.
@1m 25s that rear looks different