For racing specifically, tubeless and theoretically "3 season"
?
Why?
Cost.
Buy Schwalbe from German sites. CHeaper than anything else.
A bit cheaper here: http://www.acycles.co.uk/nos-marques/schwalbe-29.html?order=&limit=16&page=3
honourablegeorge - MemberBuy Schwalbe from German sites. CHeaper than anything else
But don't at the moment - massive postal strike, ordered a couple of tyres for next weekend about a week or so ago and they are still sitting in Germany. ended up just ordering from nextdaytyres.co.uk, order 4pm friday, email to say posted 4.15, arrived 10am Sat 🙂
Geax worked really well for me, Aka and Saguaro front and back. Now they're re-branded as Vitoria they can be found pretty cheaply.
Conti X-King and Maxxis Ikon (although the Ikon is expensive).
I've got a couple of Vittoria Peyote's on the bike at moment, they're pretty good actually, feel quick enough but the best thing is how predictable they are. Proper Minion style slide to grip to slide, not been dumped on my arse yet!
They're in the same league of fragile as S-Works tyres. Recently lent a wheel with a Ralph on (rear/tubeless) I punctured the ****er within 5 minutes and was seriously unimpressed with how baggy it was on the rim, not sure I'd have felt confident on it tubeless if I'd have known.
Just put the Vittoria's on my new L/B carbonz with Scwalbe rim strips, straight up no problem and holding air, they're not the tubeless specific either, nicely tight on rims with a good pop into the bead bed.
Yet to ride 'em tubeless though.
In my opinion, a good like-for-like alternative would be something for a tenner each from Halfords.
Bonty XR2's and 3's
Maybe I was a bit hasty. I'm currently running a very worn Ralph Performance DC 2.25 rear and Ron 2.25 front.
With my mud issues yesterday I'm going to bin the Ralph for Autumn & the Bonty 24 and move the Ron to the rear. I'm frustrated by the fact that I've had to pay Next Day Tyres £44 for an EVO Ron snakeskin seemingly the last one in the world available before August and at the same time a Performance DC 2.1 Ron non "lite skin" appears not to exist.
I guess thems the brakes.
But don't at the moment - massive postal strike,
wondered why my DPD orders from Germany were taking a while
I'm currently running Ralph 2.4 / 2.25 - These replaced Geax Barro 2.0's and they were great tyres - really cheap - low rolling resistance - great tubeless and came up really big considering they were only "2.0" ..
Not sure whether the xking is as fast as a ralph but I prefer everything else about it, personally. Specialized Captain's a good one, definitely slower than a ralph but quite a lot more grippy especially in the damp
Currently trying these on my bike, needed a tyre that would fit the limited rear space on my T129. Very good so far, built robustly weigh just over 600g. Set up tubeless very easily. Only negative is they are a touch narrow more like 2.1 than 2.2. Got mine from Ribble for 25.50 each which was another positive for me. The xtrac rolls particularly well.
http://twentynineinches.com/2013/11/06/vredestein-black-panther-xtrac-xtreme-tires-quick-review/
Not sure whether the xking is as fast as a ralph but I prefer everything else about it, personally. Specialized Captain's a good one, definitely slower than a ralph but quite a lot more grippy especially in the damp
X-king is more like a ron I think?
I switched from x-king rear to ralph rear and felt the ralph faster and no less grippy - but I switched to tubeless at the same time