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On-One Smorgasbord tyres
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Posted 12 years agowebsite says £19.99, but when you click the link they’re £24.99!
Posted 12 years ago
Posted 12 years agoJust fitted it to the front wheel of my full sus bike… It’s a rounder profile than you might expect.
That’s on a Mavic EN521 rim, 28mm external width and 21mm internal width. I’m used to tyres with a little more side knobble height, but I’ll give it a quick go on the front first before I try it on the rear. I’d certainly not want to put it on a narrower rim myself though, and would even consider something wider like a Flow or wider still might be ideal.
Casing is definitely a pukka Maxxis job, looks and feels to all intents and purposes just like an expensive Crossmark or Advantage or the like. Which should mean it will also run tubeless pretty well.
Tread pattern looks like it should hook up pretty well too, and be fast enough rolling. Though the proof is in the pudding of course.
Oh, and for the weight weenies… Bang on 800g on the nose. Not light, but this is more of an alternative to something like a Minion DHF or the likes than it is a Schwalbe Nobby Nic I’d say. Will report back more when I’ve ridden it.
Posted 12 years agoJust got back from my first ride using this tyre.
(photo for proof! 😉 )
Haven’t ridden it that far yet, just one ride of a couple of hours, but the Malverns is covered in pretty steep and varied surfaces. It’s a good testing ground to find a tyres weakspots.
Before I go into further detail, I have to say that the tyre is definitely tall and quite “pinched” for its size, on my 521 rim which isn’t exactly narrow it comes up narrower than a 2.25″ Maxxis Crossmark but also noticably taller. It’s not as tall and round as an old WTB 2.4″ Motoraptor for instance (if you remember those), but I usually prefer a slightly squarer tyre… That said, here’s some observations…
Pro’s
-Maxxis 60a rubber compound is grippy and predictable
-Only run on the front so far, but seems pretty quick rolling, will report back again when it’s been on the back
-Braking grip is very good, you’ll rip the valves off your inner tubes or boil your brakes before this lets go
-Very good on firm/hardpack/rocky off camber sections. There’s a section on a trail I ride that I’ve only ever cleared once before (Black Chili Rubber Queen up front), this stuck to it like a fly to fly paper, and I’ve only got the single compound 60a tyreCons
-There is no edge bite in softer ground. And I mean none. The side knobbles are too shallow for any meaningful grip when run on the front if the terrain you ride requires any decent edge bite. Not an issue on hard/rocky terrain (where the tyre seems to excel), but for me I found whenever I was on softer dirt or even in some mud, the front end of the bike just pushed on badly.
-It’s tall and round compared to most 2.25″ tyres. I would recommend running these on very wide rims. My Mavic 521’s would probably be a minimum, but I’m betting these things would be very good on something like a Velocity P35. You won’t want to run them on a Mavic 717!!!
-It squirms a bit, partly cos it’s tall. It feels like adding half an inch or so extra to your suspension (so it might well make a very good rear tyre on a hardtail), but along with the fact it doesn’t bite well in softer terrain, I found it hard to have any confidence in it unless on rock or hardpack (where it really does bite).I don’t know what the brief was when designing this tyre, and I’d be interested to know what rims the test riders were riding them on (I expect they were wide), but it seems to me the tyre has been designed for all out grip on very firm surfaces and as such has lost out quite a bit on softer surfaces. I think if you ride mainly trail centres, or places like the Peaks, or basically anywhere where you don’t really need edge bite from a tyre (or where tall edge knobbles are a disadvantage not an advantage), you’ll love these tyres. It’s definitely not as good as many for softer terrain though.
Will probably try it on the back of my hardtail rather than my full sus bike, I suspect it would suit quite well there given it seems to grip very well in a straight line (traction and braking), and the lack of edge bite will be less of a disadvantage there, but the tall round profile will also add a bit of comfort.
I know I’ve only done one ride but purposefully took it on a whole selection of different terrain, and down some very steep technical sections. I’m notoriously fussy about tyres, and have ridden so many of the bloody things over the years trying to find the perfect ones. All the above said, they’re cracking value for the quality compared to other makes, and if you ride mainly hardpacked and rocky places and have wide rims on your bike, you will swear by them!
For reference, my default front tyre these days is normally a 2.2″ Black Chili Rubber Queen which just seems to grip on everything I throw at it, though often run a 2.25″ Michelin WildRock’r (HUGE for a 2.25, and Big edge knobs) up front on my full sus bike which doesn’t grip as well on the hardpack and rocks, but bites much better in the softer conditions.
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