I’ve had a 2.1″ Ground Control on my rear wheel for three rides.

I’ve had it unseat from the rim (XT UST rims) and puncture twice.
One puncture was a hole in the centre of the carcass the wouldn’t seal. The next puncture was the same ride when the tube I put in punctured.

Anyone have any experience with these tyres being a bit fragile?

I’m not particularly puncture prone. I was running a UST Nevegal on the rear until it wore out and I had no issues previously.

Am I just expecting too much from a lightish tyre?

Not this one specifically, but more generally with the Specialized 2bliss tyres (Captain, Storm Control). I quite like the tyres, especially the price and live in the flat sandy South Coast of the UK, however if I lived somewhere with a few more rocks (I wish) then i’d have to think twice about these as a tyre choice.

Have had no such problems with the 2.3″ Eskars. Have just bought a pair of GCs myself so will report back if I have any issues.

Have used a lot of te Spesh tyres. Both control and the lighter sworks
And have had very few issues with them and far less then I get with the rocket rons on my light weight bike

But I also live in an area that more woodland trials and less rocks

They are pretty big for their given size (or measured accurately) & bloody light. A lot of surface area to cover.

My experience is more at the Eskar 2Bliss, and I wouldn’t run it anywhere really rocky, it’s far too flimsy.

2bliss tyres vary, but the more XC they are, the thinner and lighter they are. So the Clutch, frinstance, is very tough, and the Eskar’s sort of middling- tough enough for most things but a little bit prone to sharp things.

Which variant of the GC is it? The lightest ones are pretty light, but there’s an armadillo too, possibly an sworks? The standard one is supposed to have the same sidewall protection as the Eskar I think. (generally if there’s an Armadillo version it means the standard one is not massively tough)

UST nevegal is a pretty tough tyre.

Control or S-works version?

I have some 29er Control ones but not tried them out yet,

I also used to run UST Nevegals which are like leather compared to all the Spesh tyres I have tried, expect the new Purgatory which is pretty thick.

I’ve been running S-Works GC’s on my 29’er for over a year now, he side wall is starting to wear on the rear one but thats it.

I’ve riden them in the Peaks, raced them in Wales and Lee Quary and generally thrashed them round woods & trails with no issues.

I’ve also been running Control Purgatory / Captain on my 26’er FS with no issues at all, althought I’ve just swapped the Captain for a Storm as they’re not that good in mud & gloop

I have been running a 29×2.1 S-Works Ground Control on the rear of my bike for the past few rides. I have covered about 100miles so not a great test so far, but I have been pleased with it. Very easy to inflate, sealed straight away, although did have a couple of tiny pin holes in one of the sidewalls. It has stayed well seated on the rim (Chinese carbon) and no punctures or rips so far. The sidewalls appear to be tougher than the equivalent Schwalbe tubeless ready tyre.

I’ve a few specialized tyres now. My favourite summer combo is Purgatory up front and a Ground Control on the rear. However I have had problems with split tyre walls on the Captain Control and Renegade S-Works. On Saturday I was riding up a rocky fire road in the Austrian Alps and I split the sidewall of a Renegade S-Works. I have now promised never to buy an S-Works XC type tyre again.

Been using Captain and Fast Trak 2bliss Sworks for a while and I like them but I do have sealing issues occasionally. I had unseating issues on the first ride but that was me being a tubeless newby.

Cheers guys

It was / is an S-works Ground Control

Two punctures on Saturday at Innerleithen, both on rocky sections. The second was at the top of Caddon Bank and resulted in a long walk down the trail.

In fairness its pretty light and it worked straight away as a tubeless tyre – straight up with a track pump so no compleaints there.

I’m probably expecting a but much from such a lightweight tyre then.

Replacement UST Nobby Nic is on the way hopefully it will prove a bit tougher

S-works is their lightest, raciest variant. So yep, wrong tool for the job unfortunately. Though they could be clearer about that IMO.

Eskar sidewalls cut easily ime.
Appart from that (for the the rear only) I quite like them.