Given I’m going to get the wheels on my full-susser rebuilt, I thought I’d treat myself to a pair of light and fast tyres for the summer.

As it’s an old school 26″ wheeled dinosaur, with tubes, the GEAX tyres at on-one look particulary appealing at £8-10 each!

So what are peoples recommendations for general riding along, with an odd trip to the peaks?

The choice seems to be between Mezcall II, Barro, AKA and Sagura.

Cheers,
Keith

i had a saguaro on the back of my xc bike, and it was a bloody marvelous tyre… genuine all conditions type beasty…. can’t recommend it highly enough

had a 2.2 ardent up front, was a fantastic pairing

I asked about this last year, I was torn between Barro mountain or Saguaro. There were a lot of recommendations for Saguaros, but the consensus was that they are no good in mud.

I opted for Barro mountain as the tread was deeper, and I like them. I might get a Saguaro for the rear soon. Also on a 26″ 100mm hardtail.

you see, i was told the same about the “sag” in mud, and yet, i never had a problem, yes they weren’t “perfect”, but the weren’t terrible either… i even switched to conti mud kings after being scoffed at on a shop ride by several friends. i hated them, and switched back the “sag”.

i was on a 29er btw, would that make a huge difference? i don’t think it would…

Using the saguaro on the rear of my 650, great tyre, bought mine for a race in RSA and was very impressed on dry tracks, not realy had any issues with it here

I ran a set of the Mezcall’s (in white no less…) and they were RAPID.
Cornering was pretty poor if it was damp, but on dry / dusty / summer trails they were awesome. If they did a 9er version I’d be all over them for summer racing.

Saguaro’s are great tyres, similar to a Crossmark but tougher (in TNT version).
The TNT version is very tight to get on the rim though.

I just bought some AKA TNT’s, I haven’t ridden them properly yet but they went up tubless like a dream using gorilla tape, and Mavic EN521 rims. First time i’d tried tubeless as well. Tyres might be shit but I’m well impressed at how they inflated/seated with just a Joe Blow track pump.

They are a bargain. I have some TNT versions (can’t remember which specifically) and they are tough, went up tubeless no problem and were very airtight. Downsides are they were a total pig to get on Stans Crest 26″ rims and heavy. Can’t remember the weights but in 26″ by 2.3 I think it was around the 850g to 950g mark. I’d probably give the non TNT versions a go if I ever need more 26″ tyres

Just remembered I also have some non TNT 650b Geax Sturdys on another bike. They have also been excellent value for money, no problem mounting on Light Bicycle 38mm rims and easy tubeless. Only problem I’ve had is the 38mm LB rims splay them so much I had a couple of slices in the sidewalls on a trip to rocky Spain which I blame on the sidewall sticking out further than the tread. Fixed with sticky worms and will be back in use this summer.

I’ve tried quite a few and as above the Saguaros are the stand out tyre. I run a non TNT one tubeless on the front with a Mezcal II on the back and not had a puncture yet. The Mezcal works well as a fast summer tyre, it slides all over the place in the slick though but it’s in some way predictable.

Also tried the Gomas which disappointed me, tends to slide on any kind of moisture on stones. The AKA seems just a heavier, more draggy Saguaro so I don’t see the point. The Datura is a great mud tyre, especially in the ‘light’ version. All go up tubeless well, though some needed a cola bottle compressor.

I use an AKA up front on races with a lot of hardpack or any surface that has the potential to be loose where the tread won’t pick up anything and hold it. On Crests (29er) the profile is nice and round so great levels of grip all round the carcass and very predictable as well as fast. I run a Saguaro on the back almost exclusively. Have been tempted with a mezcal.

Have two Vittoria Barzo’s now to fit on the XC race bike. 606g each though so heftier than a racy ralph or ron, but the real light schwalbes are paper thin and a DNF waiting to happen on the majority of the irish XC race courses.

I have the Saguros in 26″ on my full sus, bought cheap from O-O.

They’re really pretty good. Definitely biased towards dry / hardpack trails but not disgraceful in a bit of mud. I wouldn’t fancy them for gnarly steep stuff in mud but for general riding they’re hard to fault. Hard wearing as well.

I use saguaro on my old 26″ xc in the summer and sturdys in the winter. Both great tyres. Better than the specialized purgatorys I’m using on the new bike…

AKA’s on my Blue Pig.

Edit: Give up!!

Currently (in the peaks/muddy Sheffield singletrack) running a Barro mountain on the rear and a Datura on the front. Nice combo, plenty of grip, back lets go first. Seem to roll pretty well for such nobbly tyres too.

When the weather’s better, I’ll leave the Barro on the rear and pair it up with something wider on the front.

Got sags in 29 and 26 flavour. Nice light fast tyre, decent grip in the dry and not completely awful in mud. 29er seems better in mud but it may just be that I don’t try to rag that bike around so much in the slop so haven’t noticed their shortcomings.

Ron/ralph.. But that doesn’t fall into the cheap category!

AKA’s a great IMO.

Even ran the 29er TNT on the rear of my full sus in the peaks in summer.