Carson Storch poses with the anaconda that took him out of this year's Red Bull Rampage competition.
Bikes and riding styles have changed dramatically in the recent decade. Tires? Not so much. Look no further than the Maxxis Minion DHF and DHR II for proof of that. Minions have remained relatively unchanged since many riders were riding plastic tricycles. Today, improved geometry and enduro-ready suspension have bestowed super powers upon average trail riders, who now can straight-line chunder, survive jumps and maintain speeds that were once unimaginable. Tire technology, however, has fallen behind. This article explores the cost and weight penalties that modern riders shoulder in order to keep air inside their tires and their rims in one piece. It also suggests that there may be a better solution.
Frustration party: EWS racers fixing flats and damaged wheels between stages. Speeds and intensity made possible by the endurofication of the trail bike quickly eclipsed present tire technology.
What If?
Foam tire inserts, two-ply downhill tire casings, inner tubes that look like alien reproductive organs, and shock-absorbing rim liners all offer some level of additional protection and performance - which begs the question: What if you gave tire makers a performance improvement budget that included the equivalent weight and price increases of all those extras, could one of them produce the next super tire?
Shouldn't be too much of a task. Lightweight bullet-proof vests, slice-proof Kevlar gloves and chainsaw-proof pants are common items. A puncture proof tire seems like small potatoes by contrast. Cush Core inserts weigh 250 grams each. That's a lot of material to work with for a designer who was actually serious about ending pinch flats and protecting rims. Then there's the extra padding to cover the costs of those improvements. Inserts cost around $75 USD each, and the up-charge from a trail bike tire to the DH version is another 20 bucks. You can see where I'm going with this.
Apparently, Tire Brands Don't Think There's a Problem
Could tires be significantly improved? Two years ago, I initiated conversations with the major tire makers about the possibility of any new technologies, materials or construction techniques that could solve fundamental shortcomings that mountain bike riders have accepted as necessary evils. Sidewall slashes, pinch-flat shearing, bead separations, burping, bent rim flanges, and the litany of minor punctures that so often derail a ride or race. The answer then was a short-list of excuses. along with the assurance that tires are way better now than they were then. I'll paraphrase a few of them for you:
Foam tire inserts, two-ply downhill tire casings, inner tubes that look like alien reproductive organs, and shock-absorbing rim liners all offer some level of additional protection and performance - which begs the question: What if you gave tire makers a performance improvement budget that included the equivalent weight and price increases of all those extras, could one of them produce the next super tire?
 | Lightweight bullet-proof vests, slice-proof Kevlar gloves and chainsaw-proof pants are common items. A puncture-proof tire seems like small potatoes by contrast. |
Shouldn't be too much of a task. Lightweight bullet-proof vests, slice-proof Kevlar gloves and chainsaw-proof pants are common items. A puncture proof tire seems like small potatoes by contrast. Cush Core inserts weigh 250 grams each. That's a lot of material to work with for a designer who was actually serious about ending pinch flats and protecting rims. Then there's the extra padding to cover the costs of those improvements. Inserts cost around $75 USD each, and the up-charge from a trail bike tire to the DH version is another 20 bucks. You can see where I'm going with this.
It might be better if flat tires stayed on their rims.
Apparently, Tire Brands Don't Think There's a Problem
Could tires be significantly improved? Two years ago, I initiated conversations with the major tire makers about the possibility of any new technologies, materials or construction techniques that could solve fundamental shortcomings that mountain bike riders have accepted as necessary evils. Sidewall slashes, pinch-flat shearing, bead separations, burping, bent rim flanges, and the litany of minor punctures that so often derail a ride or race. The answer then was a short-list of excuses. along with the assurance that tires are way better now than they were then. I'll paraphrase a few of them for you:
| We have the technology to make a slash proof, puncture proof carcass, but it would be so expensive that nobody would buy it. |
In Support of Tire Makers...
I've visited a few tire factories and can tell you that the steps required to make a good bicycle tire are many. The process is a mixture of steampunk and rocket science. Some of the machines are automated. Others are iron monstrosities from another era.
Experience is the gold standard in a rubber factory, where chemists in white lab coats share equal status with sage factory workers in dirty overalls. "No pictures, please." Secrecy is the code, because the key ingredient of a perfect tire could be anything from a modified chain of molecules, to finely ground walnut shells, or an eight-degree angle in the casing fabric.
Welcome to heavy industry. Aromatic and hot, when the assembly line is in is full swing, wads of hot sticky stuff pop and bubble between massive rollers in the mixer; rubber and fabric are being sliced, squeezed and mated together; ribbons of tread roll overhead on pulleys towards the fabrication drums, where workers join the beads, casings and tread rubber in to a circle; then somehow, those featureless flat rolls emerge from pressurized, steaming-hot vulcanizing molds as finished tires, bristling with knobs, with all the hot patches neatly in place.
I marvel that this process can produce such tight tolerances - tires that weight within ten grams of each other and bead diameters that must be held to a millimeter. It's clear that today's tires represent an accumulation of knowledge eked from 150 years of incremental evolution.
Images from Matt Wragg's Continental factory story.
I've visited a few tire factories and can tell you that the steps required to make a good bicycle tire are many. The process is a mixture of steampunk and rocket science. Some of the machines are automated. Others are iron monstrosities from another era.
Experience is the gold standard in a rubber factory, where chemists in white lab coats share equal status with sage factory workers in dirty overalls. "No pictures, please." Secrecy is the code, because the key ingredient of a perfect tire could be anything from a modified chain of molecules, to finely ground walnut shells, or an eight-degree angle in the casing fabric.
Welcome to heavy industry. Aromatic and hot, when the assembly line is in is full swing, wads of hot sticky stuff pop and bubble between massive rollers in the mixer; rubber and fabric are being sliced, squeezed and mated together; ribbons of tread roll overhead on pulleys towards the fabrication drums, where workers join the beads, casings and tread rubber in to a circle; then somehow, those featureless flat rolls emerge from pressurized, steaming-hot vulcanizing molds as finished tires, bristling with knobs, with all the hot patches neatly in place.
I marvel that this process can produce such tight tolerances - tires that weight within ten grams of each other and bead diameters that must be held to a millimeter. It's clear that today's tires represent an accumulation of knowledge eked from 150 years of incremental evolution.
Images from Matt Wragg's Continental factory story.
| It's purely a weight game. We begin with the standard single or dual-ply casing. The rest is how much rubber and protection layers you are willing to use to armor the casing and under-tread. |
| We have the world's best racers, as well as fifty chemists on our staff testing tires and giving us feedback. If there was a better way to make one, we'd know it by now. |
Cornering skills, speed and amplitude have increased by a magnitude in less than one decade.
Why Mess With Success?
At least for now, all three of the above statements ring true. If every tire maker (actual manufacturers, like Kenda, Maxxis, Schwalbe, Conti, Vittoria & Hutchinson) shares the same construction methods and materials, if the most popular tread patterns mirror the Minion's DNA, if they're winning races, and if riders and OEM customers are buying them up as delivered, then who's going to jump at the opportunity and risk seven figures to re-invent the mountain bike tire? Given that the sport's most influential riders grew up on a diet of Minion clones, there's also a good chance that, regardless of merit, any challenge to the status quo would be summarily dismissed. So, why bother?
Three Good Reasons to Redesign Tires
1 - Keeping air inside the tire: Tubeless has been the only significant leap in tire technology since the birth of the mountain bike. To make tubeless work, however, the tire casing must be air-tight, abrasion resistant and tear proof. Strange then, that only a handful of DH-rated dual-ply tires could earn better than a C plus in any of those categories. We expect punctures, slashed casings and abrasion tears. The tube and CO2 device taped to our frames broadcast our complacency.
Punctures in the tread area are uncommon, but lighter, faster-rolling single-ply tires are prone to fatal sidewall injuries. Adding a 250-gram insert can ward off pinch flat shearing, but can't guard against rips and abrasion damage. The popular fix is to take the 300-gram weight penalty and use dual-ply (DH) tires. Four layers of rubber and nylon side-wall fabric are better than two. The downside isn't just extra weight, it's the unwanted stiffness. Conventional dual-ply construction results in six layers of fabric under the tread, which creates a harsh ride and increases the tire's rolling resistance.
The Fix: Red Bull TV offers proof enough that adding more layers of nylon and rubber has not produced tires that can hold up to today's riders. Let's ditch all the layers and the fancy breaker strips completely, then resolve the durability and puncture
The Fix: Red Bull TV offers proof enough that adding more layers of nylon and rubber has not produced tires that can hold up to today's riders. Let's ditch all the layers and the fancy breaker strips completely, then resolve the durability and puncture
The classic dual-ply DH tire casing (left) provides four layers of desirable side-wall protection, but results in six layers of unnecessary weight and stiffness under the tread. Replacing the nylon casing fabric of the single-ply tire (right) with a super-tough hybrid material could be the better solution. Vittoria images
Cush Core inserts do not interfere with the tubeless tire's suppleness and instant response to small impacts.
Smack something big, and the insert dissipates the energy of that event across a wider section of the rim, and activates the suspension sooner. Cush Core images
2 - System integration: Grab some popcorn, because we'll be watching videos to clarify the importance of the next two improvements. Let's begin with the Cush Core effect. Arguably the most effective of the present crop of foam inserts, Adam Krefting's winged insert squeezes between the walls of the tire casing at full compression, which prevents the folds from contacting each other and causing the shearing damage we call pinch flats. Another benefit is that the insert cushions impacts that would normally damage the rim.
Cush Core's video duplicates Jo Klieber's slo-mo experiments, which suggest that suspension's action could be improved by altering the compression rate of the tire.
Cush Core's most dynamic contribution, however may be its influence on the suspension's action - an effect first identified by Syntace founder Jo Klieber, who also co-designed the Schwalbe ProCore system. Watch the Cush Core video and you'll see that, upon impact, the tire nearly compresses to the rim before the suspension begins to activate. Inserts assist the process by ramping up the tire's natural spring rate as the tire fully compresses, which kicks the suspension into gear a fraction of a second sooner, providing a more seamless transition. The penalty of all that goodness is 250 grams per wheel in a place where every gram of rotating weight can be felt. Could there be a way to integrate the benefits of an insert into the design of the tire itself?
The Fix: Changing the shape of the tire where it interfaces with the rim and incorporating a slow-memory cushion could integrate some of the benefits of closed cell foam inserts while eliminating most of their weight and complexity. The concept is not a new one. A number of mountain bike tires feature cushioned bead areas, but not to the extent I am suggesting here. Look to motocross racing tires. Their designers have incorporated a shelf-type bead cushion which could serve as a starting point to explore the concept.
Unlike Cush Core, a cushion molded into the tire's bead interface could not prevent the casing folds from direct contact. That said, the presumption that the tire maker will have used a tear-proof casing fabric would negate any pinch flat issues. The built-in cushion would buffer and disperse the energy of bottom-out and near-bottoming impacts across a larger portion of the rim, increasing its survivability, and to some degree, would also function to ramp up the compression rate of the tire to activate the suspension earlier and in a more controlled manner.
3 - Address the new school riding style: Beyond speed and amplitude, fundamental changes in geometry and riding technique have placed greater demands upon the tire's edging tread. Slack head tube angles force the rear wheel to follow the front. Add that to rider-forward cockpits and suddenly we're steering much more aggressively and loading up the front tire to the degree where riders are using the handlebars to force the rear wheel to comply.
There are plenty of hooning shredits on PB to illustrate that. The more interesting change to suggest we need a tire redesign is illustrated by this video from the Les Gets World Cup DH. Watch how Amaury Pierron races most of the course point to point. He waits to pressurize each turn until he's right at the apex, boom! and then almost skims the surface to the next corner.
The Fix: No secret. Tire designs that edge extremely well are quickly rising to prominence. Schwalbe's Magic Mary ruled supreme until competitors caught on. Maxxis' Assegai was heckled when it arrived, but nobody is laughing at it now. Take it to the next level. The unicorn that we need to progress now is a tire with crazy edging grip, but rolls fast and pedals efficiently when you stand it up. One suggestion is to ditch the six-layer crown casing for a more flexible crown tread. Another idea is to abandon the present light-bulb tire profile (which does not flex uniformly and requires a lot of reinforcement to stabilize it laterally) and try a lower profile with a more hemispherical shape.
It's not a stretch. MX front tires (front tires are always coasting, so the technology applies) are nearly hemispherical, assisted by the wider stance of their shouldered bead profiles. Back to cycling, road racing clinchers mounted to wider rims also create a near-hemispherical arc and roll significantly faster over rough pavement - and with more stability in high-pressure turns. May be worth a look.
Moments like these: Elliott Heap launches over the boulders at the Northstar EWS near Lake Tahoe, California.
How Much Will this Thing Cost?
Expensive, but not out of reach for enthusiast and elite-level riders. If such a tire debuted on PB today, it's doubtful that you'd be able to buy a pair for one or two years at any price. High development costs and lengthy timeframes are the norm for truly innovative tire concepts. Rubber is picky about the materials it will bond with, so selecting and proving a suitable super-fabric would require much laboratory time. Any type of stepped and cushioned bead would need to integrate with existing tubeless rims, or possibly require a modified rim with a locking bead. Sussing out the finer details of a high performance tire like this would be a racers-only work in progress until the patents were secured and the tire was earning podiums.
Thibaut Daprela shows how it's done on the Andorra World Cup track. Today's tires may have pervasive issues, but they're pretty darn good.
Regardless of the cost to develop such a tire, its MSRP, weight and wear would have to reflect those of its conventional competitors. My guess is that number would hover close to $125 USD initially for the halo racing version, with more affordable models filling in later as OEMs put pressure on the manufacturer. That said, I'd still expect at least a 25-percent upcharge from existing premium tires.
The real value, beyond the promise of next-level cornering and survivability, would be additional cost and weight offsets due to the fact that you would not need to purchase inserts, nor bear the burden of riding a quarter inch thick rubber donut emblazoned with a DH hot patch to ensure you'll make it to the bottom of your next gravity run. And there's also the assurance that you'd be able to ride them until the fabric was showing. Realistically, I'd estimate the weight to split the difference between a sturdy trail-rated single-ply tire and a DH-rated dual-ply model. So, the target would be a DH/enduro race-winning tire that costs $125 USD and weighs 1000 grams.
Where Do We Go From Here?
I don't pretend to be a tire designer, but like you, I ride, so I feel I have a stake in the game. I also believe that it doesn't help to complain about the status quo unless you can suggest a different option. That's what this story was about - starting a dialogue that, hopefully, will inspire meaningful improvements.
This rekindling of the tire debate was inspired while riding, where I was pondering the recent leap in trail bike performance. Trail bikes evolved from cross-country, so it took 30 years of reluctant incremental evolution to get to 150 millimeters of travel and a head angle slacker than 69 degrees. Somewhere around that point, probably inspired by rudimentary enduro racing, downhillers started riding trail bikes en-masse.
It was gravity riders who wrestled the trail bike away from the stodgy XC mindset and magnetized its development to DH. Why not kick the head angle out to 65 degrees? Why not add 100mm to the reach? Why not pedal around with a coil shock? Why not ride a 180mm fork? Why not put dropper posts on everything that has knobby tires?
For a while, everything seemed possible. An average trail bike today is mental compared to a decade ago. Even pro XC racing benefitted from the influx of brash ideas. How then, did tire design miss that boat? Perhaps downhillers couldn't imagine a better tire could possibly exist. Bottom line: we'll never know how much faster or how much more fun a break-through tire design could be until someone makes one. So, the question is: "Why not?"
I don't pretend to be a tire designer, but like you, I ride, so I feel I have a stake in the game. I also believe that it doesn't help to complain about the status quo unless you can suggest a different option. That's what this story was about - starting a dialogue that, hopefully, will inspire meaningful improvements.
This rekindling of the tire debate was inspired while riding, where I was pondering the recent leap in trail bike performance. Trail bikes evolved from cross-country, so it took 30 years of reluctant incremental evolution to get to 150 millimeters of travel and a head angle slacker than 69 degrees. Somewhere around that point, probably inspired by rudimentary enduro racing, downhillers started riding trail bikes en-masse.
It was gravity riders who wrestled the trail bike away from the stodgy XC mindset and magnetized its development to DH. Why not kick the head angle out to 65 degrees? Why not add 100mm to the reach? Why not pedal around with a coil shock? Why not ride a 180mm fork? Why not put dropper posts on everything that has knobby tires?
For a while, everything seemed possible. An average trail bike today is mental compared to a decade ago. Even pro XC racing benefitted from the influx of brash ideas. How then, did tire design miss that boat? Perhaps downhillers couldn't imagine a better tire could possibly exist. Bottom line: we'll never know how much faster or how much more fun a break-through tire design could be until someone makes one. So, the question is: "Why not?"
Cecile Ravanel repairs a mid-race puncture.
What it costs to keep air in your tires:
Maxxis Minion DHF 3C Maxx Grip 27.5 x 2.5
MSRP: $90
Weight: 1160g
Maxxis Minion DHR 3C Maxx Grip 27.5 x 2.5
MSRP $90
Weight: 1190g
Cush Core Pro inserts (pair, 27.5")
MSRP: $149
Weight: 250g
Stan's NoTubes Kit (pair 27.5)
MSRP: $64
Weight: apx.150g
Total MSRP: $393 USD
Total weight: 2750g
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312 Comments
Actually most of my troubles come from rim tape that gets soggy over time. Some real tubeless like Mavic used to do would solve that but their double nipple thing was not great.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zrgc2aocnM
This!!!
The most important and beneficial improvement for no flat tires is riding adequate pressures. If you're a muscular /fat 200 lb force of nature you simply can't get away with low pressures of line perfect skinny 140 lb racers
IIRC there was a time one or two years ago when Sam Hill was winning one race after the other and he just didn't put inserts in simply correct pressures. Meanwhile Rude, Graves and others where dropping out of contention with lots of flats despite inserts and such.
If you're riding hard just put on DH pump up like Ratboy and don't compain about suppleness and rolling resistance. It's physics and no evil deliberate conspiracy from tire makers
PS.. Only 37 but felt like a boomer, ouch
I think it very much depends on where you ride (assuming we're all riding hard). If we rode more in Wales I am sure you will get more flats as its rocky.
If I ever had a flat it was purely my own stupidity (low PSI, crashing or brute force)
rolling resistance is key
Had a few punctures but the Maxalamis are in there for month now and everything ist going smooth.
I have a friend of same weight and bike who can't go without 2ply DHI casings and will still flat every second ride...
must be purely luck
Other than that no problems since I switched to tubeless about eight years ago, ... the industry is probably right, and the article actually does not really propose a solutions to the "problem" other than saying that "it" (the solution) would be expensive ...
Maxxis... accept no substitutions.
Zero flats , no inserts , tubeless (first half of season had a tube in the rear tire).
I use sensible pressures (23psi)
Cross Country, Trail, All Mountain, Downcountry, Enduro, or Downhill ?
Personally I’m waiting for a good Downmountain bike to come out, these other one’s don’t suit my riding style.
Let the Dentists be the judge of that
Crucial complaint: how in the hell is it possible for the tires on my bike to cost more than the tires on my wife’s car??? Getting RIPPED OFF!
Without digging too much into the pro comparisons, have you noticed that some of the pro EWS riders seem to have fewer mechanicals? Smoother may not be faster all the time, but it's hard to win if you don't finish.
Riding smoother seems to have gone out of style, but it sure saves a lot of money on broken stuff...
@banffowen: While I tend not to tear many casings, this is what I will do to get significantly more out of my investment if/when I do.
Richard... Minion DHF and Highroller edge extremely well in most conditions since 2002... Magic Mary edges extremely well in softer conditions, it’s long and mud tire like knobs don’t bite into the hardpack that well. Assegai is not an edging tyre, it cannot be, it has no channel between side and center knobs. It shines where edging tires don’t - intermediate lean angles, it allows for more precision, it is very responsive, while it edges just ok, it makes chosing and holding lines an easier task. Where dhf forces you to Take lots of sharper turns, So called scalloping corners, Assegai draws nice smooth arcs. No wonder it is Greg Minnaars choice.
I'm 200lb riding Mormon, Javaline, National and Hawes regularly. My worst experience has been on Maxxis EXO & EXO+ and will never run those again. Only got 1 month out of each. The thing is if you are running too high a psi you may be making things worse because now your tires cant conform to the rocks or flex to not get a sidewall tear. Oh yeah and limit trail beers to only 2 or 3.
One day after getting 2 flats in WBP I was complaining while I was fixing it that I flat despite 30/40psi, and for the 3rd time that day someone suggested maybe I run too much pressure. So I thought, what the hell I'll try 22/32 like a normal person. First corner I got 2 flats and won a 2 hour walk.
More pressure
MSRP: 0$
Weight: 0g (i know not scientifically correct)
The "Scuzzlebutt" will not be available to purchase in a range of non-sizes.
tannusamerica.com/pages/tannus-armour
On a similar topic, I'd cheerfully pay $200 for a chain that never needed lube, and lasted longer, and added minimal additional drag.
Happy Turkey Day, Richard!
Richard Cunningham pouts out his lower lip: We simply need better materials, such an easy problem, why isn't it happening? waaaaaaa
Enduro bike: Maxxis DHF/ SS DH casing 70€ each. 2 tubes 7$ each. 144$...
Down Country bike: Front: Maxxis DHF Exo 3C, Maxx terra, huck norris, 50ml race sealant, rear: Maxxis Aggressor Exo+, dual, cushcore, 100ml standard sealant, Epstein didn’t kill himself
weight of procore is about 200g per tire. cushcore is 250-290 and is less durable or protective than cushcore.
i cut, pinche puncture and burped and ruined rims frequently before procore running the same types of agressive single ply tires. with procroe only ruined one tire in 3 years and zero rims; when i take procore out i ruin more tires.
as stated the ramp up of tire pressure and volume is hugely important. you can run lower starting pressure and it doesnt hit rim before activiating suspension.
running a good tire insert allows for lighter weight tires to be used and should allow lighter more compliant rims to be used.
a single ply tire and procore weighs less than no insert with a dh casing, much much less than an hd casing and foam tire insert.
Pretty sure the dual ply version has not really changed since then, yes we saw the demise of slow reezy then 3C to replace it (3C is pretty pants IMO) and an additional wee bit added to the diameter, but the DHF is still one of the best tyres out there for rolling speed and grip.
www.pinkbike.com/news/article1130.html
Inserts and the technology surrounding them continuing to improve is the future of MTB tire performance.
I really like Tubolight inserts currently just wish they'd add some sort of elastic band to keep them from rattling/ rotating once they are aired up and compress as a result.
Certainly I like the idea of some sort of closed cell rubber tire with no pneumatics, but I don't know how you would keep it on the rim.
Also they should sell a special tool for breaking the bead and removing tires after using one of these inserts so I didn't have to weld my own up.
As far as you guys that slash tires constantly, there's a lot of riding technique that you can improve that situation with. Used to slash tires constantly when I was a slow novice, now I'm much faster in sharp terrain and rarely hurt a tire outside of just tearing off a knob.
Stan's fluid £3 per tyre
Valves £10 pair
Gorilla tape £3 roll
£106.
With less weight.
Im shitfaced af right now and missed my apartment door but neither does richerd comingham (not the apartment door)
I should not write this comment
I do have puncture once in while, however I do puncture car tires too;
I would not say it is expected however it not something I would bother too much, modern tires + sealant does good job of keeping me on track;
It depends how you treat them i guess! leaning them over and loading up side walls and side knobs, vs keeping the main tread on a suitable perpendicular surface in turns (finding little berms).
I never had an issue with Race kings, which are infamously skinny and bare. having said that, these days i push more aggressive knobs a bit harder in sloppier conditions.
i dont tend to get punctures though.
Gorilla tape tubeless and Schwalbe tyres
Two weeks ago I damaged a sidewall on my FS XC bike riding through some shale (made it home before I noticed the slice....thanks Stans!). Really should have picked a better tire for that trail.
On the other hand, on "normal" trails, I do have some flats, but have reduced significantly since I started using Procore.
Procore is great avoiding pintch flats, but on not pierce punchures... something I need to live with.... unless I start riding EBIKES, I won't be using +1500grm system on any MTB
Delicate balance for tire makers, OE supplying is important...also people bitch that they make too many options etc. they cant stop making those and stay profitable and spend on R/D, sponsorships, ads too.
Don't get me wrong, I want this tire and all it's benefits and I will pay the higher price...Just like I did on all the high end build, full carbon bikes over the years....and not because I'm a dentist (high suicide rate) but because I love to ride.
Funny how over the years RC brings these things up and waddya know..they change.
1. I prefer tubeless tires over tubes mostly for pinchflat resistance and the ability to run my preferred combo of 1,6-1,8 bars front and 1,8-2,0bars back.
2. When I start the season in austria it´s typically march to april. Then i mount my (tubeless) tire system and I run it for the rest of the year, unless...
3. I exceed the lifetime of a tire (can be adressed by putting on a new one), destroy it beyond repair (block get´s torn out, or it get´s sliced - seldom), change a spoke or, and this is mostly the case, i have the desire to change the tyre. In order to experiment with a new one, or because riding conditions (or the cruel mindgame of racing) force me to it.
4. And then I have to destroy the whole tubeless system. (valve, rimstrip, tubeless fluid) And start all over again.
I´ve done this now for years, but as I get older and more lazy and my available spare time get´s more prescious and i´d rather spend it riding not fixing i recently started to ride tubes again, and cary a spare one with me.
I would like to have a tire that checks all of the above mentioned, and then then the painfull tubeless mess when tire changing,
on a more serious note evos are weak but for tamer terrain without sharp rocks they can work ok at least with inserts. they were on my 2019 bike and i rode them 4 months, i did not puncture once but dinged up my backwheel and rolled em off once.
I had em also as fronttire in the 2018 winter (with cushcore) and despite beeing out quite often i only punctured once (hitting a big sharp rock headon while sprinting and not judging the distance right, a thicker tire would have survived the fork bottomed out so it was a pretty big hit).
So for most people they are ok and they are stupidly light and fast rolling ( i know you disagree). They are just trailtires for tamer terrain, the mm sg are pretty dope in winter and they dont get hard as glass in the winter like my dhf maxxgrip.
I obviously lost track in what i wanted to say but i ll submit it anyways.
There is no defending it. And if you say, I use them with insert, that’s like saying Carbon rims make sense since we invented inserts. Hell yeah, instead of using durable casings and rims people use shitty casings with inserts.
I don’t know how tame a trail would have to be to make it ok to run vo schwalbes on anything else than XC bike. We haven’t even started talking about how shitty are knob patterns on Rons, Nics and dampfs. Just don’t tell me they are fine on the rear, anything is fine on the rear, even Kenda
i remember my point now, given the speed and terain most people ride they are not as bad as your comments suggest. if you are fast on the downs or at least try to be evo is not for you. (actually my biggest issue with them is that i have to run more than 35psi to not fold them over in the summer)
I've has all of 3-4 flats since switching to tubeless a decade ago.
On a HT and a dual squish riding in the Koots, the coastal range, WA state...
Why would I spend anymore than I already do?
Thanks for the heads-up on the Rimpact, seems to be precisely what I'm after: more protective than the basic stuff while lighter and cheaper than CC.
Last weekend had to climb 800m vertical in a go before reaching the goods, and was thinking to myself that wouldn't want to have any setup much heavier than my current DD casing+ Huck Norris
Industry : Here's a plus size tire, thinner sidewalls and tire folds on corners like no other.
what?
watched someone with a Dyneema getting shot from ten yrds, (.45) in Egypt,
and not in a test situation.
they may use the term "bullet resistant".
but either way, bruised he was, dead he wasnt.
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