Vittoria's New Big Rubber - Sea Otter 2015
The New Morsa Tire
The Morsa is Vittoria's new aggressive trail / all-mountain / e-word tire that they've designed to be even burlier than their sticky Goma offering. The tire's casing is a bit squarer than the Goma, which should give it a more positive feeling bite when corning, and the prominent side lugs are said to make for a more consistent feel. Vittoria has also gone all out with the siping, which is something that allows the knobs to conform to the ground better than if they didn't have reliefs cut into them. The rubber is laid over Vittoria's TNT casing, and they've also employed their APF insert above the tire bead for some extra reinforcement. The Morsa will first be available in Vittoria's standard compounds, but they did let slip that they're working with a new extrusion machine that allows them to combine four different compounds into a single rubber layup. That sounds complicated, but it will let them to come up with stable base rubber that's covered with a soft and forgiving outer layer that could make for plenty of traction but without the knobs ripping off.
The Morsa will be available in 29'' and 27.5'' size, as well as *GASP* a 26" version! There are also two width options - 2.35'' and 2.5'' - with the 27.5'' x 2.35'' tire weighing in at 800 grams. Pricing is still be worked out.
The Bomboloni
Bigger seems to be better in 2015, or at least there's more big things to talk about, maybe. This includes Vittoria's new Bimboloni (it means donut in Italian, by the way) that's designed to specifically not feel like a heavy and cumbersome plus-sized tire. How'd they go about doing that? Vittoria says that the Bimboloni sports low, wide lugs that are also ramped in order to improve rolling speed, and they've applied siping in lengthwise and crosswise directions in order to help the stubby knobs find traction. Does it work? Word is that Niner has tested a number of different options and have found that the Bomboloni feels the most like a standard mountain bike tire when it comes to handling and rolling speed, and it sounds like they'll be spec'ing the Italian donut on some of their bikes in the near future.
Vittoria will offer the Bombolo
ni in 26'' x 4'', 27.5'' x 3'', and 29'' x 3'' sizes. MSRP $119 USD.
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Tom Sampson's Yeti Race Bike
Vittoria racer Tom Sampson recently took his first National win with a victory at the Fontana enduro round, but Sampson wasn't aboard some sort of 6'' travel machine when he did it... he was on his World Cup cross-country race bike. Sampson used to race quite a bit of downhill before discovering that he prefers endurance events, but those roots are still clear to see by looking at his Yeti: a relatively wide, flat handlebar that sports the same shape as many riser 'bars (most flat handlebars don't have enough sweep to them), and he's one of only a small number of racers who compete at the World Cup level with a dropper seat post on his bike.
Sampson says that the Reverb Stealth allows him to not just descend quicker than his Lycra clad comrades, but it also makes his racing safer. Remember, these guys are hitting the top of the climbs at maximum effort, and anyone who's rolled into a downhill section with their heart rate at 300 BPM knows that it's hard to keep things under control when in that sort of state. While not many World Cup racers use dropper seat posts, and that it's probably fair to say that guys like Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter can tear the downhills a new one regardless of where their seats are positioned, I can see a 200 gram-ish weight penalty being well worth it for a lot of guys who could put time in on lesser descenders. On the other hand, weaker downhillers would lose less time if they could get their seat out of the way.
The 3T handlebar may look a bit odd, but it gets Tom's hands where he wants them, and he says it feels just like a riser bar.
A set of Mezcal tires were mounted up for the hard-packed and fast terrain at Sea Otter.
Be sure to check out all of our Sea Otter Classic images in this gallery.
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HaHahaaaaaa
Or is it 27.5 Slim dead too?
"The weight savings from your wallet alone.."
Pinkbike is the funniest..
Best tyres I have used.
People need to look beyond the Big Three(Schwalbe,Conti's and Maxxis),and realise Vittoria,Vredestein,Michelin etc,are bringing out very capable rubber.
I have heard only good things about them.
Fair enough,I only know of 3 other people using them,but all seem pretty pleased with them(even in the Scottish Mud
I can only speak of Gato's though,while the others were running Saguaro 's(think that is what they are called).
But Forkbrayker,with insider knowledge, reckons they need to work on the compounds and not the tread design.
Granted,he say's this was 3+ yrs ago and that is a long time in MTB innovation.So maybe things have changed in that time.
But we all know tyres are an entirely personal choice,and what works for others does not for some.
In my experience,I know I will not go back to the Big Three(Maxxis,Schwalbe and Conti's).
I have found my optimum tyre,but it is not for others.
So, probably, a 3rd generation Mezcal?
Try Mavic Charge, with larger side knobs.