New Season, New Tires, New Thread

[teledad]

Come to Oregon between late June and mid July and I can put together a head exploding itinerary for you. I think our soil is some of the most spectacular in the lower 48. And also doing 3500’ shuttle drops on said hero soil right down to hero fishing holes on Willamette River tributaries (or even the main stem in some cases). And lakes.

[MegaStoke]

I’m starting to get serious about racing the Arizona Trail 800 this October and am struggling a bit with tire choice. I’m currently running Vittoria Syerra 29x2.4 with Tannus Tubeless Armour inserts on my rigid bikepacking rig, and am generally quite happy with this setup, but for the AZT I think I’m going to want some slightly tougher casings, and a bit more air volume. I haven’t been on the AZT yet but based on other experiences riding in AZ,it’s going to be chunky and sharp a lot of the time.

The first tire that comes to mind is a Rekon 2.6 Exo+, but what else is out there that’s in that sweet spot of durable, fast rolling, grippy, and reasonably light enough for racing on 800 miles of rocky singletrack?

[radam]

I’m starting to get serious about racing the Arizona Trail 800 this October and am struggling a bit with tire choice. I’m currently running Vittoria Syerra 29x2.4 with Tannus Tubeless Armour inserts on my rigid bikepacking rig, and am generally quite happy with this setup, but for the AZT I think I’m going to want some slightly tougher casings, and a bit more air volume. I haven’t been on the AZT yet but based on other experiences riding in AZ,it’s going to be chunky and sharp a lot of the time.

The first tire that comes to mind is a Rekon 2.6 Exo+, but what else is out there that’s in that sweet spot of durable, fast rolling, grippy, and reasonably light enough for racing on 800 miles of rocky singletrack?

Maybe a 2.6 Mezcal or a 2.6 Bontrager SE2 (if you can track one down), run either with an insert for added protection?

[MegaStoke]

Maybe a 2.6 Mezcal or a 2.6 Bontrager SE2 (if you can track one down), run either with an insert for added protection?

I’ve definitely cut Mezcals before, but that SE2 looks like it might be the ticket. Any idea how the casing compares to a Mezcal?

[SchralphMacchio]

My buddy did something like 10 days on the AZT (from the border to Superior?) with a Grid Gravity Eliminator in the rear (no insert), specifically because he didn’t want to risk issues. Should be available in a 2.6 - but yeah that won’t be the lightest setup.

[SchralphMacchio]

If you are serious, there is an old Oregon thread you can bump (and I have some comments in there) or you can start a new thread and I can share deets / answer questions. Most of the hero soil is on west slope Cascade foothills and in the coast range, lots of rivers in those areas, but most of the lakes are high country riding where the soil is much looser and not as rich/loamy/duffy.

[Rossymcg]

Lack of intermediate knobs and subsequent "Maxxis Drift" makes the DHF/DHR lovefest a head-scratcher to me.
How can a tire's lack of grip (as in, the "drift" part) can be considered a positive?

It''s for folks who know how to lean their machine hard and fast.

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[jono]

It''s for folks who know how to lean their machine hard and fast.

Or gentle and slow--but early.

Hooker's dream kinda thing.

[Roxtar]

It''s for folks who know how to lean their machine hard and fast.

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Or you can buy tires that allow you to lean them hard without sliding 6" before they hook up.
Those do actually exist. Hell, Maxxis even makes a couple so you can continue the love-fest.

Also, not all turns require an intense lean. Going into a 30-45* hardpack, non-bermed, turn at speed on a DHF requires true faith in God.

[MegaStoke]

Personally I’m finding the Vittoria Mazzas to have the perfect amount of drift. Not nearly as drifty as a DHF, but that transition zone is still there unlike an AssGuy. I’m really looking forward to trying the new soft rubber “enduro race” Mazza once I burn through my stash of regular ones, I think that could be my new holy grail tire.

[joetron]

Also, not all turns require an intense lean. Going into a 30-45* hardpack, non-bermed, turn at speed on a DHF requires true faith in God.

Not God. Our DHF cult lord and savior is Colin Bailey.

The drift point allows for a lot more variety in turn shape and timing. I like being able to change pressure and square off turns instead of being more locked in to a turn shape in the “steery “ type tires like Assyguy.


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[J. Barron DeJong]

Personally I’m finding the Vittoria Mazzas to have the perfect amount of drift. Not nearly as drifty as a DHF, but that transition zone is still there unlike an AssGuy. I’m really looking forward to trying the new soft rubber “enduro race” Mazza once I burn through my stash of regular ones, I think that could be my new holy grail tire.

Is the Enduro Mazza actually a different compound? I’m not finding anything that says one way or the other.

Other specs look the same as the E-bike Mazza, so maybe they’re trying to attract non-e-bike riders by changing labeling?

[simple]

Enduro came first. Now the euro brands are all in on E-bike specific stuff.

[MegaStoke]

Is the Enduro Mazza actually a different compound? I’m not finding anything that says one way or the other.

Other specs look the same as the E-bike Mazza, so maybe they’re trying to attract non-e-bike riders by changing labeling?

Their nomenclature leaves to be desired. There’s been an enduro casing Mazza for a while now with the same rubber(“4C”) as the trail one, then came the e-Mazza which is the thicker casing and harder shittier rubber, and they just released a Mazza 1C “Enduro Race” with softer rubber and burly casing.

https://www.backcountry.com/vittoria...duro-tire-29in

[Roxtar]

The drift point allows for a lot more variety in turn shape and timing. I like being able to change pressure and square off turns instead of being more locked in to a turn shape in the “steery “ type tires like Assyguy.]

That's a great word and, well, that's one way of looking at it. Especially when the tire itself is deciding on what "variety" of turn it wants to make.
Personally, I prefer to know exactly what is going to happen (as in, it goes where I point it) when I lean my bike over but hey, here's to making life entertaining! (What? no "cheers" emoji?)

Anyway, as I said, I don't understand the love, and I never will. I guess love is blind.
Thanks for trying to explain it to me.

[rideit]

Not God. Our DHF cult lord and savior is Colin Bailey.

The drift point allows for a lot more variety in turn shape and timing. I like being able to change pressure and square off turns instead of being more locked in to a turn shape in the “steery “ type tires like Assyguy.


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Conversely, I don’t *generally* want to square off turns with my front tire. Or did you also mean ‘slightly controlled front wheel drift’?

[J. Barron DeJong]

Their nomenclature leaves to be desired. There’s been an enduro casing Mazza for a while now with the same rubber(“4C”) as the trail one, then came the e-Mazza which is the thicker casing and harder shittier rubber, and they just released a Mazza 1C “Enduro Race” with softer rubber and burly casing.

https://www.backcountry.com/vittoria-mazza-race-g2.0-1c-enduro-tire-29in

Found the Vittoria catalog which provides some actual detail, unlike their website:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/re...ia-catalogue/3

Along with the 1C rubber compound, the Enduro Race 1C tires are also coming with a single ply 60 tpi casing with protection, as opposed to the dual ply 120 tip casing of the non-race 4C Enduro tires.

[MegaStoke]

Nice, that’s good beta. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t stocked up on regular Mazzas on sale last fall, I wanna try the new softer one. It’s got graphene AND silica, it must shred.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Nice, that’s good beta. Now I’m wishing I hadn’t stocked up on regular Mazzas on sale last fall, I wanna try the new softer one. It’s got graphene AND silica, it must shred.

I would like an Enduro Race 4C Martello. Please.

[GoSlowGoFar]

Has anyone run a Rekon with an Assegai? Been running 2.4 Rekons front and rear on my hardtail that I regularly pedal from the house and have been pretty stoked on them. I enjoy the fast rolling nature of ‘em and thought tossing it on my stevo could be fun until proper enduro-ey/steep trails open up around here.

[radam]

I’ve definitely cut Mezcals before, but that SE2 looks like it might be the ticket. Any idea how the casing compares to a Mezcal?

I've only used an SE4 (as well as many XR4s and XR3s)but that SE casing is somewhere between a Maxxis EXO and DD casing (so I guess EXO+, but I haven't used one yet), and is definitely more stout than a standard tubeless Mezcal or XR series Bontrager

[jamal]

I tried a rekon with a DHF and the balance didn't work well at all. I have considered a 2.4 rekon/dissector combo though.

[Huskier]

Trying to lose some rolling resistance for summer coming from MM/BB in trail Soft flavor. Anyone running Schwalbe's speedgrip compound in the rear? Recommend or no?

[D(C)]

I tried a rekon with a DHF and the balance didn't work well at all. I have considered a 2.4 rekon/dissector combo though.

I’ve had good success with DHF or DHR II front, Rekon rear on a pedally bike.

[carlh]

I have a speed grip nobby Nick on the back of my hard tail. It is pretty slippery on roots compared to the magic Mary soft on the back of my fs. A soft nobby Nick would probably be a decent summer rear here but doesn’t come in a very heavy casing so would likely need an insert.

Trying to lose some rolling resistance for summer coming from MM/BB in trail Soft flavor. Anyone running Schwalbe's speedgrip compound in the rear? Recommend or no?