I put a SB8 on the rear the other day. My first impression is that what people say about its hardpack traits is right on. It hooks up nicely on clay and on loose dust/sand over hard surfaces. It also stuck well going up over a coupe little rock ledges on steep uphills. I went from a 2.1" Velociraptor, with its tractor tread design, so by comparison the SB8 doesn't give that "digging in" sensation, but so far it's hooked up well, and the larger contact patch combined with a fast-rolling design seems like a good mix of speed & control for local conditions. My concerns are: 1 - How quickly will the grip disappear with the combo of soft rubber and shallow knobs? 2 - Will the sidewalls hold up? 3 - How well will it work a a front too? (right now I just tried the rear, and still have a Velociraptor on the front) 4 - How well will it work later in summer as the trails get looser and the sandy spots get deeper? I'll try to remember to post an update in a couple months.
Didn't see that anyone's using IRC tires. I mostly ride out here in Antelope Valley so sand, gravel, decomposed granite. I've been using Mythos XC's (blackwall version) 1.9 rear; 2.1 front for 5 years or so for training & riding. Work well for ST and fire-roads; wet or dry. Probably not a great choice for forrest loam, pine needles or sticky mud, but there's not much of that stuff out here.Usually use Kenda's for racing. Blackwall's are usually only $14.95 on-line and they wear pretty well. The skin-walls are double the price but casing is more supple and the rubber is stickier.
I need new tires. I was running Maxxis Flyweight tubes with the 2.1 Blue Groove Stick-E up front and the 2.1 Nevegal DTC in the rear. Great tires, but the Nevegal in the rear wore out super fast. I changed it out to a Specialized Fast Trak Pro 2.0 that I had laying around and was blown away at how much faster of a roller the Fast Trak was over the Nevegal. I'd like to try the Mutanoraptor 2.4 up front, but I'm still undecided for the rear. I was thinking maybe the Larsen TT 2.0 70a durometer (non-eXCeption), but I'm wondering how sturdy of a tire it is. The Kendas have held up against Los Pinos and other trails of similar, if not slightly more, rocky terrain. Terrain like in the picture below. I want tires that are fairly light, have low rolling resistance, but don't shred to pieces on the rocks. Uh, yeah right. I ride a Flux, and don't do drops or anything, but I'll roll through rock gardens as long as they're not too steep. Thanks everyone. We pushed up, and flew back down.
Roy - on my Stumpy I was running Mutano Raptor 2.4 in the front and Nevegal 2.1 on the rear wheel. I ended up putting 2.1 Neve's fr/rear, but didn't run those very much (just didn't ride the bike). If you want a tire that rolls well and doesn't suck, I really liked the Spec Adrenaline (now Resolution). I used to run that on the front with Nevegal on the rear.
I jsut put Kenda Blue Groove 2.35 on the front of my SS and 2.25 Rear specific Mutanoraptor on the back. Loads of grip from the Mutano (put the tread facing the 'wrong' way) Blue Groove is the stick-e type and is surprising me with the level of grip. Neither are 'that' heavy.
I want to try something different than the Blue Groove and Nevegal. 2.55 for XC? That's a heck of an XC bike. I wasn't pleased with the quality of the Kenda Blue Groove or Nevegal. The QC just seems lacking. Wobbly tires, and I remember chasing down the strangest problem with my Blue Groove spinning on the front rim. The only reason it's not doing it still, is because of a healthy addition of rim cement on the bead of one side of the tire.
Don't be difficult. jk. I can email a few buddies that ride Noble every weekend and see what 26" tires they run. Neither uses Neve's or Blue Groove's. Mark despises Kenda tires. Let me know if you're interested. Aqua used to run the Larsen but I forget what he runs now. Mark runs Maxxis. Though I doubt it's a great rolling tire. More likely stronger/better through rocks.
Oh I know that I can be difficult. I like to over research everything. Yeah, that'd be great if you could find out what the Noble crowd run. I need to get together with you guys for a ride. This Saturday is out, and I believe the following Saturday is out too.
I've had the Spec'd Pros on my Stumpjumper. Hated 'em. Terrible traction, I thought. MOved up to Panny's Fire XC Pros. Good climbing, bad at grippiness. Washed out suddenly and uncontrollably all the time. Now, I have WTB Weirwolf upfront and MutanoRaptor in the back. Loving it. The Weirwolf always behaves predictably. I can feel it washing out before it really does and when it does, it's correctable. I remember once going through the really skinny singletrack of Rockit. We were moving pretty fast because Pain Freak was in front of me and some hammerheads came up behind. I was pushing it to stay alive! My front tire washed out and I pulled it back and kept going! On my Panaracers I would have crashed for sure. The Weirwolf is FAT and PHAT! I love it. It's 2.5 but not as big as what Pain Freak runs up front. I forget what tire that is. But, for me, I want a fat tire up front because I want killer traction from what steers me. I know it increases my rolling resistance, but I go faster because I have surer footing. The MutanoRaptor in the back seems to climb well. I have no complaints. It breaks loose too and is controllable. Me likey. You maybe likey too.
We're out of town this and next weekend. Then we're doing SART on 6/2, and maybe even Noble on 6/3. Gotta see how I feel about that We can always get together for a Vail or SRP ride in the evenings before dark. I know it's nothing exciting, but it works! Email sent, btw. I'll post what I find out. Okay, so the guys that ride Noble and er, another trail, are running Maxxis tires. One uses Minion DHR's (2.7 and 2.5 dual ply) on his Bullit. On his Heckler he runs either High Rollers or Minion 2.3 dual ply. He runs them tubeless, but still likes the dual ply since they are "heavy but bombproof". The other two, he thinks, are running UST High Rollers. Hope that helps!
I have a few rides now with the 2.3" SB 8 on the rear (I didn't want to spend the $$ to get em on both ends yet), and my results have been very mixed. On hardpack or thin layers of loose over hard, they're great and I've cleared a couple things I hadn't on the 2.1" Velociraptor I had before. On the deeper, looser soil they don't seem to find much grip at all. They also seem extremely sensitive to slight pressure changes. 1-2 lbs makes the difference between hooking up or not, and dragging or not. Granted, even when these are under-inflated, they still roll pretty well, which helps carry a bigger gear so you don't have to over-spin 'em and break them loose. But if I run 'em a little on the soft side it seems like the sidewalls have a lot of give - I worry about tearing or pinch-flatting. (Maybe a wider rim would help? I have 717's) If you ride mostly places like Aliso & Laguna, you'll probably like them. If you're OK with carrying a taller gear and cranking, you'll probably like them. If you're an out of shape, no-skills hack like me who has to granny gear his way up anything steeper than a handi-capable access ramp, then you may want something with more bite. For me, these seem a bit too narrowly-defined, and I'll probably switch to something else when this wears down a bit. I see that PricePoint has some nice tire deals going for the next couple weeks, including bargains on WTB MutanoRaptors and Maxxis High Rollers.
Thanks Waldo, from what Mary told me that day, she was climbing fine on sb8's until we got to that loose steep section towards 4 corners. It's steep and loose. I ran with Mutanoraptor in front and Nano in rear. The Nano didn't give me as good a bite as the exiwolf I run on my Tomac. Both tires are fast but really loose on these fireroads like the Main Divide. I ran irc Mythosxc II during the CC and it worked fine. The Main Divide is dryer now than it was then. Some sections are like moon dust, others loose and gravelly. I will sacrafice a little rolling resistance for a little more traction, so I will roll with Mutanoraptor 2.4 in front and IRC mythosxc II 2.1 rear for the Traverse. But for my all around any condition tire, my favorite has been Kenda Kinetics xc sticky-e, front and rear 2.35.
I decided to just get a new wheelset and switch over to UST. There are a lot of goatheads in the foothills above the town we're moving to, so I figured I should give UST with some sort of sealant a try. Chris King ISO hubs - Black Chris King Al cassette lock ring - Black Mavic 819 rims DT Swiss Super Comp Spokes DT Swiss Al nipples - Black Maxxis Larsen TT 2.0 LUST WTB Weirwolf 2.1 UST Schwalbe tire sealant - apparently Stan's will eat the rubber of Schwalbe tires, so Schwalbe came out with their own stuff. It's supposedly just as thin as Stan's and since I have absolutely no experience with tire sealant, I figured what the heck. Avid BB7 F & R 160mm brakes
A set of un-used Kenda Karmas 29x2.1 came with my Q-Ball frame. Before I go through the time and trouble of putting them on the wheels I had built (one-handed tire changing is a b!tch) does anyone have any experience on these?
I've been riding a Maxxis ADvantage 2.25 front with a WTB Velociraptor 2.1 rear along Santa Ana River Trail, Big Bear and Rim Nordic and haven't had any issues with traction on the loose stuff up here in the mountains. Only the occasional "burn out" on sandy single-track climbs. Good side bite along the decents and no problems braking at all.
I may have to rescind this part of my opinion on the SB8's. I was just on Mavic's web site, and the widest tire they even list for use with my rims is a 2.1, so maybe running a 2.3" is just asking the sidewall to handle too much of the load. Anybody have any experience/opinions on how accurate those numbers are - how much you can push the envelope with wider tires on narrower rims? I'd really like to try running something in the 2.25 to 2.4" range for a while to feel better on descents, but not if it means I have to replace perfectly good rims to do it. I'll stick to 2.1's if that's the case.
dood - can't wait for your review of the sb8 - I was about to do the same. Let me know what you think of it!
jose doesn't like his, but he's a hammerhead so who knows... i really liked the nevegal 29s when i rode on them.
oops, looks like i forgot to do my review on it. #-o i no longer have my 29er, but i did find the tire to work pretty good. its no surprise it rolled really fast on the hard pack, as well as the powdery hardpack. i never really "spun-out" when climbing with it, i "stan'itized" it, so running a little lower psi allowed the tire to stay firm on the ground when standing up to climb. those who know me know i am fairly aggressive on the downhills and i made no compromises when descending with this tire. i had a panny rampage up front which gripped really well, so i felt confident with leaning hard into and railing turns. i never really recalled the sb8 slipping/sliding in the rocky sections while going down lynx, rock-it or t&a. in my opinion it is a great tire.
