Strengths: Love these tires! They offer great traction and control, and I dig the green rubber. Living in Miami, I ride a lot of technical, rooty terrain and these guys grip in places where I used to slide. Since the tread is not very deep, they're not so good in deep mud, but they do quite well even on loose sand.
Weaknesses: Sidewalls are not very strong, so they gave way before the rest of the tires (still, I got a year's worth of hard weekend riding, so I got my money's worth). New specs claim sidewalls have been reinforced, so problem may be fixed.
Bottom Line:
Love these tires! I bought them once and I will buy them again. In fact, I have resisted buying other tires until I could find another set of these babies. While I was lucky enough to find them on a bargain bin, they're well worth full price.
Submitted by
Brian Elmer
a Cross Country Rider
from Lexington, KY, USA
Date Reviewed: October 30, 2003
Strengths: This is a great tire in the handling department. It's SO much better than the Ground Control I had, and allows me to go much faster into the corners. It has good feedback, and lets you know nicely when it's losing traction...instead of laying you down immediately. It's also pretty light, and the Kevlar bead makes it easier to put on my Rhyno Lite rims.
I'm using this tire with an XL S in the back, and it's a great all around combo.
Weaknesses: The tires are fragile! I was doing some riding around campus one day, and looked down to see the tube poking out a 1/2" long tear in the sidewall. Took it home, stitched it with some dental floss, put a 3"x1.5" piece of milk jug behind it, and it's good to go!
Bottom Line:
As I said, the tire's a great handler. It's much nicer not having to worry about falling down as much in a corner - the tire is slow to wash out, and you should have plenty of time to slow down or correct your angle. It grips great.
Then there's the durability factor. It's pretty sad how easily it tore. I read the reviews and figured it wouldn't happen to me, but it sure did. Just keep the dental floss and milk jug plastic handy, though, and you should be good to go.
Strengths: Strangely for such aggressive Knobblies, the rolling resistance is rather light. It worked well on hard pack and fire trails. Good on technical climbs. Works better then the COMP S.
Weaknesses: none so far, but a little tentative on hard cornering
Bottom Line:
This tire is actually better then the Lite S which I was previously using. Above ave all round
Weaknesses: Got torn in five places on the sidewall after 600 km of hikes
Bottom Line:
Never, ever I will even take a look at Michelin tires any more. Though I must say WildGripper FrontS is 5.28 times better than WildGripper XL that got torn in 22 places after 500km.
Submitted by
Neo
a Weekend Warrior
from Sydney, Australia
Date Reviewed: April 25, 2003
Strengths: Rolls nice Decent braking
Weaknesses: poor cornering traction
Bottom Line:
I have tired heaps of tires before and have not had 2 many tyres that i have hated, but unfortunately I hate this one. This tire is bad on hard surfaces, worse in sand and mud absolutley shocking when its rocky. However they are good in soft soil and slightly muddy conditions, but not good enough to make up for its bad qualities. On top of this, they lose traction without any warning giving me no confidence in them. You may think I am being unfair seeing this is a tire for soft - med conditions, but I have had plenty of tires that have preformed better all round over this 1.
Dont waste our money on these. Get Tioga's or WTB's as every tire i have bought of theirs has worked a treat.
Strengths: It loves to roll, eat up bumps, won't let u down in cornering, durable, eye catching green colour-It is a Michelin! WHAT ELSE DO U WANT FOR A FRONT TIRE??
Weaknesses: Too good! give me confidence to ride faster as usual in the trail, and I finally fell(coz i was decending too fast!)
Bottom Line:
GOOD GOOD GOOD!
It never been such a fast fast fast feeling on the street on the other 2.1 XC tires whilst it do what it should do on the trail.
Just spend $60 to give a try on the FrontS & XLS. You'll be happy with that.
Bike Setup: cannondale caad 3 hardtail, magura rim brakes
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Daniel
a Cross Country Rider
from St. Gallen, Switzerland
Date Reviewed: November 7, 2001
Strengths: rolling resistance, lightweight, good grip, good allround tire
Weaknesses: cornering on loose gravel and rocks, self-clearing ability (sporadically mud keeps sticking to the tire) and don't mess with the air pressure...meaning don't overdo it (or=flat)!
Bottom Line:
Its overall performance makes it a reliable companion on practically every surface. If you're going for a light-weight tire with minimum rolling resistance, than this is your choice.
Similar Products Used: Ritchey Z-Max, Specialized Dirt Master,
Bike Setup: Wheeler 9999 ZX
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Bob
a Cross Country Rider
from Haverford, Pa.
Date Reviewed: July 21, 2001
Strengths: Big lugs, good sidewalls, carves well in most conditions, easily predictable in tight places
Weaknesses: none so far
Bottom Line:
This is a great tire, works well in hardpack and mud, I did'nt find difficulty in running it at different pressures. My setup is in black, I dont know how the greenie works.
