Submitted by
andy
a Cross Country Rider
from the midlands u.k.
Date Reviewed: December 5, 2009
Strengths: light
Weaknesses: used all the different compound types, ust, ordered the same this time and the rolling resistance killed me, it's the tyres, honest.
Bottom Line:
All sizes are light, they do wear fast, never missed a line,sidewall dose give, espesially if you run no flats,but then you dont get flats, predictable tyre, will use again, the dogs.
Favorite Trail: local riverside rides, the dalels & trails
Duration Product Used: More than 3 years
Price Paid:
$20.00
Purchased At: chainreaction
Similar Products Used: wtb, intense, kenda.
Bike Setup: giant nrs xtc team, xt, slx, fsa carbon bits,sid shock, revelation air
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Latias93
a Cross Country Rider
from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date Reviewed: February 21, 2009
Strengths: Good grip, soft compound.
Weaknesses: Not as good as the Yellow Kirin.
Bottom Line:
There wasn't any stock in the Yellow Kirin so I grabbed the Red Phoenix instead. It lasted me well for about a year, but sadly due to my excessive skidding and 'drifting' on tarmac allowed the the tires to wear out fast.
Submitted by
Doug
a Cross Country Rider
from Wakefield, Mass.
Date Reviewed: May 29, 2007
Strengths: Super light. Great tread design. Sheds mud. Hooks up great in dry, wet, rooty, just about all conditions.
Weaknesses: Light weight has given it a thin casing.
Bottom Line:
I've set up this bike to be as much of a budget racer as possible. Frame weight is an issue. The tires were terrific at a race this past weekend. The course was a good mix of dry dust single track with half a dozen stream crossings and some quick muddy sections thrown in here and there. Lots of roots and a few rocks. Nothing stopped this tire from performing! It took everything in stride and kept me going. Not once did I have to stop for loss of traction. Lots of tight twisty sections on the downhills and climbs. No loss of cornering confidence. I hung it out and they kept me in the race. Really impressed with the bite and weight of these tires. Ran about 35-40 psi with tubes. No flats. Great racing tire. Giving 4 chilis because the sidewalls could potentialy be compromised on really sharp rocky sections. But they aren't an all-mountain tire.
Similar Products Used: Specialized Fast Trak, Resolution. Panaracer Fire XC Pro.
Bike Setup: 05 Specialized FSRxc. Mavic 717/XT hubs, XT drivetrain, Truvative Team post, stem, flat bars. Rock Shox Revelation 426 Air fork. Hayes MX1 mech. discs.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
david tweeddale
a Racer
from barling, ar. 72923
Date Reviewed: November 3, 2006
Strengths: Super Super Fast and Hooks up Well. Great for dry conditions. Best XC racing tire I've ever used.
Weaknesses: Wears Fast and is very slippery in wet conditions. Not good for sharp rock gardens.
Bottom Line:
This is the best XC racing tire I've found. Super Fast.
Similar Products Used: 10 to 15 other various tires
Bike Setup: Santa Cruz Blur all top of the line components.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Big Daddy K
a
from Livermore, CA, USA
Date Reviewed: March 31, 2006
Strengths: Small Profile Not too heavy Never flatted
Weaknesses: Used once for Sea Otter Epic ... tread was gone by 50% +/- by the time ride completed - could not withstand big breaking. Better suited for short track (known distances).
I raced these tires for three years at Sea Otter from muddy to dry. Trained on them in between races. I use Stans and have never had a flat. Recently I took the Scalpel and raced the Brian Head Epic 100 on 2.0's. I took them off my single speed so I could replace the brand new pythons that came on the Scalpel. Blew a seal on the Lefty at 32 miles and dropped pressure from 40 to 35 and finished the race without suspension. Cross Country Racers this tire is a must. I WOULD RATHER RIDE USED RED PHOENIX THAN BRAND NEW PYTHONS!
pinch flat at 38 lbs, pinch at 40 lbs, pinch at 45 lbs, pich at 50lbs, pinch at 55lbs, pinch flat pinch flat pinch flat and ... oh yeah, pinch flat - these tires would be great for fire roads, but throw in a rock or a log and they underperform, im a bit abusive but i have never had as many flats - i ride 4-5 times/wk on fairly aggressive xc trail and i have literally flatted 4 times in my last 7 outings with these tires - they're driving me f-ing nuts
Similar Products Used: tioga blue, wtb veloc, wtb moto, spec pro
Bike Setup: chameleon, vanilla r, hayes 9, xt, rf xc xtype, thompson post
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Ricardo Rueda
a Cross Country Rider
from Bogota, Colombia
Date Reviewed: August 21, 2005
Strengths: Price, Lightweight, front and rear specific.
Weaknesses: Wear fast on paved but they are not for paved roads anyway.
Bottom Line:
Great tires for mud and muddy hardpacks. Corner very well, haven't hard one single flat. They are great for thick mud, they just dig and rarely loose any traction. Haven't tried them on dry hardpack yet.
Weaknesses: these tires stink. at high speed gravel downhills they will float and ptoentially cause you to crash. The first day I rode these tires I was going about 10 mph and took a easy 90 degree turn and complety power slid without even braking. A truly near death experience.
Submitted by
Kris Kern
a Cross Country Rider
from Brooklyn, MI, USA
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2005
Strengths: Fast tire, good grip in most situations.
Weaknesses: No bite in slick mud and wet leaves.A little heavy(wire version)
Bottom Line:
Tese tires are great in the right conditions. Tried to ride them last spring and hated them. No control on wet trails in MI. Put them back on in the summer when it dried out and found them to be a great tire. One ride this spring confirmed they are not for the wet.When it dries out I will get the kevlar ones. Would recomend only for dry .
Strengths: Mud, cornering, lack of flats, very lightweight
Weaknesses: Sluggish rolling, occasionally breaks loose on climbs
Bottom Line:
So far, so good. I haven't experienced the durability problems of others, as well as the flat problems. I've been riding them for three months and not had a flat (Especially bizarre for me).
They do extremely well in mud because of the wide knob spacing (Considering their 1.9 size), and corner superbly because of the soft rubber. However, the softer rubber causes much slower rolling resistance than say, a Python. It will probably start wearing out soon as well. They occasionally break loose on very steep climbs, but I've yet to find an XC tire that does that exceptionally well.
They are very light, much lighter than other XC tires, but this probably has a downside as well. I'll post again in three months if they're shot.
They came OEM on my bike, but I probably wouldn't pay the 40 $ MSRP for them. For that much, you can get the superior Pythons.
Strengths: Low rolling resistance. I use the bike not only as an off road machine but a as a winter alternative to my road bike. It flies on tarmac compared to my friends bike with semi slicks. Dry trail performance also seems good.
Weaknesses: No puncture resistance. The first time I used them I got 5 thorn holes in the back tyre and had to get off and push. Then I noticed the front one went down too.
Bottom Line:
I got around the puncture thing with Slime inner tubes. Mine are the steel versions. I might consider the Kevlar versions when its time to change, if only for rolling resistance and weight.
Strengths: Light weight (mine's 1.95), low rolling resistance, excellent traction on hardpack to light to moderate surfaces. Drift nicely. Also works well on wet tarmac and mud!
Weaknesses: Fast wear, lack of grip on anything with large loose surface(except sand) like gravel, too terrain specific. Death trap in wet rock gardens. Quite pricy for so little rubber.
Bottom Line:
This tire came stock with the bike to help moving the bike off the showroom floor because they make the bike light with it's tiny weight (410 grams or thereabouts). First glance gave me an impression as a lightweight XC tire and one ride confirmed this. Easy to accelerate due to low weight and short knobs. Excellent traction in hardpack to moderately packed dirt -BUT- it is easy to provoke the tire into a drift due tire's low centre knobs and smallish side knobs. Hook up surprisingly well in mud but requires exceptional concentration and balance on the rider's part to get the most out of this tire in slimy stuff but tire sheds mud very well so allows the rider to grind on. Also surprisingly grippy in the wet tarmac as well for such a small tire.
That was the good bit. Here's the bad news.
If you want a tire to scare yourself silly, take this tire onto a gravel covered fire trail and get up to a decent speed. If you've got this tire on the back prepare yourself for some extended sideway drift cornering once you start leaning into a corner. Once it start to drift, it keeps hanging out there until either you 1)slow down 2) scrub off too much speed sliding 3) fallen off your bike. God help you if you've got it on the front because you won't be able to stay upright and tire won't carve. And yes, the tire shows severe wear and tear after short time. Suicidal if you go rock garden riding with these in wet. I did (had no choice) and it was like watching a soap being flushed down the toilet. Definately a terrain specific tire suited only for XC riding in prepared surface, so worth considering if you intend to race XC in clean, dry conditions without too many technical terrains. Otherwise too skinny and weak for serious trail riding.
Bike Setup: GT Zaskar Expert '04, stock except with GT CNC XC wheels, XT V-brakes and Fox F100 RLT '05.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Australia
Date Reviewed: November 21, 2004
Strengths: light, roll fast
Weaknesses: thin casing seems to puncture real easy
Bottom Line:
These are more of a smooth trail or XC race tyre than a knock around tyre. I recently got two flats over the course of a two hour ride with one of these on the rear. The first was this tiny little splinter that went in b/w the knobs. Then at the end of my ride a stick as thick as a pencil and about an inch long went straight trough as well. They also seem to wear real quick. I have an Extreme on the front, might get one for the back too.
Anyone have good or bad experiences with this tire?
It looks like it should be a fast rolling yet grippy tire. And it only weighs 500 grams.
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