Rolling resistance

Puncture prone

Always interesting writing about a componant at the end of its lifespan rather than towards the beginning. I've just replaced my narrow version 29-1s after 2200 miles of gravel road/crush rock trail/paved/hardpack dirt and have a few well defined impressions of this tire. My commute is a 7.5 mile gravel road haul to a crush rock trail (for 4 miles) followed by 6 miles of pavement (reverse for the ride home) and I bought these for the low rolling resistance and predictible (if not stellar) traction. I run the pressures relatively high (40 psi) because I'm 212 lbs and don't want pinch flats. The traction on all surfaces in dry conditions was more than acceptable, these tires don't favor mud and can get squirrelly when conditions get wet. The rear tire was worn to the point where I swapped it to the front at 1400 miles and it seems to have some life left as a front tire. They might have lasted longer with lower pressures (spreading the contact patch) but they seem to have worn well all things considered. On the downside, it takes very little nature to flat these tires. I run tubes because I'm stuck in my ways, but the smallest piece of plant matter or glass seems to have no trouble working its way throught the casing and into the tire. I'm not talking goat head thorns, I'm talking little slivers of stuff. Maybe better run tubeless, don't know and don't care. On to Saguaros.

For dry hard trails/tarmac summer riding, these are great. Really fast rolling, predictable and fun.

As soon as the going gets a little soft, there is no grip at all - even changing from hard to more loose gravel trails, I have had a moment or 2.

In the wet, on tarmac and hard pack these are fine, but as soon as there is any mud or standing water they get lost pretty quickly.

I'll definitely be using these as my 'go to' summer tire, but do switch out for something more knobly for the winter.

The name Bontrager sounds synonymous with mountain bike to me. It sounds rugged and ready for any job it was designed for and I feel that is exactly what I received when I purchased these tires.

None that I have experienced.

Some may complain that these are not an "all season" tire but Innever felt that they were stated as such. The intended terrain is exactly what I use them on and theyre great tires. In all, I'm happy with my purchase and will buy Bontrager again!

Similar Products Used:

Kenda, Maxxis

Fast on dry hardpack. So far more durable than some of the other race tire from Bonty like the XR-1s.Tubeless setup was very easy.

They are very poor in sloppy conditions.

If you are looking for a low resistance fast XC tire at a good price point versus say IKONs then these are you tire.
I wouldn't ride them on technical or rocky terrain, but for the fast flowly hardpack they really are a great tire.

Probably good for dry slick rock or terrain that doesn't require much traction

Absolutely suck in muddy terrain. The do not shed mud because the knobs are so short they never pickup mud!

Trek seems to go for a one size fits all mentality for their stock bike tires. My new superfly came with these things and I'm planning to swap them out soon. I've never had as many problems with traction as these things have. Give me some knob!

Light, fast, easily convertible to tubeless with Stan's or latex mold builder with water.

Traction on technical terrain.

Great tire for fire roads and fast trails. Not as good on dry, dusty single track with tech sections - experienced too much sliding when I really needed traction. Converted to tubeless today and will see if that helps, along with dropping the tire pressure some more.

Similar Products Used:

Kenda Small Block 8, Bontrager Earl.