Submitted by
muzza
a Weekend Warrior
from dallas busharagua Date Reviewed: November 4, 2007
Favoriate Trail:
tranquility base
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$23.00
Purchased At:
front at LBS rear on eBay
Strengths:
Light weight, fast rolling, flickable, predictable breakaway points
Weaknesses:
None yet.
Similar Products Used:
Panaracers & GEAX & some others
Bike Setup:
06 Santa Cruz Superlight. Rockshox Reba Race. Thompson post & stem. XTR crank. Deore XT googly bits. Monkeylite bars.Tioga Spyder seat.Danger Boy brake levers. Customized "Hoon Racing" kangaroo stickers. 1.9 Ritchey tires front & back
Bottom Line:
Avoided getting these because other posts said some Ritchey products weren't so great in mud. Mud happens here in Oregon. Local experts 'round here also say real men ride 2.1 (or preferably WAY bigger), because size matters in the great Northwest. Well, I like light and finally flung a 1.9 Ritchey on the rear and stayed with a 2.1 Panaracer on the front for a few months. The combo worked a lot better than the 2.0 GEAXs (front and rear) which were slipperier than a jellied french man creek crawlin thru the horsie poo, especially in the slick kind of poo & urine hoof bowl soup you find at Tranquility Base the soppin wet day after a rainy two day equestrian event. A fall there has certain consequences. Anyway the lightweight bug bit again and I slapped a 1.9 Ritchey on the front to match the rear and I still love this thin full Ritchey combo. Size does matter. Bigger than you need is stupider. I'm no expert but the shallow treads & relatively wide spacing of them seems to throw the mud OFF easier. More agressive tread patterns seem to HOLD the mud tightly and quickly turn themselves into slicks. This is my experience, anyway. This is not to say these tires don't slide around some in mud, but when they do they're wholly predictable. You have to think about how much stomp to put thru the crank and calculate when to do it. This is a thing called skill, or alternately finesse. And the front end on the Ritchey seems far easier to flick about. The precise steering available from these lightweight tires can be your friend in muddy conditions. Often I've slogged thru mud that clogs the fork & rear triangle braces....but oddly the actual treads on the Ritcheys were still clean and grabby. In drier conditions these thinnies corner flawlessy, float over the babyheads (ocassionally spitting one out sideways, which is trippie) and they generally go like hell... because size matters.
$
Overall Rating:
