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Home | Product Reviews | Tubeless Tire | Hutchinson Barracuda MRC Medium | ||||
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Submitted by
Juice
a Downhiller
from Seattle
Date Reviewed: 11/28/2007 9:24:56 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | LBS |
| Strengths: | UST, sort of soft rubber, sturdy |
| Weaknesses: | Upper limit cornering at speed |
| Similar Products Tried: | Minions, Nevegals, Blue Groove, etc |
| Bike Setup: | 6" burly xc bike w/Pike |
| Bottom Line: | Only tried it in the front so far. This is a pretty good tire, and one of the better burly xc/AM UST tires. It is not as good as a 40d or 3C Minion, or a Stick-E Nevegal, but there aren't good UST options in those tires for xc. Come on Kenda and Maxxis, step up to the plate! I've actually started to like the tire, but I have to run lower air pressure than normal. I find about 24-25 psi in the front is good, above that I was washing out on fast corners quicker than with the tires mentioned above. |
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Submitted by
doug r
a Cross Country Rider
from Downtown Toronto, ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: 10/7/2007 7:38:46 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | the Don trails |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $60 |
| Purchased At: | came with bike |
| Strengths: | Reliable, maintains grip, holds shape and feel, wears to the bone evenly and takes @300k to wear out on mixed road and trail use.(forest trails) Would replace without question. |
| Weaknesses: | price. $60.00+ CDN each. My car tires are $15.00 more, Whats up with this tire companys? Lower the prices, NOW. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Maxxis 'High Roller' heavy and cost too, wear fast Maxxis 'Cross Mark' What was that tire good for? |
| Bike Setup: | Maverick ML8 |
| Bottom Line: | Very Good Tire and am pleased with performance and feel of Hutch tires. |
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Submitted by
John
a Cross Country Rider
from Littleton, CO
Date Reviewed: 7/17/2007 9:32:27 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Three Sisters |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | Gift |
| Strengths: | Hooks up really well. Easy to install. Rolling resistance good for as many nobs as there are. |
| Weaknesses: | Cost. Weight. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Maxxis Hi-Roller UST, Panaracer Fire XC Pro |
| Bike Setup: | Yeti ASR-SL: FOX F100 RLT fork, Fox RP3 shock, CANE CREEK S-2 headset, RACE FACE DEUS LP crankset, SRAM X-GEN Front, SRAM X.0 Rear, SRAM X.9 shifters, SRAM PG-990 cassette, SRAM PC-991 chain, SHIMANO XT hubs front and rear, MAVIC XM819 DISC UST rims, Avid Juicy Seven brakes, RACE FACE handlebar, THOMSON stem, YETI HARD CORE grips, : YETI / WTB ROCKET V TI saddle, THOMSON seatpost, Shimano 540 pedals |
| Bottom Line: | I got these tires as I'm always trying new ones in an effort to find the best one for me (not sure that I've found it yet). I installed them on both the front and rear. The first thing you notice is how well you hook up. Also, for as heavy as they are, the rolling resistance isn't too bad. I never had any issues washing out at all. I just replaced the rear tire after about 310 miles but the front still has lots of life left. Installation was pretty easy as well. This bike is the first one had with tubeless so I haven't tried many tires yet. |
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Submitted by
Don B
a Weekend Warrior
from SLC, UT
Date Reviewed: 9/28/2006 6:49:15 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Moore Fun (Fruita) |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $46 |
| Purchased At: | aebike.com |
| Strengths: | Downhill Control, General Sure-Footedness, Cornering Grip |
| Weaknesses: | Rolls kinda Slow, but what do you expect from a soft compound knobby? |
| Similar Products Tried: | Maxxis High Roller 2.3 UST Super Tacky, Conti Vertical Pro 2.3, WTB Weirwolf |
| Bike Setup: | Yeti 575, CrossMax XL, Manitou Minute 3:00 (130mm) |
| Bottom Line: | Update to my previous post. After 3 months of abuse and a punishing trip to Fruita, this tire has remained trouble free and grippy as ever. No flats or burps, even after running lower pressure (15lbs) and *punishing* the tire on Moore Fun. I haven't noticed much wear yet (but it is on the front). I really enjoy the way this tire hooks up when leaning through turns, and on rocky technical trails - it behaves very well at low pressure and remains bulletproof. I only seem to notice the rolling resistance when going down pavement roads, but I'm sure it's slowing me down a little on the flats. This tire is for you if you want maximum descending confidence on your all-mountain rig. |
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Submitted by
Don B
a Cross Country Rider
from SLC, UT
Date Reviewed: 6/26/2006 10:07:28 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Moore Fun (Fruita) |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $46 |
| Purchased At: | aebike.com |
| Strengths: | Downhill Control, General Sure-Footedness, Cornering Grip |
| Weaknesses: | Rolls kinda Slow, but what do you expect from a soft compound knobby? |
| Similar Products Tried: | Maxxis High Roller 2.3 UST Super Tacky, Conti Vertical Pro 2.3, WTB Weirwolf |
| Bike Setup: | Yeti 575, CrossMax XL, Manitou Minute 3:00 (130mm) |
| Bottom Line: | Been looking for a good soft compound 2.3 UST tire since Maxxis discontinued the High Roller in the 42a Super Tacky Compound. I really like having a soft tire on the front for cornering, off camber grip and a generally more forgiving downhill experience. The Barracuda seemed to work great on it's first ride this weekend, it had that 'glued to the trail' feeling that I've come to appreciate about soft tires. It handled the loose and dusty stuff with predictability and confidence, and I was bold enough to clean this rocky spine that I had never done before. Probably the best thing I can say about the Barracuda MRC Med is when I was really cooking down a loose rocky wash around 20-25mph, the tire simply hooked up and tracked in manner that allowed me to relax and focus on picking my lines instead of having to worry about a squirrelly front end (like skinny and/or hard compound tires tend to cause). Make no mistake, this is a soft compound tire, so it sacrifices rolling resistance for control, and I did feel a little slow on the flats and when going down paved roads, probably a little more than I expected, but still acceptable. Haven't had a chance to really lean over and test the cornering grip yet, but the tire did well in slow and medium speed switchbacks. I can recommend this tire simply on the grounds that it's the only one I could find in a 2.3 UST soft compound tire, and it seemed to work as advertised. Have no idea if the sidewalls are going to hold up yet, that seems to be what killed all my Contis and a WTB Weirwolf I tried. This front tire is *much* better for control than the Conti Vert Pro and seems comparable so far to the High Roller Super Tacky. |
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