[marcoyoga]

I finally received my 2005 RX 100 Friday night and against better judgement raced it Saturday morning, (I couldn't help it, the temptation was just too great). While the bike's overall performance was quite good there were 2 areas of concern. The first were the tires I used which were new Michlein Comp S lite USB's on new Mavic crossmax wheels. I ran about 42 lbs of pressure in back and 40 up front. I live in Omaha Ne and all of our XC racing is done on pretty smooth worn in hard pack single track dirt/clay with lots of hills, off cambers and a few roots and logs, but nothing too aggresive. We have no drops, jumps, loam, sand or rocks. I had the sensation of sliding out in corners all day and just did not feel this was the right choice of tires for these conditions and this bike. We do have to deal with greasy conditions when it rains here. Any suggestions on a better choice of tire or air pressure settings for such conditions would be greatly appreciated and I am certainly open to using a tire/tube set up if that would be better. My second question to all of you Titus RX racers out there is what type and width of bars do you like to race with? I currently have an Easton C70 bar that seems a bit narrow and twitchy, but that could be because I have been racing a single speed all year with wide bars for better leverage so I may get used to the narrower bars. Thanks a bunch for any input and I am glad to have finally joined Titus family.. Happy riding!

 

[KRob]

Michlein Comp S lite USB's on new Mavic crossmax wheels. I ran about 42 lbs of pressure in back and 40 up front.

This seems like a bit too much pressure for USBs even for racing on smooth conditions. I'm no tire expert, but I would think 32-35 lbs would be more like it.

 

[tpmbt]

Hey Marcoyoga,
Congrats on finally getting your Titus! It's a sweet looking bike. You raced well for only having an hour of seat time on it!

You may want to search the Wheels and Tires forum for input. I found this thread http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=96363 on midwest soil. Several good words on Hutchinson Spider.

I run about 30 lbs in the front Spider and 38 in the rear Scorpin. I started with 35 in the Scorpin but it rolled way to much for my liking. I still get an occassional roll on hard-pack off-camber and may need a couple more pounds for dry hard-pack. Since installing these a couple weeks ago on my Giant Trance 2, they feel much more sure footed on all the terrain I've ridden than the Pythons or stock tubed Bulldogs.