I'm rambling.
So I realized yesterday that my tires are actually just about shot. Scratch that, they're shot. I had posted on the MTBR forum that RV was a little sketchy on some of the climbs several weeks ago. When Kirt and Maurice chimed in that the conditions were perfect, I thought they were just not really noticing or just saying it was perfect considering. Well at CR yesterday, it became abundantly clear my tires are rapidly heading the way of the dodo. Aside from the sidewall problems (Specialized Adrenalines, stock, very thin sidewalls, basically a racing tire I've been running with since spring) the knobs were a mess. At first glance they seem fine, because they're not worn in terms of height. But when you look closer, they've been through the meat grinder. I find it odd that these tires did great at the Allamuchy ride, and literally the next ride at RV they were shot.
I put on an IRC Mythos XC that my friend gave me. I put it on the rear since the front is still fine. The one thing I notice is that this 2.1 tires is much less wide than the 2.0 stock tire on the bike. Strange. Anyway...anyone have any experience with the IRC tires?
One other fallback is a WTB Velociraptor which I remember being a bit skittish with the last bike. But that was hardly a fair shake. I also have a Panaracer Smoke that another friend gave me. Why do these people give me tires? Beats me. Anyone have any experience on either of these? Or anyone want to give me yet more different tires?
Or should I look for something else? Panaracer Fire XC Pro? Kenda Nevegal or Blue Grooves or Kinetics? I really like the sound of 2.3 in the kinetics. Conti Explorer Pro? Being a road guy I'm not a real big fan of conti. I love the wide footprint that the stock Specialized tire gave me. But I really dislike the paper thin sidewall. I literally went through it twice, which I was reminded of when I swapped the tire out and saw the duct tape patches.
Anyway...thoughts, opinions, random comments welcome.
So I realized yesterday that my tires are actually just about shot. Scratch that, they're shot. I had posted on the MTBR forum that RV was a little sketchy on some of the climbs several weeks ago. When Kirt and Maurice chimed in that the conditions were perfect, I thought they were just not really noticing or just saying it was perfect considering. Well at CR yesterday, it became abundantly clear my tires are rapidly heading the way of the dodo. Aside from the sidewall problems (Specialized Adrenalines, stock, very thin sidewalls, basically a racing tire I've been running with since spring) the knobs were a mess. At first glance they seem fine, because they're not worn in terms of height. But when you look closer, they've been through the meat grinder. I find it odd that these tires did great at the Allamuchy ride, and literally the next ride at RV they were shot.
I put on an IRC Mythos XC that my friend gave me. I put it on the rear since the front is still fine. The one thing I notice is that this 2.1 tires is much less wide than the 2.0 stock tire on the bike. Strange. Anyway...anyone have any experience with the IRC tires?
One other fallback is a WTB Velociraptor which I remember being a bit skittish with the last bike. But that was hardly a fair shake. I also have a Panaracer Smoke that another friend gave me. Why do these people give me tires? Beats me. Anyone have any experience on either of these? Or anyone want to give me yet more different tires?
Or should I look for something else? Panaracer Fire XC Pro? Kenda Nevegal or Blue Grooves or Kinetics? I really like the sound of 2.3 in the kinetics. Conti Explorer Pro? Being a road guy I'm not a real big fan of conti. I love the wide footprint that the stock Specialized tire gave me. But I really dislike the paper thin sidewall. I literally went through it twice, which I was reminded of when I swapped the tire out and saw the duct tape patches.
Anyway...thoughts, opinions, random comments welcome.