Tires….Exiwolf, Nanoraptor, Twister 700c
Random tire reviews to keep the content stream fresh here at RINEMBA.org…
So I’ve been thinking a lot about tires lately as my weekday mtb rides have shifted from post workday stress relievers to pre- work dawn patrol wake up calls.The change in ride scheduling usually coincides with a change in the weather and riding conditions. Gone are the drier and consistent trail conditions of the warmer months. The tacky trails of Summer and early Fall morph seemingly overnight into a hidden minefield of slick roots, rocks and wet leaf litter. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. It’s just that in these conditions your tire choice becomes a little more important. Never does this fact become more clear than when you’re spastically sliding moto-style through a sweeping corner while looking like a drunken figure skater, all while hoping to not wind up in that big oak tree to your left. It’s at this moment that you begin to realize your earlier choice of treads may be catching up to you. That corner you thought you railed like Eric Carter all season now owns you and is suggesting that you might just look more like Eric Estrada wiping out ala CHIPs style.
How did it get to this point, you may ask? That’s what I was asking myself the other morning as I nearly ate it at high speed in a mess of leaves and trail that rode more like ice than dirt. It probably had something to do with installing a WTB Exiwolf on the front of my rigid 29er (Karate Monkey). It’s a nice big cushy tire with low rolling resistance. Pretty durable to boot. I noticed it added some give to the front end and it tracked great on rocks, rock face and dry roots. I also noticed that it didn’t track that well in the sparse mud puddles I rode through when conditions were great. But hey, who cares when conditions are generally great right?Nowadays, though, something is different and the big round front tire with the low rolling resistance and the squared off rear tire with the well spaced large knobs (Motoraptor 2.1)aren’t exactly reaching an accord when it comes to the direction of my bike.To balance things out I’ll be going back to running a knobby tire up front for the remainder of the Fall and Winter. Something along the lines of my current rear tire, maybe a Moto Raptor 2.1. Overall the Exiwolf is a great addition to a rigid bike or hardtail. It adds some cush and rolls nicely while hooking up well in dry and takcy conditions. It’s just a little under equipped when it comes to really slick riding and mud.
Another WTB tire that’s built to perform somewhat like the Exi, but with less volume, is the Nanoraptor. I ran one of these this season on the rear of the Waltworks with good results (paired with a Moto Raptor up front). It also is designed for low rolling resistance and is more at home on hardpack and dry/tacky conditions. The DNA casing was not made with the rock gardens of NE in mind however, and it suffered greatly on our local trails. The sidewalls are starting to get mighty bare, and it will not be long before I have to trash the tire due to a large hole. The tread is outliving the sidewalls and there’s nothing I hate more than trashing a perfectly good tire due to a blown sidewall. I’ll be looking for a new tire to experiment with by Spring and with the plethora of new 29er tires I should be able to find something to work with.
I was lucky of enough to get a pair of new ‘cross tires from Mike F. recently. He hooked me up with some Continental Twister ‘cross tires. I was looking for something to replace my road tires on the On One. In the Winter I ride ‘cross tires on the road due to most of my road rides being at night and ice/sand is no fun to ride on with 700×23 slicks. On the weekends in the Winter/early Spring I love riding up to the Attleboro area on the road and hitting some old trail networks I know before heading home. In the past I’ve always ridden wide ‘cross tires - 700×35c. The Contis are 32c and seemed like they’d be a little small at first glance. On the road one of the first things I noticed was the squarish profile of the tire, followed by the grip. They roll pretty well but they are designed to grab, and that they do. Cornering hard on pavement with ‘cross tires can be harrowing if you forget you’re on knobbies. And I did just that about 10 minutes into my first ride. I got more than a little squirlly as the knobs really started to squirm in a hard turn. Once that was over I managed to remember to square off my turns at speed, and to slow it down a little when cornering in general. Those same knobs that almost dumped me on the street kept me upright in some cruddy trails this past weekend. I managed to ride in sand, crumbling asphalt, a gas line trail turned stream, goopy mud and some gravel while riding trails off the Lincoln bike path and at Chase Farm. The tires worked out great in all conditions, even the leafy woods trails. I ran them at about 60 psi in the woods and had no issues with traction (at least none that I can blame on the tires).
That’s about it for new(ish) stuff. Hopefully I’ll get my hands on some new 29er tires over the Winter and possibly a carbon fork for the KM (I’ve been eyeing the Bontrager Racelite Switchblade carbon/aluminum fork). Enjoy the rest of the Fall, and don’t forget that the Cyclocross Nationals are in Providence the weekend of Dec 15th!
BDee