So I got these tires from Bikechain.com a couple days ago.
Rocket Ron 26 x 2.10 Evo, Tubeless Black Triple Nano 600 g
Racing Ralph 26 x 2.10 Evo, Tubeless Black Triple 650 g
I just cut and paste that from the Schwalbe site but I coulda sworn those weights were each 70 grams lighter when I ordered the tires. I think they’re reading my mind and changed the site. I’m wearing my foil hat now. Anyway, the weights they have on the site now are accurate which is a bit of a bummer. A little too heavy for the short xc races which is what I wanted them for. They’ll be great for long rocky races though… .like Fool’s Gold. They’re kinda skinny and low volume too, more like a 1.95. The carcass is 48mm wide.
I mostly got these with Bump & Grind in mind. I don’t like worrying about my sidewalls getting shredded. Then I got to thinking about the race as a whole, not just the tire eating downhill after blood rock. That downhill is such a small part of the race. Maybe it’s worth running light tires for the benefit on the other 95% of the track and playing it a bit cautious on the rocky downhill. So maybe you lose 10 seconds on that downhill riding cautious but I’m thinking it’s more than made up for on the rest of the course.
Hmmmmmm.
Then again maybe if these tires roll as fast as the intarnets says they do the combination of flat resistance and rolling is worth it.
I mounted the Rocket Ron on the front and rode it yesterday and I’d have to agree that the grip is stupendous and they felt as fast as, or faster than, the Larsen I had on there whose grip is less than stupendous.
Unfortunately in trying to find the limits of it’s grip I got dumped on the algae-over-clay fast downhill sweeper entering Phipps. Yeah, that was dumb. No tire can find grip there when it’s wet. Kinda sucked since I was headed to bike practice and I had to do it with stinging wounds on the elbow hip and knee. The knee being the worst of it. Managed to open up the same spot I ground down at TallyCross. Kept the hate flowing the whole practice though… mother trucker.
Kinda sore this morning… like I rode twice as hard as I actually did. Just reminding myself, sometimes you gotta pay to play. So I made my flesh payment.
What is “bike practice”?
you know, practice riding bikes…. the serious guys wear cups at bike practice.
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that expression. Can you ride your bike to bike practice or aren’t you already practicing if you’re riding your bike?
yeah absolutely, I commute by bike to bike practice. It’s greener.
The Racing Ralphs are good tires. Give them a try, weight is sometimes over rated
Everyone seems to love the Schwalbe’s. I may have to dole out the green and give those guys a try.
After 9000 km of cycling, thru desert, mud, rocks, sand etc… teh schwables are the only tires on tour that have consistently help up to teh punishemnt without problems. Some guys on schwables have yet to get their first flat! (I have about 15). Defintely a tough tire, but they have this “schwable wobble”, at least the marathons do, they don’t seat quite right on most rims and are a little lopsided.
thanks for the tip on those marathons I’ll try some of those on the cx.