Tire choice for sandy/loose XC

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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Ghost234
Posts: 397
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:21 am

by Ghost234

This last year was a pretty dry year and as a result many of my races involved racing on sandy or dusty conditions. I ran 2.25 Racing Ralphs, but I always felt that there must be something better as I slid out quite often. What are your go-to tire when the course is loose/sandy with occasional roots?

by Weenie


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Itsadrianduminy
Posts: 19
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 5:48 am

by Itsadrianduminy

Searched long and hard for anything better but think Racing Ralphs are the way to go.. Light and grippy.. Only other possible reccomendation would be a Specialized Ground Control {Control version}

Hope you find something!
Cheers

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Kastrup
Posts: 570
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:00 pm
Location: Aarhus, Denmark

by Kastrup

Have you considered the RocketRon? It apparently tested better in terms om rr than the RacingRalph and has slightly more grip.
"Stay cool and try to survive" A. Klier to the other members of the Garmin classics squad the night before P-R.

Jmdesignz2
Posts: 272
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 2:27 am

by Jmdesignz2

27.5 x 2.8 - amazing grip and flotation. But, requires different wheelset. Your frame might not fit but most 29er frames do.

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LeDuke
Posts: 2021
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 2:39 am
Location: Front Range, CO

by LeDuke

Bontrager XR2, assuming this is a 29er.

Good volume, good tread.

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nickf
Posts: 1427
Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2010 10:34 pm

by nickf

I have to say i like the XR2 team issue that came on my top fuel. Good all around grip and decent RR. I would like to go down to the 2.0 though. They do hook up well in the loose stuff. I live in Florida and we have some pretty sandy conditions.

nunokas
Posts: 148
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 3:18 pm

by nunokas

Good rolling performance but grippier than RaRa?

RoRo by all means :) And they are lighter too in the condom evolution version :D

The snakeskin version has a good balance between weight/durability.


regards

SportingGoods
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:16 am

by SportingGoods

I have tried Racing Ralph, Rocket Ron and Nobby Nick. Evo or Snakeskin. My conclusion is:
- tubeless: snakeskin is a must. I had a EVO that never sealed (I mean the walls of the tire!!).
- Mud: NN front and Rear
- Dry: RaRa rear. NN front. People would use RoRo front but I prefer the grip of the NN up front.

But as Jmdesignz2 mentioned as a joke (or not), I don't care about that anymore, I moved to 27.5+ and never looked back. Despite the added weight (400g total for the 2 wheels and tires), I am faster with 27.5+ both uphill and downhil.

kevhogaz
Posts: 232
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:18 am
Location: Arizona

by kevhogaz

I've been pretty happy with my Maxxis Ikon 29x2.35 tire, up front. Live in AZ, where all of our local trails are sand/loose over hard, or rocky. Tire hooks up good, slides predictably and doesn't feel slow. I had to play around with the pressure, and finally got it where I like it. It hasn't lost any of the tread yet, so it looks like it'll wear pretty good, as well.

I'm running it at 28 psi, tubeless, and weigh in at about 220 lbs, sans gear.

toastie
Posts: 70
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2015 11:55 pm

by toastie

most of the places i ride have flint and gave up on schwalbe tyres long ago as got fed up of punctures and damaged sidewalls, swapped over to maxxis crossmark for the summer or anything hard pack and maxxis advantage for the winter and the boggy stuff, both LUST versions, neither are light but they are good tyres that last well and i don't have to keep pushing my bike home with a shredded sidewall

bikerector
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 4:04 pm

by bikerector

I always feel like width trumps knob pattern for sand; try and keep from digging in too much. I haven't tried a ton of options but generally I find shallow patterns with a lot of knobs with more width does better than a deeper, more wide open pattern. As an example, I think ardent race 2.2 is better in sand than an ardent 2.25. Neither grip really well, because it's sand, but the race seems to skim over the top better than the ardent. I think a wider RaRa or the ikon 2.35 would be good sand tires. Go with lowest pressures you feel comfortable running as well.

by Weenie


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