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In today’s send I’m going to talk about tires, tubes, tubeless, and inserts. Who knew a tire could be so involved. I also wanted to about the enduro race I was lucky enough to compete in last weekend.

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I'll also be sharing

• Tires: Tires, tubes, tubeless, and inserts

• Bike I’m Eyeing: Apogee One

• Bike Doctor Sheduro race recap.

• What I’m reading this week

• My favorite stuff

• Video of the week

• Friday Fails #328

Tires: Tires, tubes, tubeless, and inserts

When it comes to tires there are lots of factors to consider like rolling speed, tread pattern, compound, protection, size, and weight. If you are unfamiliar with any of these terms, they will all make sense soon.

Rolling speed is a big factor to consider when picking out a tire. You are probably just thinking, just get the fastest tires and be done with it. It’s not that simple. The fastest rolling tires are usually ones with the least tread. This isn’t always true, but for the most part it is. Rolling speed is affected by to size, shape, and location of the lugs. Too few or too small lugs, and you will wash out in corners, or if there are too many or too aggreasive, and you will feel like you are sitting still. As with most things in the bike world, there are tradeoffs with most aspects of tires.

The next factor to consider is tread pattern. A lot of this also has an affect on the rolling speed. The easiest way to think about tread pattern is think of it as the impression left on a softer bit of trail. For the most part the lugs in the center of the tire will affect speed, and breaking power. Square lugs are great for breaking, but not so great for speed. Ramped lugs roll faster, but they are not as good for breaking. Side lugs will primarily affect cornering. The bigger the lug, the harder you can lean into the corners. The larger the lugs, the heavier the tire, and the slower it will feel. Weight is a big factor in how the tire will feel when riding. Rotational weight(wheels and tires) will be more noticeable that almost any other area of the bike. This is another one of the tradeoffs I mentioned above.

The tire compound is the type of rubber that is used in manufacturing. Some tires are a single type of rubber, while others are two or three layers of rubber. Generally speaking the softer the compound the better the traction will be is most conditions. They are also going to be a little slower. They also wear out faster. The harder compounds will roll faster, but they won’t be as grippy. They will also last a little longer than the softer options. Dual and triple compound tires try to get the best of both by using different rubber rubbers in different parts of the tires like the sidewalls and tread.

Bike tires can have flat protection build into the tire. If can be anywhere from none to full tire protection. Here’s another situation where you might be saying to yourself, why not just use a tire will full protection? The answer is weight. Those things add weight to the tire. Most built in protection is limited to either just the sidewalls or the whole tire.

Size matters, especially with bike tires. Wheel size will determine one aspect of tire size. These will be 26, 27.5, and 29. Your frame and fork will also play a roll in tire size. Most forks will fit a 2.6 tire easily, and some will fit something as large as 2.8-3” tires. The manufacturers will let you know what the max tire size is for your frame and fork. The next measurement on a tire will be the width measured in inches. An example will be something like 29 × 2.6. There is a very good chance your bike will fit tires between 2.2 and 2.6. Most bikes today fall in that slot.

Weight also matters. The heavier the tire is, the slower it will feel. This is again one of those situations where there are tradeoffs. Lighter is faster until you get a sliced sidewall, and you will be walking out or taking time to put in a tube.

Tubeless ready rims and tires are super common today. Most bikes over $1000 will come either tubeless or tubeless ready. Tubeless ready will take a little effort to make tubeless. Tubeless is so popular because it works as advertised. You can run lower pressure without the risk of a pinch-flat. Lower pressure will result in better traction. The tire patch, which is the part of the tire that’s actually touching the ground at any given time, is larger with lower pressure. Tubeless also has liquid sealant in the tire that can seal small punctures. As much as I love tubeless, it is more complicated than using tubes, but in my opinion it’s worth it. I still carry a tube incase the puncture is too big for the sealant.

The final aspect of a tire setup is an insert. An insert is something like Cush Core or Tannus Tubeless Armor. An insert goes between the tire and rim. It’s usually a closed cell dense foam. If you hit a rock at a high rate of speed with lower pressure you can damage the rim. The insert provides a barrier between that rock and your rim. They do have more of the tradeoffs I have mentioned before. They are a pain to install the first few times. Follow the instructions, and know they get easier each time. They do make tubeless super easy because they push the sidewalls towards the rim bead. Another downside is the weight. Cush Core is the heavier side, and Tannus is lighter. Either will add rotational weight to the setup.

Over the years my tire choices have evolved a lot. Way back when I used to focus on light and fast rolling. Now my focus is on traction and durability while still trying to find a faster option. Once I started riding downhill, durability became a huge priority for that bike. Nothing will ruin your day quite like a double tread/bead puncture. All of my bikes currently run 29 × 2.6 tires with an insert in the back tire. I have a full suspension 130/120mm, another full suspension 170/160mm and a 150mm hardtail. I will take a weight penalty for peace of mind.

My favorite tires these days are Maxxis. Maxxis and most other tire manufactures have their own language on the side of tire listing all the features. For example a DHF may be Maxxis DHF 29 × 2.6 EXO+, 3C, TR. That means it has EXO+ puncture protection on the sidewalls and tread. The 3C means it’s a tripple compound tire. The TR means it’s tubeless ready.

My favorite Maxxis tires are listed below. With these tires I will always run a EXO+ tire as a rear tire. Standard EXO is fine for the front tire in my opinion. That said no tire is puncture proof. Just the other day I got a double tread/sidewall puncture on a EXO+ tire. This is also after countless downhill and trail miles on 3 different bikes with no issues

Maxxis Minion DHF 29 × 2.6 EXO+ 3C TR this tire is great from and rear. It rolls well, corners great, and has good stopping power.

Maxxis Minion DHR 29 × 2.6 EXO+ 3C Maxx Terra TR this tire commonly pairs with the DHF. It doesn’t roll super well, but it has great traction all around.

Maxxis Disctor 29 × 2.6 EXO+ 3C TR I primarily use this tire with the DHF as my front. Overall a solid tire that hooks up in most conditions and rolls fast.

Maxxis Assegai 29 × 2.6 EXO+ 3C Max Terra, TR this is an absolute beast of a front tire. It hooks up so well in all conditions I have ridden it. It’s a little heavy, but the traction is unbeatable.

Bike I’m Eyeing: Apogee One

Bike Doctor Sheduro race recap.

First I want to give a shoutout to the Bike Doctor crew for putting on a great event. As far as enduro events go, this one is pretty small. That’s part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much. As long as you rode the stages in order, you can ride with whoever you want. Most other races I had to ride(or start at least) with my race class. This setup allowed me to ride with a few guys from the shop, and our Specialized rep. With this being a local race for me I got to see lots of friends and customers throughout the day. It also happens to be in one of my favorite places to ride. This race raises money for new gravity focused trails in the watershed. They have already done a ton of great work there, and I am stoked to see what else they do.

Spoiler alert: I DNFed the race. DNF is did not finish. I had a mechanical issue that could not be fixed, so I had to bail prior to stage 5. It’s a real bummer because I was riding really well.

Stage 1 was Rocky and Bullwinkle. This trail is super chunky on the top half(Rocky) and fast and way less chunk for the second half(Bullwinkle). It’s also kinda of flatish towards the top. Through the rocky section I was on the pedals really hard. I felt like I wasn’t riding that fast, but at least it was clean. No crashes or dabs. The bottom half was awesome except for the two small trees I clipped coming out of a turn. I hit one with each bar, and somehow I managed to avoid wrecking. In my class I ended up second fastest.

Stage 2 was Trail 4 into Little Canaan. I know both of these trails really well, but I don’t usually link them together. Trail 4 has 3 spots where you can drop or roll the rocks. In a practice run I got a double puncture when I dropped the second one which ended my day. I rolled 2 of the 3. It thought it may cost me some time. If it saved me from getting a flat, it was worth it. Overall trail 4 went well, and the bit of trail to connect it to Little Canaan was also good. LC has two entrances. One is high risk, but if executed perfectly it would save some time. I opted to go the slightly longer way. That entrance has had my number all year. I am confident my decision was correct as I knew I could fly through the rest of the trail. It paid off as I had the fourth fastest time on this stage in my class.

Stage 3 was Green Eggs and Ham into Super Steep. Prior to race day I had only ridden Green Eggs and Ham due to various reasons. I am pretty sure I rode it 10 years ago once, but for the most part I was racing the second half blind. The top is a little flat and you are on the pedals for a decent chunk of it. The rest of it is fast and flowwy. From there I hit the part of the trail I hadn’t ridden recently. It’s a little scary when you see what looks like a rock drop, and you have no clue what the landing looks like. The first one looked easy enough from up the trail. After I landed I almost went off trail, but I was able to hang on. The second was much bigger from up the trail, and I decided to skip it. This cost me time as the landing was perfect. Next time. The 3rd one was smaller and easy. The last hard part was rock roll in a turn. I was told to hit the crack on the inside right, and it would be OK. I felt great when I finished this stage even though I was beat. I ended up sixth on this stage. At the end of this stage was a small aid station. I stopped drinking soda years ago, but I had two cups of Coke. That fueled my massive climb to the next stage.

Stage 4 was Albatross. The very top section has some great new trail thanks to previous Sheduros. This little section is a quarter mile long at the most, but it’s filled with table tops, and doubles. With clean jumps you fly through here. Then the trail got a little flat which had me on the pedals hard. From there it gets fast. At this point I was in preservation mode. There are two big double that are well within my wheelhouse, but I didn’t want to hit either for the first time during a race. I would prefer to have someone tow me into them, so I know the speed. I skipped both which cost me a ton of time. I had one of the slowest times in my class here. A lot of my last of speed here is due to lack of preriding this one. I had two different pre-rides ended by mechanicals, and both caused me to skip Alba that day.

I noticed a missing suspension linkage bolt on my bike on the massive climb up to stage 5. At that point I was pretty much dead in the water. I limped back to the end point. I hiked a little ways up 5 to watch my friends finish. Even though it was a little disappointing I still had a great day in the woods riding bike with friends.

What I’m reading this week

My favorite stuff

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Video of the week

Friday Fails #328