This is a quick post to explain to John Harrington (facebook discussion on 24 August ) about clipping tires.

(There is more, but I couldnt screen shoot the whole thing- was born in the 70s)

These Specialized Captain 2.00 tires  clogged with mud at XTERRA Vermont in 2009 (Read more about the race, rotten foot and tire story here)  Not knowing Vermont, I didnt bring real mud tires, so I had to make do, so I used a sharp wire cutter and clipped every 2nd knob out of the center line of knobs. Which would help the mud shed (fling off) the tire easier when speed increase.

Real mud tires are narrow (sinks to the bottom of the mud where the real traction is) with few, but tall knobs. Tall knobs provide more grip (like paddles or spikes) and few because, too many knobs will let the mud pack onto the tire  and make a thick sausage like the pic above.

Downhill racers are famous for cutting tires to suit certain courses.

Off course, a rainy pre race taper allows for plenty of cutting time, so here is my product. Cant see on the pic, I clipped every 2nd knob out of the center row  of this Specialized Captain for better mud clearing.

Of course, its a tedious job, it takes seemingly hours and 1 slight mishap and you can throw the tire in the garbage.

Before the new fast rolling  Specialized Renegade  tire the Specialized Factory Team (especially Susi and Burry) used to cut the Fast Trak knobs shorter for less rolling. (and less stopping/cornering 🙂 ) But now they’d cut Fast Trak tires for more grip on somewhat muddy courses. If it gets real muddy, they’ll go with a full on mud tire. Except Burry. He just sticks to low knobs and goes with the sliding- I saw it 1st hand at Sani2C…

I’m very lucky to have a full quiver of Specialized bikes to chose from!

After watching a few youtube videos on the Waco course, I decided to travel to Waco with my 29er Epic (Aluminium)- it loves rocky, rooty and twisty.  But 30min into pre riding the course on wednesday I had to call a friend to ship me a kiddie bike. (with 26inch wheels) Its true, TV (and youtube) makes courses look flat! OK, my legs were also seriously dented from training, but this course has about 20 short, granny gear climbs and I think the number of times your speed falls below 5mi/h was a lot, a lot. In other words, there was a lot, a lot of acceleration from almost stand still– the one 29er drawback. The (only) other shortcoming to this 29er is weight- the white bike is 5 lbs more than the one in the white wrapping. For now…

Read more ...

This is by far the hairiest XTERRA course I have ever pre ridden. Sure, its almost all uphill, but it is super technical and slippery. It has been raining for the past 3 weeks and everything is slimy.

Speaking of slimy, my foot is fine. The cut is 90% healed up and I even ran on it the other day…

Read more ...

In search  of the holy rubber…

Following up on earlier tire testing in Stellenbosch*, Specialized’s tire whiz guys came up with 5 new prototypes to test. The goal is to make a tire that is very puncture resistant, but still rolls well and doesnt weigh as much as a tractor tire.

*Read earlier blog Tire testing Stellenbosch.

We know we have great tread patterns in the Fast Trak LK and The Captain, its  a matter of making  a strong, light, flexible casing. With an emphisis on STRONG.

Yesterday we tested rolling resistance of the 5 prototypes and also a few competitors’ tires. First I rode the rollers with a Power Tap and took Wattage outputs at 25km/h and 35km/h. Some tires needed 560 Watts to go 35km/h, and with the cold legs, the unfamiliar rollers, and keeping the speed at exactly 35 at 1500m altitude took some huffing and puffing!

Read more ...

Burry Stander doing rolling resistance testing on the rollers. He rode at 25km/h and at 35km/h with about 20 different tires and measured the wattage needed to hold those speeds for each tire. On the right (reading the power  tap numbers) is Benno Willeit, our Specialized mechanic, and on the left is Tire Specialist Frank Stacey.

Read more ...