After about a year-and-a-half of consideration, I finally picked up a pair or two of Maxxis Ignitors.  I’ve ridden a fair number other tyres (note that while some of these tyres were purchased in the U.S. as ‘tires’, I’m writing this in Australia, so they’re now ‘tyres’), but I haven’t been that happy with any of them.

Of the tyres I’ve recently ridden, the Larsen TTs were fast on hard pack but way to unpredictable in loose corners and mud.  The Hutchinson Toros were nice on the front, but too slow on the back.  The WTB Prowler 29 SLs were predictable but slow and heavy, the sidewalls proved a little weak, too. Finally, the Crossmark came the closest, but they still gave up too much in the mud and didn’t seem to offer much over the Larson TTs.

While in the U.S. (or the ‘States, as it were) I rode Eric’s Turner Burner with 26×2.1″ Ignitors in what I’d call moderately-slippery mud as well as dry-ish hardpack.  I was so impressed with the Ignitors that I  finally decided to buy some.  I got a pair of Ignitor 120 tpi ‘Exception Series’ 26×2.1″ tyres for the Eriksen and a pair of Ignitor 29×2.1″ 60 tpi tyres for the Kona.

The 26×2.1″ Ignitor Exception measures in at a predictably-puny 1.785″ mounted without tubes on Mavic 819 rims.  The missing 0.215″ of tyre width certainly explains some of the 260g (a little over a half pound) weight savings over the old Crossmark/Toro combo.  Aside from the sizing discrepancy, the 26″ Ignitors mounted easily and inflated with some Stan’s sealant without too much coercion.

The 29×2.1″ Ignitor measures in at a shockingly-accurate 2.039″ mounted with tubes on Fulcrum Red Metal XL 29er rims.  Even with an honest tyre size, the 29″ Ignitors saved 200g (a little under a half pound) over the old and notoriously-heavy 2.1″ WTB Prowler 29 SL tyres.

In the process of swapping the tyres on the Kona, I also removed a link form the chain (the Kona is a SS with sliding Paragon-like dropouts) and shortened the wheelbase by more or less 1″, assuming the PC1 chain didn’t already stretch too much.

I took the Kona out to Fox Creek (home of the Foxy 1000) and had a unplanned riding buddy for the entire one-and-a-half-hour ride.  He kept cutting the switch-backs so I couldn’t always keep up, but I did pass him on the downhills.

Overall, the changes were transformative. I don’t know if the shorter chain stay/wheelbase or the Ignitors made the difference, but either way I’m very happy.  I’ve yet to take the Eriksen out on the dirt with the new tyres, but I think I’ll be pleasantly surprised when I do.

Update:  I swapped the 26×2.1″ Ignitor Exception tyres for a pair of 26×2.35″ Ignitor ‘Maxxpro’ tyres.  I don’t know what ‘Maxxpro’ means, but I’m guessing something along the lines of ‘heavy’.  Anyway, the Ignitor 2.1s, which were actually ~1.8″ wide, were just too small, and these Ignitor 2.35s measure in with a nice 1.97″.  Aside from the increased size and weight, these new ‘Maxxpro’ Ignitors seem to have much thicker sidewalls, and as a result sealed up much more quickly and required about half the Stan’s sealant that the smaller Exceptions took.  Here’s a comparison of the key specifications:

Ignitor 2.1 Exception (left) & Ignitor 2.35 Maxxpro (right)

Ignitor 2.35 Maxxpro (left) & Ignitor 2.1 Exception (right)

I’ve been using the 1×9 drivetrain for about two months, and it’s time for some updates.  I finally got around to weighing the Eriksen and the overall weight dropped from a 3×9 10.9kg to the now 1×9 10.3kg.

The new Chain Keeper chain guide was initially jamming and rubbing.  I tired realigning the guide with no success, and even resorted to riding with no chain guide.  The chain dropped fairly frequently without a guide, so I continued tweaking the Chain Keeper until I finally found a position that worked.  That was about a month ago and I haven’t had any issues since.

Last weekend I rode the 1×9 Eriksen io an XC race in very muddy, wet and cold conditions.  Despite riding though clay, deep mud and hub-deep “puddles” the chain didn’t suck or jam.  The drivetrain worked perfectly throughout my near three-hour race.  Three hours in those conditions without a single sucked chain would have been a miracle with the 3×9 or even 2×9 drivetrain.  Being very happy with drivetrain, the only change I’m likely to make is to swapping the aluminum XT 32t ring for a stainless steel 32-34t ring.  Swapping the 11-32t cassette for a one with a 34t cog is also a possibility, but I’m not convinced it’s necessary.

Based on my experience, I’d definitely recommend giving 1×9 a try, although you may want to consider appropriate gearing for the terrain you ride.  The Chain Keeper is the only 1×9-specific component I’ve used, and it seems to be a reasonable, though pricey chain guide.  Aside from the touchy setup and alignment, the only other issue I’ve found with the Chain Keeper is the placement of the mounting hardware.  The allen bolts on the Chain Keeper are aligned parallel to the downtube, and as a result, they are difficult to access.  This wouldn’t necessarily be an issue on a frame with a smaller diameter downtube, but it would likely be an issue with most.  I’ve found that neither my trail-friendly multi-tool or T-handled allen wrenches work.  A small L-shaped allay key does work, but that means I have to carry one more tool when I ride.

That’s all for now.  I have another XC race in a couple weeks –Hopefully this time the trails will be a little drier.

I raced in a team 6 Hour Enduro at Eagle Park near Adelaide, SA on Sunday. This was my first endurance race, and my first race over an hour (or so). There were about 90 racing with a mix of solo, under-17, veterans, teams and mixed teams.

We had three on our team, Dave, Dave and Tom.  I met Dave and Tom on the Tour Down Under Challenge earlier this year, and we’ve been riding semi-regularly since.  Anyway,  I rode three of the eight laps.  We rotated through each lap, so I did get a chance to recover in the time in between.

I rode the start lap. The day started off cool at around 15C and ended windy and still cool. The course was wet and muddy from overnight rain, but it was quickly dried throughout the day. There was a fair amount of traffic on this lap, but it thinned out by the first climb. I finished this lap without any crashes or incidents.

The course was mostly dry and in good shape for my second and third laps. I did manage to go over the bars three times during these two laps, but neither I or the bike sustained any serious damage. While I was trying to improve on the time of my first lap, both laps came in about a minute and a half slower.  I’m fairly certain the crashed weren’t helping my times.

Above you are looking at one of our “well executed” team transitions.  Note that that both riders should optimally be facing the same direction.

In the end, my lap times were 49:11, 50:27 and 50:55. The average lap time for the teams were completed against was 48:37, with a fast lap of 39:34 and the slowest at 1:41:38. Overall, our team finished 4th of 10, completing eight laps.

Here you will see a view of turn 1 as seen from the start/finish line. I’m the fifth one back, wearing in blue.

The Eriksen and a bag of banana peels after the finish. I swapped my usual Larsen TT/Crossmark tires for my more mud-friendly Hutchinson Toros. The Toros were nice on the first lap, but the Larsen TT/Crossmark combo would have been better for the rest of the day.  That said, the Toros are doing a much better job of holding air than the Maxxis tires ever have.  I mounted the Hutchinson tires tubeless with Stan’s sealant, and a week later they had not lost much (if any) air pressure.

I also took the granny ring off, mostly because I’ve been having chain-suck in the middle ring (and the extra clearance is helpful), but also because removing the ring had the secondary benefit of not letting me use it.  I had not used the granny ring at Eagle in quite a while, and I didn’t miss it during the race.  I’m now contemplating switching the Eriksen to 1×9…

Here is a map I made of the course, just in case you’re inspired to try a lap of your own.  The red-on-white plus red-on-pink route is a full lap.  The red-on-pink alone is the under-17 and recreation class lap. Download a printable PDF of the Eagle 6 Hour Enduro Map.

Finally, here is an elevation map of the course.  This was provided by another competitor, so ignore the time.