I replaced the surprisingly short lived Hutchinsons with a pair of Maxxis Larsen TT 2.0″ tires from BMCR today.  The above photo is a Hutchinson Toro 2.15″ with less than 200km of trail use — no pavement.  While the Hutchinsons still have some life left, they are certainly past their prime.  The Larsen TT tires are fast-rolling XC tires which weigh either 500g or 540g each depending on which model I have.  So far I haven’t been able to determine which model, but I really don’t care, so we will just leave it at that.

When new, the Eriksen was originally weighed with a pair of Panaracer FireXC Pro 2.1 tires (590g each).  The total weight was about 23.25 lbs.  After arriving in Australia and rebuilding the Eriksen with a few minor changes and the pair of aforementioned Hutchinson tires (570g each), the weight was down to 23.09 lbs (10.47kg).   So with my armchair bike scale, the total weight should now come in between 22.78 and 22.96 lbs (10.33-10.41kg), depending on which tires I actually bought.  However, I probably didn’t comply with the standard bike weighing procedures as I left the bike computer mount and a few other insignificant accessories installed, so none of these numbers are worth anything anyway. We will just call the total weight around 23 lbs.

Back to the tires.  I left the bike shop and proceeded directly to the Mitcham MTB park where I then crashed.  We’ll get to that soon.  The new tires are definitely faster than the old worn out Hutchinsons, climb better and seem to have sufficient braking grip.  Climbing on loose gravel is a little sketchy, but the tires perform well on most other surfaces.  Cornering grip is not as good as a tire with a more open tread pattern, but it is usually a good trade off for a faster tire overall.  I have not used the new tires in the mud, but due to the closely spaced blocks I suspect they would quickly clog.  The Hutchinsons, even in their current state, are probably a better mud tire.

UPDATE: I rode Eagle Park on Sunday.  The ride started out warm, dry and sunny, and the new tires performed well.  The ride ended cool, overcast and rainy.  The Larsen TTs gripped well on wet rocks and on damp ground.  The tread did start to clog and pickup wet clay on the climb up ‘Top Deck’, but traction was still very good.

Overall, I am very happy with these tires and will probably stick with these or try another fast/low rolling resistance tire when they are shot.  A fast tire, like the Maxxis, really works well with a hardtail.  While there are tire designs that offer more grip and more stability, they can (and usually do) make an otherwise quick handling and fast hardtail feel slow and sluggish.

I’ve had a few tires on the Erkisen over the past year and a half:

The crash.  The lack of cornering grip should not come as a surprise based on the Larsen TTs low(ish) rolling resistance, closely spaced blocks and narrow cross section.  I’ve ridden similar tires before, and generally prefer them to more stable, wider and slower tires.  What did come as a surprise can be seen in this convenient video at approximately 4:15:

The three bikes we brought with us are now reassembled and ready to ride. All three bikes made it through the three-month transit intact. We’ll start first with the Eriksen.

One of the customs requirements is that the bikes had to be clean and free of dirt. This really isn’t an easy as it might sound. Rather than face potential fines and delays for importing a less than spotless bike, I completely tore down the Eriksen and cleaned each component. The tear down took about three days.

This is what I had once all of the bubble wrap and tape was removed. The reassembly was fun, and took only a few hours. Notable changes include the tires, which are new Hutchinson Toro 2.15″, and a new cyclo-computer.  Other wear items such as cables, housing and the chain were also replaced.

The computer I was using in DC suffered an impact with a stream bank on my last ride. The crash left the computer embedded in the mud with a mounting tab cracked off. This is unfortunate as I really like this computer, a Sigma 1600. The Sigma is still in use, but not on the Eriksen (more on that later).

The Eriksen now has a Knog NERD that I got from Bernie Jones Cycles in nearby Warradale. I chose the Knog because of the rubbery mounting and apparent resistance to crash damage. Furthermore, I mounted the Knog on the stem to keep it away from stream bank damage.  One note: the included magnet from Knog does not work with Mavic alloy spokes.  The Sigma magnet (which does work with Mavic alloy spokes) works fine with the Knog sender.

I’ll let you know if I break it.

Moving on the Gunnar. The Gunnar wasn’t as muddy as the Eriksen, so I didn’t do a full tear down. It went back together in less than an hour. The only muddy parts on the Gunnar were the knobby tires. Here is a tip: to quickly remove dirt from knobbies remove the tires from the rim, place in the washing machine, add detergent, and wash in hot water. This was done with kevlar-bead tires, and the results were pretty good. I wouldn’t recommend doing this with steel-bead tires as corrosion and mangling of the bead are quite likely.

The Sigma computer will now be used full-time on the Gunnar. Due to the now missing mounting tab, the computer is semi-permanently zip tied to the bars. This should work well for road use, but I’m not sure how long it would last off road. The Gunnar is the only bike I’ve ridden so far. Two rides up the coast so far (see the first photo), more to come this weekend.