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)

The ‘Eagle Short Course’ race was the second race in the 2009/2010 AMTBC Summer Series, and my second MTB race.  This race was similar in format to the ‘Dirt Crit‘ in that the course was short (about two minutes per lap), but the terrain was a little more technical.  The race was time limited plus two finishing laps, with the riders separated into five race grades.

Based on my performance and observations in the first race, this time I decided to enter in the ‘C Grade’.

My race stated well.  I was in second after the mass start, and held that position for two or so laps.  I passed the leader and actually held the lead for about a lap, and then crashed one one of the slightly technical sections (around 2:30 in the video).

I had ridden this section of the course several time prior to the race, but this time I didn’t quite make it.  My front wheel grabbed a rut in the dirt and I went over the bars.  Surprisingly, the front wheel came partially out of the dropout and the brake jammed.  After a quick repair and wheel realignment I was back in the race, though apparently about 30 seconds down (on a sub two-minute lap).  The rest of the race was unevetful with a few passes and being passed a few time.  I ended up finishing seventh of ten.  The complete C Grade results here:

I was race plate 421.  As you can see, the first few laps went pretty well, then in lap 4 I crashed.  My remaining lap times never quite recovered to my pre-crash lap times.

For comparison, average lap times by grade; minutes:seconds (number of laps completed):

Full results and more info available on the Adelaide MTB Club site: www.amtbc.com.

Like many others, I’m going to lay blame from my problems, at least partially, on my equipment.  I decided to swap my front Larsen TT tire with a 2.1″ Maxxis Rendez eXCeption series.  Supposedly, this tire should offer more cornering grip than the Larsen TT, and it may, but what it doesn’t offer is any braking traction whatsoever.  The Rendez was sketchy on any slightly loose descent, and felt disconnected in heavy sprints/acceleration.  Interestingly, this 2.1″ Rendez is actually 1/4″ narrower than the 2.0″ Larsen TT.  I rode the Rendez on a few trails prior to the race, and against my better judgment, I left it on.  For those who are interested, I generally ride the rear Larsen TT at 32 psi and the Rendez in front at 28 psi, both with tubes.

Overall I am happy with the results, and I’ll have more video and data tables after the next race.  The video turned out much better this time (no leaf on lens).  The first-person on-bike video was from the ATC3K helmet camera and the Sony W300 was used for the rest of the video.  Next time I think I’ll try for more off-bike angles

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: