Well we're getting toward the end of the summer and so I've worn out most of my tires and have a bit more to say about them if anyone reads blogs on the internet anymore. I guess i need to get with the times and start being a social media influencer and making youtube videos about this or something. But excuuuse me for liking to read and write still.
Alright where was I? Tires I guess. Maybe I should find something better to do with my life but this is what i do these days.
First up lets talk about the Schwable Rick XCs. I got over the narrower width and wound up liking these tires a lot. Pretty good durability over rocks although I did slice one real good a few weeks ago and it was worn enough for me to not bother trying to put in a patch.
The ricks got swapped around between my bikes this spring and they were on a set of bontrager kovee rsl wheels. I also had some thunder burts on a set of bontrager wheels and then also my mezcals on some dt swiss wheels. 3 sets of wheels and tires between two bikes was kind of nice although I never put the thunder burts on the hei hei (although I have done that before) or mezcals on the trek. Mostly it was swapping the ricks over to the hei hei whenever I wanted to race it, which was actually most of the time this season. With that wheel and tire setup the bike came in at under 25lbs ready to ride and I rode it like that at the homestead 6 hour (where I got 2nd) and 4 out of 5 of our wed night races (I got 2nd 3 times and won the series but never managed to win a race).
It was a very good setup that not only was light and went fast, but could corner and go downhill. The trek only got brought out to race once with a rick up front and a thunder burt on the back and the ricks have made me not want to bother racing the thunder burt front and rear at all. The thunder burts are fast, but have limitations when you're actually trying to ride them on trails or in a race where you have to do things like slow down and turn. The Ricks are almost as fast on a drum and can actually turn, which, in the real world, probably translates to being faster overall. But please, schwalbe, make it a little bit bigger and give the weight a little more QC attention.
With one of my ricks worn down and then sliced open, and one of my thunder burts worn down and also sliced open, I have a burt/rick combo on the trek.
The hei hei is back on it's mezcals and I like those tires as well. They are the new 2.4 xc race version and I think i've talked about them before. Last year i rode them quite a bit, wore out a rear tire, bought a single replacement, and then swapped the new tire onto the front and the used rear to the back. I'm still riding those tires and would say the tread wear was much better than I expected. Those ricks were toast after a spring of racing.
Between the two it's hard to say which I prefer. The ricks are a bit faster, but the mezcals are higher volume, last a bit longer, and maybe have a touch more grip. For a pure XC race tire I'd give it to the Ricks. For a little more general use where you're racing and also trail riding, the Mezcals are probably better. I might try the new peyotes next season, which test fast and have decent cornering knobs, and like the mezcals will actually measure 2.4" wide.
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