Schwalbe G-one pro longer term review

Back in the spring, I put a G-one R pro up front and an RS on the rear, and have put them through quite a bit of gravel riding and racing.

The 50s barely fit in the frame and fork and have rubbed down some of the protective tape I put in the chainstays. But it will be hard to get me to go back to a smaller tire. I've crept the pressures down a touch, sometimes to 21/23 f/r, and even the RS semi slick has pretty acceptable grip when you have that much volume and that low of pressure. I raced on these at Get lost gravel in hamilton and got another 2nd place. My whole year has been about almost but not quite winning it seems. The tires were great all day though. Mostly I just screwed up at the end.

The rear tire did wear out sort of quickly, and the insides of the edge knobs are pretty much all shredded off. Next I'm going to try the R pattern front and rear. The R will have a bit more grip and maybe better puncture protection with the small, tightly spaced tread blocks, but in testing is only barely slower than the RS on a drum. I definitely rode the rear tire much longer than I would have liked but there was pretty poor tire availability all summer.

I have still been riding it, haven't gotten any punctures since that one, and even on trails and steep gravel descents the grip is like, still fine. That's kind of the thing about a higher volume tire- you don't need as much tread.

So yeah, I think the g-one pros have been about my favorite all around gravel tires and they're conveniently about the fastest thing out there. Big handmade challenge tires get the edge for having the smoothest ride feel, and the pirelli gravel RCs had better cornering grip and feel. Mainly though, bigger tires are better. For a bike that gets ridden off pavement, it's hard to say why you would ever want a tire smaller than what fits in the frame. Mud clearance for cyclocross? Probably I will have to go back to something different/smaller especially with my new wider wheels. I really need the tires to actually measure 48-49mm instead of 50-51. The 45 challenge getaways were just about perfect in that regard and pirellis also measure on the large side.

 

Longer term MTB tire review roundup

 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.

Kona's new Hei Hei

 This year kona brought out a new Hei Hei, which as a hei hei owner got my attention. I've been riding mine for 5 years and 8000 miles and have started thinking about a replacement bike. I like mine perfectly well, it's been tweaked and tuned and modified greatly over the years and has turned into a bike I like that works really well for my uses, which range from wed night XC races to all day adventures and 100mi events. But, it's getting old and the parts on it are now a bit out of date and would you look at all the new and shiny things out there!

So yeah, last week kona sent us a bike to try out and hey hey it even happens to be my size

So what's new with the new bike? well, as is the trend, it got a bit longer and slacker and has a steeper seat tube angle, but not by much. The front fork went from 120 to 130mm while the rear stays at 120mm of travel. It gets nice suspension- a pike and deluxe ultimate, decent tires, and the rest of the parts are kind of meh. motive bronze brakes, eagle 90, trans-x seatpost, basic kona bar and stem, dt370 hubs to wtb rims with 3c/exo/tr 2.4 dissectors. And a wtb saddle literally no one will like. You're basically buying the frame and suspension. For $5300. With XTR pedals and one bottle cage it was just over 31 pounds. My hei hei is under 25 with my lightest wheels, but usually more like 25.5, also with pedals and bottle cages.

The HTA is 1.5deg slacker at 66 and the chainstays got 5mm longer. In my size, an XL, the reach got 9mm longer (500 to 509) and stack got a lot taller going from 610 to 640mm, which is taller than I'd like and a bit on the long side for me, but the large is too short at 474. for me, 500mm of reach with a 45-50mm stem is about right. The wheelbase gained 40mm to 1262. It's a big, long bike.

kona lists a different seat tube angle for every size, getting slacker the bigger the bikes are. However, the geometry of the frame/seattube/pivots stays the same across sizes and they are just measuring at different saddle heights, as the seat tube meets the downtube forward of the BB and is angled back from there. On the old bike it was just listed at 75 across the board but based on a bit of measuring of angles drawn on a picture I came up with more like 72-73 degrees at my saddle height of 800mm. The new bike is supposedly steeper, listed at 75.8 on a XL, but again, I question if I would get that number if I pasted a picture in cad and started drawing lines and measuring angles. I put the saddle fairly far forward on the rails and it felt pretty similar to where I am on my other bikes and my knees wind up in about the same spot relative to the cranks/pedal axle. This isn't too bad when it comes to pedaling on flatter and rolling terrain, but does put you a little farther back than might be ideal for steeper climbs and gets worse the taller you are. But, seat tubes can only get so steep, chainstays can only be so long, and it's just something a tall person has to deal with. I feel like I am far enough forward and going much farther puts too much weight on my hands and gets uncomfortable. In general I do have my saddles pretty far forward on the posts but can ride all day without numb hands.

It's still a single pivot but no more flex stays like the previous version. This adds weight but does let the suspension move a bit more freely. The whole linkage is generally similar, but with more anti-squat and a straighter leverage curve (so less ramp up of progression). With my bike, it took a bit of tinkering to get the suspension to feel like I wanted and be better at pedaling. Cranking pressure up only goes so far as then you never use all the travel and it feels harsh, so I went to smaller volume spacers which means a less progressive spring curve, allowing me to have a higher spring rate and better initial support while still actually using the suspension travel. I also had the shock revalved to be "firm digressive," which basically means a lot of low speed force to keep the suspension from moving as much under slow movements like pedaling hard. I'm fairly happy- it has good response but stays smooth over the rougher stuff. Still, I ride it at just under 20% sag and use the lockout switch.

Setting up the new bike I erred on the firm side with the shock, doing a quick, "sit on bike and check" and wound up right at 20% and then set the front so it felt soft enough. I generally don't worry about measuring fork sag and instead just go by how the balance feels and keep an eye on the travel indicators to further fine tune. I have trended toward a pretty soft fork for better comfort and don't worry if i lightly bottom out sometimes. I think I was at about 65psi in the 130mm pike. I weigh about 160. I got the seat in the right general position, slammed the stem, and called it good.

For my ride I did my usual saturday night thing, going straight up the barmeyer trail to the top of dean stone, across house of sky, through pattee and crazy canyon, and out the moZ to wally and buck. It's a really great ride- lots of climbing, backcountry-esqe ridgeline riding, and then whatever sort of variety you want on the way back into town. Sometimes I go to the top of mount sentinel too, but on this ride only had time for chopsticks, which i really wanted to go down on the new bike to see how it feels on the rougher stuff.

The ride climbs 2500 feet straight from town so I was going to get a feel for how the bike rides up hill. As it's not on XC tires, and weighs 31lbs, I was not particularly optimistic. At a moderate pace it moves along fairly well, but does not really reward harder pedaling. It seemed like the extra anti-squat was useful but the extra weight and slower tires really dragged the bike down. Stranding up and cranking was kind of an exercise in futilty. Can we get moving please? I swear I can pedal pretty hard why am I not going anywhere. There are no lockouts or mode switches on this suspension but they do get a couple of fancy dials, and like I said, the extra anti-squat seemed effective at keeping the rear end from moving much when you stand on it and I would say that out of the box this suspension is in a better place than my bike was (i struggled to come up with a descriptor other than "sluggish"). Probably it's just the weight and tires I'm feeling and if I ride it again I'll at least use my wheels and tires. What's tempting is to swap over like, everything, but that seems like a lot of work.

Anyhow, I finally made it to the top, 4 min slower over an hour than last week at a similar effort and HR.

Riding down, I'd describe this bike as "smooth." It's a small step from my bike, but the fancy suspension, extra fork travel, longer wheel base, and slacker head tube are all noticable. The 18t ratchets are also practically silent, whereas my 54t 240 exp hubs are very much not, so the very quiet ride did stand out. I also only had like 18/19psi in the dissectors so those were pretty grippy compared to my usual xc tires. Nothing is really drastically different though so it was easy enought to adapt to that little bit extra traction and stability and have a fun time riding the bike. Downhill anyway. The only funny thing I noticed was that in quick direction changes the rear end got pretty slidey and loose, which i wasn't really expecting given the longer bike and longer chainstays. I think that might have just been the tires, which have a pretty open transition zone, and so probably that sliding was just happening when the tire wasn't on the edge knobs.

After the ridgeline trail and house of sky down to deer creek, I went down sam braxton and then crossed the road and climbed up to chopsticks, which is steep, fast, and a bit chunky. This got the bike up to speed and had the suspension working and it all felt pretty good and I actually expected the rear to be harsher with my sag setting. I made it to the bottom within a couple seconds of my PR (that I set the week before on mezcals). I was, however, a little surprised to see that I'd used almost all of the suspension travel (plus I dinged the front rim at some point). The trail is rocky, sure, but there are no big hits or g-outs or drops or anything like that, and on my more linear rear spring rate hei hei i don't come anywhere close to bottoming out at the same speed on the same trail. So I'm not sure what that's all about and I really did not expect to go through that much travel at 20% sag on an off the shelf shock- I guess I would need more volume spacer in the air spring. Maybe the air can on the deluxe is a little too big for this bike and the straighter leverage curve.

Anyway, I didn't not like the bike but it also didn't make me want to go out and buy one immediately, and it had me wondering if a bigger travel bike that weighs a similar amount might be a better option if I was willing to deal with all this chunk on the uphills. But nobody likes a heavy XC bike.

IF I got a new hei hei I would definitely have to start from a frame because I don't want this version of the bike or really any of the parts on it. I'd even want a more XC oriented shock and a lighter 120mm fork.

The eagle 90 is fine but a bit slow and unhappy when you try to make a bunch of shifts in a row (just like the electric version I suppose). It also never seemed to be perfectly dialed in and I kept going back and forth one notch on the barrel adjuster. If you make yourself only shift one gear at a time you definitely do notice that it's better at making one shift under high load than the previous stuff, and presumably i would get a little better at anticipating shifts. Still, think of that case where you come out of a steep slow uphill switchback and the trail flattens out- you need like 3 gears right away. Nice when you are slow and deliberate with shifts but a bit clunky when you start pushing it.

The extra seatpost drop (175mm vs my 125) was nice and I was pleasantly surprised by the motive bronze brakes. They felt good, were powerful enough, and have much less initial free stroke and better bite than my guide rscs with a fresh rebuild and bleed and mtx red pads.

While I have been complaning about things on this bike, I suppose I went through the same things with mine and wound up changing all the parts to make it lighterand tinkered with the suspension to get better pedaling performance. I'm sure I could get a new hei hei to be what I want, but I think I'm better off starting with an actual 120/120 XC bike next time around. probably a cannondale scalpel.

One thing kona did with this frame is put a lot more mounts in it. There are 5 bosses on the downtube, 2 more on the seat tube, and then 2 under the top tube in front of the shock, offering you way more ability to mount things to the frame. Sort of. My hei hei has room for two big bottles in the frame and a little tube roll tucks in between them nicely.

Two big 26oz bottles there. Don't even need side load cages. I like this a lot. I can even strap/zip tie my bear spray holster in front of the shock under the top tube.

The new bike has seat tube mounts, but, uh, you can't put a bottle there unless maybe it's one of those super tiny ones.

It's wedged up against the downtube and also the downtube bottle hits it, so maybe not?

You can do two inline on the downtube on this XL at least but I'm not sure about the other sizes or if it'll fit big bottles. I was trying to get out after work and so I just pulled that cage back off, stuck a bottle in my hip pack, and called it good enough. Maybe a little more experimenting with the arraingement would make me less annoyed and i could probably make use of all the extra mounts with things like bear spray and a bolt on tool roll/strap thing.

Anyway, as someone who has possibly ridden the previous hei hei more than anyone short of Cory Wallace, it was nice to get to try the new one. But I still like mine better.

Schwalbe G-one Pros

 If anyone reads this they might notice I go through a lot of tires. That will happen when you ride a lot and have a lot of bikes. I counted how many i bought last year and it was... a lot.

The other thing people may notice is how much attention there is to rolling resistance right now. It kind of started with bicyclerollingresistance.com, and now there are a number of folks out there doing testing on real roads, which is nice as the smooth roller doesn't always tell the full story especially when it comes to gravel and mtb tires on rougher surfaces. The most recent real world testing is indicating that as roughness of the surface increases, the faster wider tires become. And on smoother surfaces, many wide tires are still fast. Conclusion? Probably that you should ride as wide of tires as possible unless you're only ever on very smooth paved roads (and even then, bigger road tires are nice).

So, last year when I got my orbea that had more tire clearance than a CX bike of old, I started off with 40mm tires because I had them. Then, in the summer when those needed replacement I went to 45s. Then, this spring when it was time for a new set i tried some 50mm schwalbes. My frame officially only has clearance for a 48mm measured width but in my experience the schwables tend to be a bit small or at least not bigger than advertised so I thought I should give it a try.

My choice - the new G one pro tires, with a semi-slick RS rear and the R up front for a little more braking and cornering grip.

They measure about 50.5mm and it's a pretty close fit

Don't think I could pull off a 2.1 thunder burt or anything even slightly larger. I put some foil tape in the chainstays and I have already noticed spots where it's got some wear from rocks and dirt getting in there.

So, how do they ride? Pretty good. I've been going with about 23/25psi f/r, which is around the same or a bit less than my getaways (which measured 48mm). I did not put inserts in them because it seemed less necessary with the added volume. Last week I did quite a bit of extended gravel descending, first down allen creek road to turah. The last time I rode it on 40s my hands were numb at the bottom and I had to take a break and shake them out a bit. Last week it felt pretty good. Yesterday we rode up deer creek, down little park creek, and then over holloman saddle, then back on crystal creek. Nowhere did I think "gee I wish I had narrower tires."

Grip is pretty good but the rear will slide around a bit on hard braking. The edge knobs bite pretty good though, and you do get used to riding a file tread type tire and learning that the grip is better when they're leaned over.

Durability is questionable, but good so far in the real world over rocks and stuff. However I got a silly puncture at slow speed on the kim willaims trail, presumably from a piece of glass or something that needed to be plugged and now I need to go patch the inside of the tire. They do not have the best puncture protection rating but they are fast and comfy.

Treadwear is also already noticable on the rear after only 300mi so I might be going through a couple of these this summer. Schwalbe does make 3 versions with differing tread so there are many possible combinations of tire, from the RS front and rear to the more aggressive RX, and they all test fast on bicycle rolling resistance and in the real world.

I guess the real conclusion is that big tires are absolutely the way to go for gravel and trails. It surprises me to see new gravel race bikes being released that only fit 45s. Basically, IMO if you put out a new bike it better fit 2.2s. 

Challenge Getaways

 Last summer I was just riding along and sliced open one of my pirellis (ok i was going too fast through a loose, rocky, downhill turn in the middle of glacier), and after a couple seasons on the same tires i decided to try something else. We had some nice, big 45mm challenge getaways on the shelf and my new bike had the room to fit them so that made it a pretty easy decision.

These tires look really good and are like big fluffy clouds to ride on and they go fast. For tires that actually have tread, they are one of the fastest things on bicycle rolling resistance. Out of the box they measured over 47mm on a 23mm hookless rim and are more like 48mm now even at 25psi.

So that was the good, but there are some drawbacks. Mainly, cornering grip is not really great especially if it's loose. the big edge knobs of the pirelli gravel RC are really good and those come in big sizes too. I also do not trust these around sharp rocks. But after nearly 3k miles of riding through the fall and spring I have not had any punctures and now they're due to be replaced.

These definitely get my "would buy again" seal of approval, and they look good. But next I'm going to try the new schwalbe g-one r/rs pro in 50mm, so we'll get that posted sometime soon once I put them on.

Schwalbe Rick XC

 Got some new mtb tires this spring. On my trek hardtail I had been riding schwalbe thunder burts for the last two years, and while i like them and they are really fast, I wanted to go to something with a bit more grip. Enter schwalbe's new Rick XC, which is supposed to be wider, faster than a racing ralph, and have more grip than the thunder burt. So I got some.

here it is compared to my thunder burt

Listed weight is 760g for a 29x2.4 and one of them was there, at 750g, but the other was not.

Soooo, the heaviest tire i've had in awhile. But at least it's 2.4" or 62mm wide, right?

This is on a 29mm internal width bontrager rim.

So, that's not great. a 2.25" tire that is almost 800g. Not thrilled.

But how do they ride? well, seems pretty good. They are fast and the traction when you lean them over is good. the edge knobs bite and pull you through the corner really well, and I like that from a tire. Some just kind of feel the same no matter the lean angle where others really grab and give you some confidence and get the bike turning.

I've ridden these down our local rim and tire wrecking trail- chopsticks on mt sentinel- a few times, with no slices or punctures, so that's good. My friend Phil has not had great luck going down that one.

I also went down my local smooth and fast trail- ravine, and set my 2nd fastest time ever without really trying to go fast.

So, in conclusion, it's a pretty fast tire with more traction than the thunder burt. BUT, it is narrower than listed and might be heavy too. I'm going to keep them but probably won't be my next tire unless they fix them to actually measure 2.4" wide (and I did give them a good amount of time at high pressure to stretch out).

The new Vittoria Mezcal

 Being one of my favorite tires, I was excited to see a new version of the Mezcal floating around last year, ridden by pros and sponsored riders. They released them this spring and I ordered a set for the hei hei, which had been rolling on some syerras since last summer, and was due for some fresh XC tires.

Here it is next to the old mezcal. The previous xc-trail and xc-race tires were both available in 29x2.25 and 2.35, which is kind of not a big enough difference to bother imo but anyway the new one is now a 2.4, or 60-622. The old tires were the "anthracite" grey casing for the trail version and then a tan wall for race, both 120tpi but a little thicker on the trail version. The new "XC RACE" tire is 60tpi and available in both black and tan, with no apparent difference between the two other than color. I would have preferred black I think but tan was the color actually in stock so hey lets try a new look

Pretty good what with the matte green frame accents and copper chain and such. Guess I have an earth tone vibe going currently.

In addition to being wider and possibly more durable than the previous race version with the lower thread count, these use a new rubber compound that is supposedly softer, grippier, but still faster rolling. It also costs $10 more at retail, which to me seems a little strange given a lower thread count casing and a single compound rubber, where the old tire had a "4c," 4 rubber compound. That's one hard base layer, a medium hardness down the center, and then softer on the cornering knobs. So probably they're going to wear out faster and might have been cheaper to make. But it's ok vittoria i still like your tires.

I put both on the scale, listed weight is 730g, mine measured 742 and 760. I measure both because I'm a nerd and also to put the heavier one on the back. So a little heavier than they say, and not any different than the old xc-trail 29x2.35 I pulled out of the package (i think it was 750ish).

Maybe you can do this with most tan wall tires but it's a little unsettling that you can see light through the sidewalls

Seems like I should stay away from sharp rocks... The weight and thread count at least suggest similar durability to the old xc-trail, which i always felt were pretty reliable.

It does also appear the tread itself is slightly wider on the new 2.4 when put up next to a 2.35 but I didn't actually measure it

Anyway, I have a couple rides on them, both up mount dean stone actually. First one was thursday with team stampede, up to the top and back down. Then saturday after work I did a longer loop, riding up dean stone, across house of sky, down into pattee through sam braxton, up crazy canyon to the top of mt sentinel, and then back into town via chopsticks and the moZ.

So we did hit a few rocks out there, especially down chopsticks, and I managed not to slice open a brand new tire.

These haven't been tested on bicycle rolling resistance yet (as a pro member I voted for them as well as the new peyote), but the old version is pretty fast and definitely felt fast riding it. These new ones also feel fast, and currently my mtb tire speed butt dyno is calibrated to the schwalbe thunder burt, the fastest tire tested by BRR, on my pretty lightweight hardtail. So, "feels fast" to me coming from that bike at least is some sort of an indicator that they actually are.

The casing is still light and supple with the lower thread count and feels good. You could say lively, springy, responsive perhaps. The rubber is definitely soft and grippy and i didn't notice a loss in traction compared to the slightly worn syerras. But a new tire with fresh, sharp knobs always feels good.

So yeah, initial review, seems good. mainly I like that they have a bit of extra volume. Probably the only reason to not ride a 2.4 XC tire these days is if you weigh 100lbs. Wednesday night we're on the traditional xc course at marshall, which, I'll probably ride on the trek but it is tempting to take a spin on the hei hei, which definitely gets down to the bottom faster and is more fun, but probably is actually slower over a full lap due to the weight and tire difference. Should probably do some back to back test laps some day.

Tire review - Schwalbe Thunder Burt

 Last summer before butte, I found myself with two sets of mtb tires that were getting a little worn down and wanted something that was fast, light, and had fresh tread for the race. The racing ray/ralph combo was been pretty good all around on the hei hei but is a little on the heavy side (770g/tire for 29x2.35 super ground). Pirelli XC/RCs are light at 700g in a 2.4 but never really felt super fast and after a spring of use the grip had fallen off significantly despite the tread wear still looking fairly ok (this is common with XC tires though- the fresh, sharp edges on the little knobs do a lot of work). It also turned out the pirellis test slow on bicycle rolling resistance. They looked cool I guess but yeah no sorry won't be buying those again.

So, deferring to the bicycle rolling resistance charts I went with the fastest tire they've tested- the schwalbe thunder burt

I'd always been curious about riding tires like this full time but was a little cautious. The kenda sabers are super light and fast and flimsy but only come out on special occasions, where these I was going to ride all the time on the hardtail plus at butte on the hei hei.

In 29x.2.25, super ground casing (there's also a lighter super race, which according to brr is slower) they came in at about 630g and measured a little on the small side with my 29mm internal width rims. I want to say 2.2 or so. Skinny and not much to them but the larger size was out of stock. With these on that loose sandy butte course, especially in the first half, I was a little all over the place but on a more normal trail and hardpack dirt they're fine. And they went fast and made it through the race. I didn't weigh my bike but with 630g tires and 1200g wheels, I'm guessing well into the 24s.

With that first set getting pretty worn I recently bought another set because I couldn't come up with a better option. This time n 2.35. They measure true to size on the same wheels and came in at 700g each. Been riding them at 19/20 psi f/r and they give a nice good cushy feel.

Mainly though, these tires roll really, really, really fast. They feel as fast as a good road tire going across town on the pavement and the bike just flies uphill out on the trails. Plus, for conditions where these would be a challenge I have the hei hei with more aggressive tires. My best description of traction on these is "better than you'd expect."

Is this a good all around tire for general mtb riding? no. But if you want to go fast, this is the one. The main downside is that they are expensive for a pretty limited condition, flimsy tire, but all the tires are getting fairly expensive these days.

Pirelli cinturato gravel follow up

 Last year I put up a little review of the Pirelli gravel H that I was using. It's here.

I rode those all the rest of the year and was pretty happy with them, although by june-july, as the tires wore and road and trail conditions got drier and looser, I was starting to notice a pretty good lack of grip especially up front. At garden city gravel especially I felt like I was really lacking traction on the final descent, where I got dropped and then just barely chased back on to our group. Not long after that I bought a new front tire- the gravel RC, which is a pretty good match with a little more aggressive knobs. It's a mini version of the XC-RC (which tbh I didn't like that much) and shares the double edge knob thing you see on some other tires like the maxxis aspen and ardents etc.

This combo I like really well when you want a little more traction. The front end bites better and gives you better turn in response.

I rode the gravel H f/r for about half the year and then put that RC up front in the late summer, and overall was really happy with these tires. They don't have the most supple feel, like, say, a handmade challenge tire, but they roll fast and have good durability for all the gravel and forest road type riding I do around here. I had plenty of those impacts where you think "uh oh that might be a puncture" without issue.

So I bought a fresh set of the gravel H tires for this year, although I do also want to try some other things like the conti terra speed, or maybe a challenge getaway, which both test faster than the pirellis by a little but I do like how well these have held up. Anyway, I guess review summary is they get my "would buy again" seal of approval.

The Hei Hei's best version

 I got my hei hei cr in 2020 and since then I've changed or modified basically every component, mostly in the search for lightness and more speed on the race course. Sometimes that search went a little too far but for the most part it's trended in generally the right direction. I mean, who doesn't like a lighter mountain bike?

That is just about the best a Hei Hei CR can get, in my opinion. Right about 26lbs flat for an XL, 120mm travel bike on somewhat real tires with pedals and bottle cages and a dropper that works. There are a few things that could make it a touch lighter but some things were chosen due to availability at the time or price or both.

The highlights are that it's a hei hei. DT swiss carbon wheels, X01 axs drivetrain. guide rsc brakes, bikeyoke divine sl 125mm dropper, Industry nine a35 stem with raceface carbon bars, and an assortment of fancy little titanium and carbon bits. I also swapped the standard grip damper in the fox 34sc for a fit 4 which has more control of low speed compression, and then revalved the shock to a firm digressive tune which makes it more responsive while pedaling hard but still pretty smooth over rougher stuff (I think).

The tires are the biggest variable, and depending on what I'm doing they might be something very flimsy like the thunder burts I used for the butte 100, or the minion dhf/aggressor combo I rode for awhile but decided was just a little too heavy and slow for a bike like this. What makes this bike ride the best to me are an aggressive XC or light trail tire. This spring I started out on 2.35 racing ray/ralphs because I had them, and now it's on Vittoria Syerras, which I also rode last fall. The syerras manage to be pretty light and fast while offering better grip and durability than your average XC tire. I also have an insert in the rear tire.

It's basically a bike I can ride just about anywhere, and it'll go pretty fast and be fun while doing it. So now that it's just about perfect I'm considering a new bike of course. 

If anyone wants a list I guess I can do that

Frame: 2020 Kona Hei Hei CR
Fork: Fox 34 step cast performance, 120mm, fit 4 damper. 78psi, 10 clicks rebound, 14 lsc
Shock: Fox Float DPS, Digressive rebound firm, digressive compression firm, 0.4 in^2 volume spacer. 210psi, 5 clicks rebound
Wheels: DT Swiss XRC1501 with 54t ratchet
Tires: varies, currently vittoria syerra, 18/19 psi f/r
Cranks: truvativ stylo carbon, 34t chainring
Cassette: X01 10-50
Derailleur: X01 AXS
Chain: XX1 copper
Brakes: Sram Guide RSC w/ carbon blades, 180/160 clx rotors, ti caliper bolts, ti clamp bolts
Handlebars: raceface next R. 780mm, 25mm rise, esi chunky grips
Stem: Industry nine A35 50mm w/ ti bolts
Seatpost: Bikeyoke Divine SL 125mm
seat clamp: bikeyoke squeezy
Dropper lever: Wolftooth light action
Saddle: Shimano pro stealth offroad
Pedals: shimano XT race
bottle cages: arundel mandible carbon w/ ti bolts

A new bike - Trek Procaliber

 Last summer the shop started carrying trek after open road closed. I had been trying to get a new XC race hardtail for awhile at this point but the Cannondales and Orbeas were out of stock. Although strangely, the exact Alma model I wanted was available on the pro's closet, in my size, brand new. Don't really understand how they get those bikes when we're told none are available. I think the cannondale would have still been my preference because it's a little lighter and a little slacker.

Anyhow, with Trek they have a great and easy to use EP program, allowing you to order or backorder whatever you want. The more videos and quizzes you finish, the better the discount, so I chugged through a whole bunch to get the highest level, which is significantly lower than wholesale pricing. Cannondale only lets you EP a bike when there are a certain number in stock (but at a similar discount to trek). Orbea does have a program but it's a little more difficult to navigate and the pricing isn't as good.

So anyway, I filled out the form and ordered myself a trek procaliber 9.6, which had the shortest ETA and the best frame color. It showed up in september.

Not quite the build I wanted though, with a pretty heavy and bad fork, mid range shimano drivetrain, and narrow aluminum wheels. No dropper either. It also weighed slightly more than my hei hei, which was very much not the point of getting this. So all that stuff came off

By november, I had pretty much all the parts I wanted for it but then it was winter.

I kind of went all out. XX1 with a rainbow cassette (although mechanical not axs), Sid SL ultimate with a lockout and the shiny blue lowers, the new Kovee RSL 1200g wheels, a transfer SL, level ultimate brakes with 2-piece rotors, rainbow ti bottle cage bolts, rainbow valves...

So yeah, that made it weigh about 21 lbs. I also ditched the 2.2" XR2s for 2.4 pirelli scorpion XC/RCs with the bright yellow hot patches.

(the kendas went on for the mullet climb along with a rigid post)

short answer: it's light, and it's real fast uphill. But riding downhill makes me really appreciate the hei hei, even in an XC race.

Depending on the course I'm still riding the Kona, even on a few that went all the way to the top of marshall, where the procaliber might be faster overall. I just didn't want to ride it down the full descent at race speed. The kona was the right choice for the Spirit bear race in kalispell and the Butte 100 as well (for butte I borrowed the wheels from the trek). 

On the plus side, it is pretty good for a lot of missoula riding. Last week I just went up the road to point 6 and back. It's also ideal for my regular quick trips up to the overlook and our recent "death ride graveL" And it turns out I've actually ridden both MTBs about the same amount this year. I did also still race this bike quite a bit on wed nights and at scratchgravel in helena. Pretty ideal for that course. Also, I wasn't super thrilled with the fancy fizik 3d printed saddle I put on there. So now with what seems to be a more comfortable ergon I'll be happier about riding it?

It is still a very different experience downhill and at higher speeds. head tube angle is 68.75 degrees, which, not great, not terrible for an XC bike, but that number creeps up when you're actually riding it and the fork is compressed. The hei hei is 67.5, and longer overall, and with more reach. Both have similar stack, and I put a 20mm longer stem on the trek to get the bars in about the same spot. Little more drop though, and you're more over the front of a bike with a steeper hta. I find it a little harder to stay balanced on it and the pretty low handlebars probably don't help. I suppose that just comes with the territory of an XC hardtail, and I did ride one for many years with a tall seatpost just fine. But I still find myself wondering what the cannondale would be like, as it has a 67 degree HTA (or 66 something on the himod with a 110mm fork). 

So I'm contemplating what I really want for both MTB riding and racing. Maybe a racier and lighter full suspension bike like the new oiz or a scalpel in place of both bikes. The hei hei has been really solid all around but it's getting up there in miles and is just slightly heavier than I'd like as a race bike. I'll probably stick with both bikes for another season though.

Tire review - Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H

 This spring I was looking for a replacement gravel tire for the Schwalbe G-one Rs that I ran last year. I did generally like those tires and would buy them again but there's so much out there I felt like trying something new. The schwalbes also seemed a little slow rolling so this time around I was going for speed. I did consider trying a g-one RS on the rear, and those do test real fast.

Anyway, with the shop having trek now and trek kind of pushing pirelli and having the race team use them I thought I'd try some out and ordered the Gravel H, for hardpack. There's also a M, for mixed, S, for soft, and RC, for "race" I guess.

Very low profile and tightly spaced center blocks, getting a little taller and more spread out as you go toward the edge knobs, which are low profile, but do exist.

These come in 35, 40, 45, and maybe 50mm, and black or tan. I got the 40s, and black because the black tires were listed as slightly lighter. Mine were like 485g which is not all that light, but when it comes to gravel tires I'm finding a little extra weight is worth the added durability. I also have vittoria air liners in there, plus a hookless "MTB" rim with pretty wide sidewalls to hopefully all help prevent flats. On the 23mm IW rims these come out way bigger than listed at just under 44mm. They just barely don't rub in the chainstays and leave no clearance for mud or an out of true wheel. I put some aluminum foil tape in the potential rub spots and so far it's staying pretty clean though.

The first test for these tires was day 2 of the montana gravel challenge, a loop that goes from ninemile toward town on mullan, then along the south side road to petty creek and back over to ninemile. So a good amount of pavement, not much for big climbs, and then 20 miles of pretty rough gravel road. This year we were flying and I was way on the back of the group after being in poor position at the start of the dirt climb toward deep creek and then after losing some more spots when i realized my brake hood was loose and slipping (I pulled out of the line and thought about trying to tighten it on the move and then just decided to ride the rest of the way in the drops). So I was back there, just having to stay on wheels, not getting a good view of line choice of what was coming, and being in all the chaos as people had flats or mechanicals or just got dropped. It was a long time before I actually felt like I was "in the group" and not just barely hanging on. We probably had 20+ in the front at the start and by the time we hit petty creek there were 8.

So the tires made it through. And they feel fast (and test fast), and are high volume that lets me run pretty low pressures. I've been doing like 32.34 in the front and 37-38 in the rear. The low pressure aids grip but they are really low profile and I guess we'll see how they go on drier and looser stuff. Liking them overall though. Be nice if they measured closer to listed as my major jake doesn't have the best clearance.

 

Out with the transfer sl, in with the divine sl

I really like weight of the transfer sl, and also that it has a simple mechanism that will probably keep working with minimal maintenance. However, the thin tubes made it hard to get the post properly tightened and it had a tendency to either slip down in the frame or bind up depending on clamp tightness. I think possibly the hei hei frame wasn't helping either. the upper part of the seat tube is pretty short and also just a touch oversized, so the post doesn't have a good tight fit in there, which means the clamp has to be tighter to keep it in place and creates a higher force over a smaller area. Recipe for making a lightweight post unhappy, and in fact my old regular transfer liked to stick a little when cold and I think that was also due to the frame and clamp. Additionally, the stock kona clamp is bad and has a sharp edge that broke the rigid carbon post on my cross bike. The bikeyoke squeezy and wolf tooth clamps are much better.

In addition to it's finicky nature, only 100mm of travel and only up or down doesn't really suit the hei hei. So I ordered myself one of the next lightest posts out there- the bikeyoke divine SL, in 125mm. It's not that much more, but it's the longest drop it comes in.

So yeah I have added a little weight to the bike but that post does work better and the extra 25mm of drop makes a difference. The saddle clamps are not great though, I think because the hei hei's actual seat tube is pretty slack due to the bend. The front bolt is tightened down all the way and the rear bolt jammed up against the upper clamp and I broke it. So I wrapped my rails in fabric tape and dremeled a groove in the clamp and now i can get the saddle level enough so hopefully that does it. Kind of annoying that most clamps I've experienced have to be pretty much maxed out in the nose down position just to get the saddle level.

Also I put some new tires on there- vittoria syerras, which I am liking so far. And a new hardtail showed up last week. I think the transfer sl will be a better match for that bike.

Shock revalve

 In june my shock made a loud bang and started spraying fluid out of the adjusters. Damper shaft had just snapped, apparently a common issue with these things. Not covered by warranty as that is only a year apparently.

While it was being repaired at fox I thought I'd try some different valving. The stock tune from kona is a linear curve, which means that as shaft velocity increases, so does damping force. I've felt like this was part of my issue with the bike as it felt very squishy under pedaling forces, which is low speed shaft movement. A digressive valve means there is much more low speed force and then it levels off in the higher speed range.

Every fox shock and fork has a 4 digit code on it somewhere and you can look it up on the fox website to find out the details of your suspension. Mine spits out the following:

2020, FLOAT DPS, P-S, A, 3pos, Evol LV, Kona, Hei Hei CR, 190, 45, 0.8 Spacer, LCF, LRM, CMF, TC-6265/PMS-447-C Logo

The year, model, bike it comes on, length, stroke, air volume spacer size

LCF stands for Linear Compression Firm
LRM stands for Linear Rebound Medium
CMF stands for Closed Mode Firm

So now instead of linear I have digressive valving, firm, on both rebound and compression sides. I also previously swapped the 0.8 in^2 volume spacer for a smaller 0.4 which allowed me to increase air pressure to make the shock firmer while still using most of the travel. I have been at about 215psi.

The revalve resulted in a pretty big difference. At the same shock pressure it feels like the suspension barely moves when I stand up and pedal hard, yet if anything is more comfortable over bumps and rocks and roots while descending. It also uses less travel because of the extra low speed support, which keeps it from compressing as far and blowing through travel when loading the bike or pedaling hard or even landing on jumps.

I've actually been dropping the air pressure a touch, as previously I was only sitting at about 18-19% sag which is on the low side and then still not ever using full travel. Down at 200-205 I still get a good balanced feel and pedaling support but below that it starts to feel a little too squishy again. I had my rebound pretty well figured out before but now am at about the same spot with a different curve so probably need a little further adjustment there.

In conclusion it feels really good though. I'm not really sure why it wasn't this way out of the box, but I suppose they were going for a more supple feel and progressive curve where I'm looking for more of an XC race bike pedaling feel. But on the other hand it's still pretty smooth and rides nice so yeah, seems way better. Now that this bike is lighter and pedals well I'm starting to question my new bike order. But I think a hardtail will still  be nice to have, and then I can do things like keep more aggressive tires on the hei hei and put on a dropper that goes down farther and works in the middle spots.

Fox Transfer SL review

 The last "heavy" part on my hei hei was the seatpost. The 170mm standard transfer came in at 631g when I put it on our scale. That's a lot, and it bugged me having that on an XC bike. Also, it had started acting a little finicky in cold weather so I figured something else to put in there while I send it in to be serviced wasn't a bad idea anyway.

Enter the fox transfer SL, one of the lightest dropper posts out there

Two years ago I didn't even ride with a dropper but now I'm finding it to be pretty invaluable. While it saves weight, I'm noticing some compromises with the SL version of the Transfer. The main things are that it can only be up or down, and only has 100mm of travel. For trail riding steeper and rougher terrain on the hei hei, that's kind of not enough. I'd estimate I generally dropped the old post down in the 125-150mm range, not usually all the way, but still more. The lack of intermediate positions isn't as important with the shorter travel though.

The other issue is that it has thin walls and is really sensitive to clamping pressure. With the stock kona clamp I couldn't get it to stay in place without sticking, and swapped to a bikeyoke squeezy, which is super slick and low profile and light and has a titanium bolt.

It also seems to not have the tightest fit in my seat tube, which is likely more the frame's issue although I haven't measured it, and could also be why the old post was getting finicky.

When you actuate it, you can't just be sitting on the saddle with your full weight either, as it will get hung up on whatever little latch releases the post and not drop down. You have to unweight, push lever, drop post down. Then make sure to go all the way down.

So anyway my impression is yes, lighter. A full 253g of savings, over 1/2 a pound, and the best value in g/$ I've done. But also, good for racing, not ideal for a trail bike, so I might go with something with more travel and a little heavier.

I estimate it will come in a bit under 26lbs when I go to XC tires, which is still heavier than I want for a race bike. I'm "on a list" for an orbea alma hardtail frame, and then will use my nice wheels on it and piece together the rest. I don't have my hopes up about having it for xc season though.

Oh yeah I got a new bike - 2020 Kona Hei Hei CR review

So I wrote this like, a year ago? Didn't post it, probably because I sell konas. But did some work to the bike over the last season and was kind of bored and haven't posted in here in awhile and thought about writing about all the stuff I've done so far and found this. Still pretty accurate, but needs a followup that maybe I'll do later.

Finally, I have a modern, full suspension mountain bike. It's been a long time coming. As great as a hardtail xc bike is for around here, and for racing, I wanted something a little more appropriate for big days, rougher trails and steeper descents. 

The new Kona hei hei. 120mm front and rear suspension, 67.5 degree head tube angle, dropper post, carbon fiber, fox 34 step cast. It seemed like everything I wanted and more - still an XC bike, but more capable.

On real descents, big back country rides, and trails that aren't smooth dirt like we have around town, it's pretty fantastic. So fast, so smooth, so stable. Rocks you pick your way through and things you slow down for on a hardtail, you just float right through. It'll go faster than is appropriate for public trails and you'll feel calm and in control.  The difference between how this bike handles and feels compared to the old hardtail with a tall post and steep hta is huge, and getting back on the old bike is really strange and awkward. You have to remember how to ride it again and you're wondering how you ever managed.

Now, my gripe with this bike: Kona calls the hei hei an XC bike, but that kind of depends on your definitely of XC. If you think of XC as racing, yeah nah, it's not going to do that very well. If you consider XC as general "cross country" riding where you go long distances with good efficiency, then yeah, sure. It's that. But not the racey part. I'm sure that for a capable full suspension bike it feels light and fast, and if you're coming from an older, or longer travel full suspension, it'll seem like a rocket ship. But compared to a real XC race bike, it's heavy and slow. Almost every time I ride it, that's staring me in the face. It's minutes slower to the top of ravine trail, which I ride a lot. Trying to get on the pedals on the flatter sections and between corners, it's sluggish. The weight doesn't help (currently sits at 28.2lbs), but it feels like there's something else going on there. Even with the suspension all closed it feels like there's squish and twist and flex happening somewhere, and the bike just doesn't surge forward like you want it to.

So is that even a reasonable gripe? That my 28lb 120mm bike isn't an XC race bike? Maybe?

The other thing I'm not thrilled with are the parts. I thought, GX and guides, yeah that's what I have on the hardtail and i generally like it. Yes, it's what you'd expect on a bike in this price range, and they're not like, low end stuff, but at the same time I don't find them to be very good. The shifting, no matter how carefully I check hanger alignment, adjust the b-limit with the special tool, and fine tune indexing, just never seems to be quite right, especially making multiple shifts, and quick shifts under load like you might in an xc race. The GX 11 speed on my hardtail is way better- smoother, faster, more precise- even though you'd expect them to be about the same.

The guides also really lack power for a bike like this, something I never had an issue with on my hardtail. If anything, they were sometimes too much and I had trouble modulating the rear brake with xc tires. But those are RSCs, and apparently that swing link and bearings instead of bushings really make a difference. The hei hei's brakes are just weak. (they've been bled twice and the pads were bed in properly). I've found myself pulling the levers so hard it hurts my fingers and they just don't give the bite and braking force you want for confidence while descending.

The suspension is fine, but not fancy. The 3-position grip damper on the fork is not very useful, as I want it to be either open or closed. There's not really a good use for the middle spot that I've found although I do try it on smoother, more rolling trails. Still, it doesn't reduce bob enough while pedaling and then is just harsh over bumps. A low speed compression adjustment would be nice too, and I've already looked at what a fit 4 damper with lockout costs. The middle position on the shock, on the other hand, actually is pretty good and I use that more than fully open. I also changed the volume spacer (from 0.8 in2 to 0.4) so I could run a little higher pressure to get more support and a better balanced feel while still using most of the travel.

This bike is still pretty fun to ride though, especially when I'm on the right trails. I rode the alpine 7 trail this fall and it was the perfect bike. I never felt like it was too slow climbing and left the shocks in the middle setting pretty much all day. The other big ride was to the top of carlton ridge, down mill creek, and then up to the top of blue mountain the back way and down deadman's ridge. For stuff like that, it's perfect. I didn't make it over sheep mountain this year, but that's another spot where I'm sure this bike would shine.

On paper, it seemed like the perfect bike. In reality, I'm not in love with it. Maybe, but just maybe, if I had the fancy version with nicer parts and shocks (they were out), I would like it better. Maybe if I bought an XTR or XX1 group for it and better brakes and lighter wheels it would cut it on the climbs. IF it could pull that off it could be a do it all bike for me. But as it is, it feels like my issue isn't so much the weight as it is that the bike just isn't as efficient as I want. You notice it on flat ground, with the suspension closed, with the original light and fast tires.

Which leads me to a dilemma. What do I do when there's actual racing again? Try to upgrade it and make it light enough to get to the top of the xc course? Sell it and buy something else like the fancy xx1 version or a scalpel or scalpel se or orbea oiz/oiz tr? OR, just get a new hardtail to race and keep this as the more fun trail bike, possibly with a modest upgrade here and there?

I guess I have all winter to think about it.

In the meantime, this has been on some pretty fun rides