We just got our mits on a new Hutchinson Toro tire that was first shown at Sea Otter last year. Here’s what we found when we took a closer look at the Toro.
The Toro is Hutchinson’s second 29″er tire effort.
The Toro features Hutchinson’s Tubeless Ready Concept which utilizes a tubeless tire bead and sealant that the user installs to seal the casing instead of an extra layer of butyl rubber, like you find with UST tubeless tires. This results in lighter weight tires, and according to Hutchinson, a better ride, since the casings are more compliant. We have tested and used Hutchinson Python 29″er tires that utilize this casing and they have performed very well for us. We expect the Toro to be much the same in this regard.
The Toro is one of the few 29″er tires to feature a casing treatment that toughens the hide of the tire against rocks, tears and punctures.
The Toro does have a sidewall reinforcement called “Hardskin” From Hutchinson’s website- “Hardskin technology features a reinforced casing using a flexible and very dense textile grid. Placed on the sides, this reinforcement increases tire resistance or perforations and lateral cuts without reducing comfort or overall performance.” The Toro has a tread pattern that is more open and excells in lateral grip. The center knobs are designed for lower rolling resistance. The Hutchinson representatives I spoke with recommended the Toro as a front tire mated to a Python as a rear, so this is how we’ll be testing it.
The “Hardskin” technology is a textile treatment that can be seen if you look closely at the tire.
Our example weighed in at 690 grams and is supposed to measure out at a 2.1 inch width. We will be mounting it to a 28mm wide rim tubeless, so we will measure it up and report back with that in our First Impressions soon. The tire is now available and ready for thrashing from any bicycle dealer hooked up with the distributor Quality Bicycle Products.
Hello,
For sure this is a great tire in the front, but i like them alot in the rear too ! Give them a try if you ride technical trails.
Mine were right around the 700g mark too.
Like the python, they are not really wide, but pretty tall, giving cushion.
Anyone know a place where it is possible to buy these online?
I just mounted up a Python 29er for the first and second time yesterday. I installed them on No Tubes Arch rims. They are a bear! The beads are amazingly tight. I bet you could get these to seat up very well on a rim converted to tubeless use. Either way they are confidence inspiring in the least. I like the looks of the tread on the Toros.
Being a rigid fork rider though, as always, I would like a bigger size. Oh well maybe I should just shut up and ride Flows instead of Arches. That would take care of my problems.
Im searching for tubeless tires for my new Easton Haven wheels. I attempted to run regular tires, like I did last year on some Bontragger wheels, but the Tire has blown off the rim twice, NOT a comfortable situation to say the least.
Hutchinson states to use a sealant. My question to other users, will Stans No-Tubes sealant work in this application???
+1, I’m interested in the answer for Scott’s question.
@Scott: You can use any latex based sealant. (By the way, we’ve had similar blow off issues on UST spec rims from time to time)