Grannygear has a set of the new WTB Wolverine 29″er tires and has filed this report from SoCal………
“The wolverine has a reputation for ferocity and strength out of proportion to its size….armed with powerful jaws, sharp claws, and a thick hide.” From Wikipedia describing the animal..
“The Wolverine 29? confidently devours anything from dicey descents to steep climbs. This fast-rolling tire combines a moderately spaced tread pattern that pierces moist soil, plentiful working edges that cling to hardpack and lean-friendly outside knobs. Like its namesake, the Wolverine looks small but packs a fierce bite.” From the WTB website describing the tire. There is also a video from Interbike where the tire is discussed further.
Hmmm…pretty bold marketing speak going on here. I recently received a set of 2.2 Wolverine 29er tires to run through the mill here in So Cal. To begin with, I put the Wolverines on the scale: 850 grams each, pretty much. That seemed a bit out of touch with the 800 gram info on the website, so I spoke with the WTB rep and was told that they are looking into why the weight is not quite as expected. Whether this will be resolved or not remains to be seen, but the tire has a very nice coating of rubber on the inner wall of the tire and has a pretty good amount of rubber in the tread. It has a ton of small knobs with lots of working edges. The side knobs seem to be pretty well supported. My first thought is that the Wolverine will be a superior dry conditions tire. Kitty litter and rubble over hardpack likes to see as much biting rubber as possible and tires with tall, widely spaced knobs tend to squirm around. Smaller, well shouldered knobs seem to get the job done on hard surfaces and tend to roll fast as well.
I mounted them on a set of Flow rims with tubes. I had been running the Continental Race Kings tubeless, so this was quite a weight hit (11 ounces on the front wheel alone). WTB does not suggest running these tires tubeless, so you are on your own to experiment there, as I will likely do.
Measuring them with calipers, the casing was just a bit wider than the knobs and was 2.14” wide. It looks good, too. I have been looking at a pretty low profile tire lately, so to me, the Wolverine looks like a very aggressive tire, even though it is not that extreme. It has a nicely semi-rounded V shape that should be pretty neutral in handling. Double check the pressure after getting the beads set…30psi…off I go.
They roll pretty well on pavement, having a pretty high pitched whine. I can feel the extra weight on the wheels, but only when I ask for quick acceleration like transitioning from sitting to standing while climbing a rise in the road. I think if I had not been coming from fast rolling 700 gram tires mounted tubeless, this would have been less noticeable.
I have 5 hours of riding on them now and the test will continue, but I have some strong impressions so far. Trail conditions are pretty hard packed and dry and the semi-recent rains have cut down on the silt and sand somewhat. Still, there is plenty of typical So Cal skittery surfaces and fast, loose fireroads and trails to ride. It will be sometime before we see much rain, so that may have to wait, but I think it is one of the finest 29er tires I have ridden for treating hardpack like it was nothing challenging. It has tons of grip: straight up braking, climbing…all good, but the cornering is just great. I was scaring myself a bit just trying to get them to feel like they were going to be overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed before the tire was.
Is it a racing tire? Well, 850 grams is a pretty heavy racing tire for typical XC stuff like taking laps around a ski resort, but for a real trail tire, the Wolverine is going to make its way onto some bikes, I bet. If the extra weight is in the casing and adds to what seems to be a tough looking tire, I think this would be a killer desert tire. I also think it is a shame that tubeless is not given a thumbs up by the WTB folks, especially since there are lots of folks running other non-UST WTB tires tubeless on Stan’s rims, etc. I have a hard time taking a tire serious that does not run well tubeless and mounting these with tubes felt like going backwards in technology.
I would like to try a Nano Raptor rear tire/Wolverine front tire combo. That would give me the confident feeling front traction and help spin up the rear wheel a bit faster, or at least that seems to me to be a good plan. Meanwhile, stay tuned for more test results as the Wolverine bites the trail a bit more.
Looks like an exiwolf, with more tread. Or, I am senile.
Looks like force fed Specialized Fast Track.
I have a set as well. Weight also came in at 850g. I like them. They roll fast. They have a great round shape on my Semi Disc rims. Two thumbs up from me.
I set them up tubeless and I haven’t gotten a flat yet….. about 2 months so far.
GT – I would be interested in getting a comparison and contrast of the Wolverine and the Geax El Gato. I have narrowed down my next larger volume 29r tire down to two aforementioned.
Thanks,
Karl A
Gg
How about a comparison to the Race King.
thanks
@Karl A: The Gato was tested by our European contributor, c_g, and Grannygear has the Wolverine. Just from looking at them, I would think they would be quite different from each other, but we have no direct comparison from a single reviewer.
@maheoway
Well, other than both being tires, I cannot see much in common between a Race King and a Wolverine. The Race Kings have been fast rolling tires that do perform above what you would expect them to do based on the tread, are tall, and are very good until it gets loose, sandy, or very rubbly or you need to climb out of ruts. Then they still will get you there, but you have to ride with discretion. Pretty sure I weighted mine at 700 grams
The Wolverines are way more a trail tire and have much, much more grip going on, although the weight and knobs do make it a slower tire than the race King. No surprise there. 850 grams will out.
I actually have been running a Captain 2.2 front/race King 2.2 rear on the SS and Race Kings F/R on the Lenz. The narrower rims on the SS Jabber and the lack of tubeless-ness going on made for a slimmer profile and the front needed more grip and flotation when things got into summer here.
Different animals IMO.
grannygear
I’m liking the Wolverines so far. Awesome hookup. It may be overkill for the rear though. Like you said, a Nano Raptor in the rear may be the sweet setup.
Glad to hear they’re working out tubeless too!
What is the actual inflated width and volume on these please?
@natedog
It is in the article…I measured 2.14″ casing width w/30psi and tubes.
Grannygear, thanks….don’t know how I missed that…lol.
Any idea how they’d measure up on WTB Trail Disc 29ers? WTB says 27mm wide outside (which is very close to what I measured with calipers….but recall that they are 19mm inside widthe whereas the Flows that you mounted in pics are listed at 28mm outside and 22.6 inside.
@natedog…no worries! No, but I have seen as much as nearly a 1/4″ in tire width difference between the same rubber on a Flow (tubeless) vs a DT Swiss 7.1TK rim(with tubes).
grannygear