Specialized’s Purgatory tires are now mounted and in use, (mostly!), and we can now post some First Impressions. With our previous post, we introduced you to the three variants on the Purgatory 29″er tires that we are taking a look at. First up is Grannygear with his take on the 2.2″ Purgatory treads.

Grannygear: 2.2″ Control Purgatory- Set up tubeless on Stan’s Flow rims.
2.2″ S-Works Puragatory- Set up with tubes on DT Swiss TK 7.1 rims.

My favorite tire so far of the 29er line-up from Specialized have been the Captains, both in a 2.0 and 2.2, usually the Control version. They are a very good all around tire, roll fast, and have a nice sized casing on them. They are not a mud tire or loose surface tire per se, although they are really pretty good everywhere, so last winter I was expecting the Specialized Eskars to be the tire I might run in looser or muddier soils. However I never quite got along with the Eskar. I did not like the lack of transitional knobs and the way it could not make up its mind when cornering on hard surfaces. If it was really loose and chunky, they were great. As well, they rolled slowly.

Last season I ran Continental Mtn King 2.4s on the SS for winter thru spring and loved them, even though they are a slow rolling tire on hard surfaces. When things dried out I loved them less as the large side knobs flexed around and squirmed a bit. Still, they were awesome in the muck.

The Purgatories are advertised as a loose surface tire and that gave me hope for rubber that I could run from winter through spring to deal with the rainy season and yet still feel good about them when things dried out in between storms. Along those thoughts, I mounted up the S Works version front and rear in a 2.2 size on the SS Jabberwocky with tubes, replacing a set of 2.0 rear and 2.2 front Captain Controls. The first ride was a mud fest that began with a 3 or 4 mile paved climb on an old Water and Power road and then got into some huge sections of slop mixed with dry dirt roads. The Purgatories have a round profile and turn/steer in a nicely neutral way. It is my impression that they have more/smaller knobs then the Eskars, still with lots of space in between, and less of a gap in the transition to the shoulder of the tire. Rolling on the pavement, I did not feel at all like I was pedaling a 4×4 truck tire, something the Eskar reminded me of. They are pretty quiet and roll OK, but not as fast as the Captains.

My riding buddy was running the same sized Captain combo on his Selma that I had been running on the Jabber, so it was interesting to see that when the climbs got really tough and loose/wet, I was able to stay hooked up better than the Captain on his Selma. Not a huge difference, but some. The Purgatories seemed to clean out well and drive nicely in the goop. On the downhill coast-fest back to the truck, the Captains on the Selma would pull away.

Following that, I mounted a set of 2.2 Purgatory Controls tubeless on the Epic Marathon’s Roval wheels. Like every 2Bliss tire I have tried they aired up with a floor pump and never weeped a bit of Caffe Latex sealant out of the beads or sidewalls. 2Bliss rocks!

I now have about 12 hours of riding the Purgatories through some of the wettest weather in recent memory as one storm after another has rolled through So Cal. They have been nothing but solid performers and I have no complaints. Now, keep in mind I am no expert on mud tires, so I will let Guitar Ted see what he thinks of the 2.4s when he gets into the Mid West mud that is coming with the snow melt. But I am going to leave these on through spring. To be fair, we get into ‘Hero Dirt’ in the winter/spring when we transition from wet to dry, so any tire feels super then. But, so far they have showed no bad traits on the hard pack when things have dried out for a ride or two, so I am hoping I can run them into mid spring at least and be happy. I will let ya’ know. (by the way, here are the measurements for these two tires: Measured a true 2.2″ knob to knob on the Roval rims tubeless, 2.15″ on the DT Swiss 7.1 rims with tubes.)

Guitar Ted: 2.4″ Control Purgatory- Set up tubeless on Gordo rims.

The tires seem to be measuring up to stated widths. The 2.4″er is measuring out at a casing width of 60.8mm before any riding has been done on it. I expect that it will stretch after riding at least another millimeter. So with being just a smidgen under 2.4 inches already, this tire should easily make it over 2.4 inches once ridden. Of course, the Gordo rim at 35mm wide certainly helps this. Still, with several other stated 2.4 inch tires coming in at well under the stated width upon mounting, the Purgatory 2.4″ tire is a pleasant surprise. Volume seems about on par with a Maxxis Ardent 2.4 incher, and better than the Mountain King and Rampage tires. Knob to knob outer width is actually somewhat less at 60.4mm on the Purgatory. This suggests that perhaps a 28mm wide rim would be better for sidewall protection in rocky areas, since the narrower rim would pull in the sidewalls just a bit, keeping them from being the widest part of the tire.

I noticed that the lower the pressure got, the narrower these tires would measure up. I got my widest measurements at 30 psi. This sensitivity to pressure may not be a big deal, but I noticed it. Until the trails clear up a bit more, I won’t have any performance data to report, but that time is coming soon. First up will be a test of mud performance. I’ll post a separate update on the 2.4″er coming in a couple of weeks.

Look for a Mid Term report following that in about a month.

Note: These products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.