Twenty Nine Inches has purchased a set of Bontrager FR3 29″er tires. These are part of the new range of Bontrager tires and are also from the vaunted TLR series of tubeless ready tires. Bontrager lists the FR3 as an “all-condition tire for the all-mountain rider that excels through corners while the continuous center rib provides low rolling resistance on climbs.” It certainly has a unique look from many tires.
(Image credit: Bontrager’s website)
The FR3 tires are available in three different versions. We have the “Team Issue” which features a 120TPI casing, an Aramid bead, and has a listed weight of 890 grams. The “Expert” version goes to a 60TPI casing, but is otherwise similar, with a listed weight of 1035 grams. Their is also a wire beaded version with 60TPI casing which has a listed weight of 1105 grams. All are listed as 2.35″ wide. MSRP on these tires is as follows: Team Issue- $59.99, Expert- $49.99, and the standard wire bead version goes for $34.99 each. These tires are available through any Trek, Gary Fisher Bikes, or Bontrager dealers.
The FR3 features a prominent center ridge tread and lower flanking tread to promote faster rolling. On the outer edges there are more aggressive, taller knobs that are designed for maximum grip and cornering traction. The FR3 tires we have are going to be set up tubeless on the Sun Ringle’ Charger Pro wheels we are testing. Look for an Out Of The Box post on these tires with exact weights and measurements coming soon.
Editor’s Note: These tires were purchased by Twenty Nine Inches for review/testing. We will strive to give our truthful opinions and thoughts throughout the review/test.
Was hoping you’d latch onto these, GT – very promising tread. Though a bit heavy, they probably really roll.
When I went to the Bonty tire site to research these I found another tire I don’t remember seeing before – the 29-4. Pretty “Stoutly”, but 100 g lighter. Would love to see you evaluate those. With the Stouts gone now and the last of the production pretty leaky for “tubeless conversion” the 29-4 could be the right answer.
@LeeT: When the 29-4′s are out, you will see those reviewed here as well.
The only challenge with the Bonty offerings at the moment is you can not get them!! At least in Canada anyway, we tried getting some of the 29-3 TLR here and they basically had none available. We also could not get a bunch of other accessories form them as well. So I went ahead and got some Specy S-works Fast Traks instead.
Where is the aspen review?!
@ Greg
I came here to ask the same thing!
@Greg, @Nick: In progress. The trails haven’t been too dry of late with tons of rain. Besides the fact that they just opened up about a week ago.
Lots of tire updates will be forthcoming. Stay tuned……….
@Guitar Ted: That’s fine, I live in the midwest to and we have had 40′s and rain all week. I actually already have the tires I just haven’t put them on yet ! haha. But I still wanted to get your professional tire input anyway!
Somehow they look a bit like the Crossmark with the centre strip but heavier side knobs. Can they be compared at all? Crossmark is prob a much lighter tyre, both weightwise and intended use.
I have a pair of exactly these tyres on my RIP9. They are great at trail centres in the north of England and really offer an improvement in hook up on corners and on steep techy climbs over my Jones ACX and Panaracer Rampages. Running them tubeless with low pressure they proved the best snow tyres of all my friends duing our recent bad weather.
Their only downside is they squirm a lot more than the Jones (which are a standard 8 block type) in heavy mud, not impossible to manage but certainly not as confidence inspiring.
That centre ridge would seem to interfere with allowing the drive blocks to make proper contact with the riding surface. That might be ok on hardpack where a classic semi-slick could get a grip but on nasty, rocky, loose climbs, it doesn’t make intuitive sense.
I guess we’ll see what the ride results are.
i’ve been running this tire on the front with a 29-3 front tire on the rear since january. i absolutely love the set up. loads on grip especially int he corners. definately gave me confidence boost when doing hard, late braking