We are very fortunate to have a European contributor in “c_g” who can attend the Eurobike trade and consumer bicycle show in Germany. Here “c_g” files his next report from the Eurobike show floor.

EUROBIKE – part II (tire news) by “c_g”

Hi there. Anybody been wanting to hear more? Probably not, since we biker are not the anxious kind lusting for new product infos – are we? :)

Well for those few ones, who want to find out what news have been presented at Eurobike; here is the second part of the coverage. It is amazing how many 29er news and releases there are so please do forgive if I will not catch all of them. I do my best humanly possible.

OK let´s get started. There has been a whole new outbreak of interest in 29er here in Europe and I was surprised to see how many new 29er tires (or versions thereof) have been shown here.

SCHWALBE:

After the release of the racing tread ROCKET RON 2.25 (reviewed here) and the NOBBY NIC (under test right now) and announcing the tubeless readiness for their full premium Evolition line earlier this year, I was surprised to see here at EUROBIKE an even larger 2.35 version of the NOBBY NIC. While jumping on board with more trail oriented 29er treads (other than the RACING RALPH) a bit late, I have to admit that this step of yet another even bigger size NOBBY NIC has been done fairly quickly and comes as a bit of a positive surprise. Thanks guys!

01_SCHWALBE NN 2,35

I didn’t have an exact ruler with me but this tire (with quite the knobs on it) looks huge. It will feature the exact same technology as its “smaller” 2.25 brother, having a XC oriented triple compound tread (called “Pace Star”), reinforced sidewalls (“Snake Skin”) and 67 TPI casing. It will come in at a very reasonable ~725 g. More here soon.

KENDA:

Kenda is pretty unknown here in Europe and is trying to get a foothold in our market. I know in the US this is quite different. Anyhow, for 29″ers they have quite an assortment of new tires coming. (Beware, some pictures only show the tread but not the actual size tire as the real 29″er samples had not yet been delivered.)

02_KENDA KOMMANDO

Completely new is the KOMMANDO (available in 1.9 and 2.2 folding and 2.2 in tubeless ready). The tread is said to be dual directional – a dry condition tire in one way and a wet, muddy tire the other way, which I find a pretty creative approach to tire design. Whether it works, some tests by 29″ers will tell.

03_KENDA Happy Medium

Completely new for 29er is the HAPPY MEDIUM, featuring minimal center knobs with aggressive and tall side knobs for aggressive cornering. Kenda claims the tire to be a universal design and not having ridden the tire I take their word but to me it sure looks like a tire that would favor dry and more hard-packed conditions. It will come out in 29 x 2.1 and 120 TPI casing.

04_KENDA Klimax Lite05_KENDA Slant 6

Left: Also new to 29er are lightweight semi slicks KOSMIK LITE II (in 2.0, standard folding and tubeless ready, not shown) and the KLIMAX LITE (1.95, same two versions).

Below: To me the most interesting tread is the SLANT 6 as a design blending the aggressiveness of the NEVEGAL with the speed of the SMALL BLOCK 8 on hard-packed to intermediate terrain. The result is pretty promising looking. It has already been introduced in the US but not here and really new to the line is a tubeless ready version called (SCT – “Sealant compatible tire”) in 2.0There will be 3 versions available: 29 x 2.0 and by 2.2. No weights yet. The SMALL BLOCK 8 will also come out in 2.1 in tubeless ready.

06_PANARACER CG XC

PANARACER

In their Cedric Garcia series there will be a really interesting tread design for 29er coming the CG XC29er. The XC oriented tire will be available in 2.1 (650 g) and 2.25 (850 g) with a 66 TPI casing and looks like no other tire I have seen before.

MAXXIS

Tire giant producer Maxxis is expanding their line of 29er tires by 2 models just after they had introduced the ASPEN 2.1 and the ARDENT 2.4 earlier this year.

07_MAXXIS Beaver

One is the narrow mud specific BEAVER (I love that name for that purpose :) ) in 2.0 with “eXCeption” compound 120 TPI casing and 515g. This tire is a 29er only tire with no direct 26 inch counterpart but does have some similarity to the MEDUSA.

08_MAXXIS IKON

The next tire is the IKON coming in 2.2 in a standard folding version with “eXCeption” compound at a slant 520 gm and with reinforced sidewalls at 575 gm. Maxxis claims this race oriented tire to be fairly universal from dry to loose to wet and looking at the design I see the same blend there as with Kenda; here I´d say it is a “ardented Larsen TT” or vice versa if you like.

Also new is a UST version of the ARDENT 2.25 – not my thing as I believe in tubeless ready and in USt to fade out in the coming years but for some this might be very good news.

MICHELIN

09_MICHELIN Wild Race´R010_MICHELIN Wild Race´R side

The French company that has radically downsized their line of 29er tires in 2009/10 to only one tire- the all new Wild Race´R- now has done a full redesign of this one tread and will offer it as a grippy, fast rolling and aggressively cornering tread for 29er in sizes 2.1 and a voluminous 2.25. Though I should know better than to judge a tread by looks alone (I have neither ridden the 2010 nor the new version) – I must admit that the new design does make a lot more sense to me than the very linear looks of the older version. They will have a 66 TPI casing and weights are given at 670 g for 2.1 and 715 for the 2.25 size.

WTB:

011_WTB Bronson

From WTB, who already have introduced most of their tire and tread designs to the market earlier and now are strongly working to get more tubeless ready versions out, I saw only the BRONSON being “new” for us Euros. Not sure if or for how long it is available in the US but here it was a debut. (Editor’s Note: It will be unveiled here at Interbike) The tread does look pretty promising, but as it is already mounted on my short term test bike, the NINER AIR 9 Carbon, I will be able to give you more than just numbers and looks but some actual riding impressions later on when covering the bike. Bear with me there, will you?

OK so much for news on the tires. There would be more to say and I will probably add some additional info later on but I am dead tired now so I have to call on your patience for the days to come.

RIDE ON,

c_g