Geax Gato 29″ X 2.1″ Tires And Saguaro White Walls- by Guitar Ted
Recently we visited our contact at Geax at Interbike and found a couple of things of note that we thought we’d pass along here. First off is the new version of the Gato, a tire both c_g and I have tested and liked quite well. (See c_g’s write up here, and you can find my write up here.) Now with the narrower casing, the Gato is going to have a lighter weight, but still will feature that aggressive, open tread pattern.
Geax Gato 2.1" Folders
The Gato is one of Geax’s tires that crosses the XC category and goes into the Trail/All Mountain category- in other words, an “all arounder” tire. Here is what Geax’s site says about this shoe:
The Gato was designed for maximum grip and control in wet and loose conditions. An aggressive tread with tall, widely spaced, siped knobs ensures excellent shedding characteristics and increased traction when the elements make the trail challenging. Reinforcements at the base of the central ridge reduce rolling resistance while similar reinforcements on the side knobs ensures knob stiffness and penetration when cornering. Since prototype phases, the Gato has made a name for itself with world cup stage wins, consumer satisfaction, and glowing press reviews.
In the 2.1″ size, the Gato is available as a TNT version (tubeless ready), or as the folder, (test sample), and is a claimed 550 gms. The samples we got are 610 and 620 grams respectively. These will be getting mounted up soon and a follow up post with First Impressions will follow.
Flashy!
Geax also sent over the venerable Saguaro in a 2″ width but with a twist- they have whitewalls! These are a wire bead tire and weigh about 860gms each. The Saguaro pattern is rendered across a bit narrower casing here, but is otherwise the same as you may know it. Although they are not rated as tubeless tires, I have them set up this way and they are holding air with sealant quite nicely. (Of course, doing this voids all warranties and all risk is assumed by the rider if you do this.)
We’ll be bombing around on these for a bit and give you some impressions later.
NOTE: Geax sent these tires to Twenty Nine Inches for test/review at no charge. We are not being bribed, nor paid for these posts, and we will strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
Gee a heavy 2.0 width, wire bead tire, white walls aside, why bother?
@Yogi: Because you might like white walls, they will be cheaper tires, and the tread is versatile and long wearing, which makes them a good value.
Some folks may be interested in that. And again- we like to look at the full range of products here at TNI.com- not just the marquee offerings.
I’m digging the white walls. Now I just need a cup holder for my wide bars…
GT-You are absolutely right, but 860 grams. That feels heavy just typing it!
Do they still have trouble mounting to Stan’s rims?
@Mike: I assume you are referring to the TNT versions of Geax’s 29″er tires. Geax is making a running change which will help their tires fit the Stan’s rims more easily, (or at all!
). Look for those tires to start tricklingout next year in the Spring.
@GT – does that mean they’ll be loose on UST-sized rims? Will they still be OK on WTB TCS rims?
@Tim: It seems that from our experiences with Michelin and Hutchinson tires, that even though they are UST standard beads, they can be fitted to non-EX Stan’s rims. (We have not gotten enough experience with the newer EX version of Stan’s rims to verify fit with most tires) This would indicate that while the Michelin and Hutchinson tires are UST, the Geax tires are somewhat tighter for whatever reasons. With the slight relaxing of the bead diameter, I suspect that the Geax tires would then be like Michelin’s and Hutchinson tires.
But this is all speculation on my part until we can actually get ahold of the newest Geax tires with the slightly larger bead diameter and try them out. I’m just passing along what we are expecting to find.
We are currently building an indian/old harley-Davidson style bike for a customer and he wants 29″ white wall tires. When will these be available? Cost is no issue, just availability. A total of 4 tires may be bought because this is a motorized bike, burnouts will be present!
Please email or write on our Facebook wall as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Isaiah Gibbs
@3G Fab: Why not contact your local bike shop and have them get you these via GEAX?