On One Smorgasbord 2.25″ Tires: Final Review- by Guitar Ted
I’ve been running the On One Smorgasbord 2.25″er tires for nearly three months now, and it is time to give you a Final Review on these treads for 29 inch wheeled bikes from the U.K.’s own On One brand. My last update was here, way back in July! Since that time I have had similar conditions all summer- dry, very hard packed, and some loose over hard pack. I was awaiting some rain to finally see if these tires would shed mud like a good U.K. tire should.
Smorgasbord- For a veritable terrain buffet?
Well, we did finally get that much needed rain around here, and I sprang into action getting these tires out in the softer grounds and mud where I could beat the thirsty ground to the moisture. 
So, what did I find? I will preface this, (as I always do when speaking of mud here), with a reminder that the mud here is really sticky stuff. Not many tires can handle what the terrain dishes out here with regard to mud. Not only that, but sandy patches in between will often just exacerbate the issue by clogging the tread even further.
The Smorgasbord actually did pretty well. It would pack in, but the widely spaced knobs, along with their height, would shed the dirt about as fast as it stuck on to the tire. This allowed for a modicum of control, which is far better than most tires I’ve tried, (that were not mud specific tires), so I am impressed. Of course, the Smorgasbord grabbed tackier, loose dirt and grabbed it well, so as far as softer conditions are concerned, this tire shines through well.
Conclusions: The Smorgasbord hits on most all cylinders and the performance is high for most situations. On One stated that the tire’s main mission is “grip”, and I would say they have succeeded in that mission. This tire was hard for me to trip up and I never felt let down by the grip this tire exhibits on anything dry, loose, and hard to muddy, wet, and soft. But that isn’t all I liked about these tires. They hold pressure tubeless perhaps better than anything else I’ve tried. They measure what the hot patch says out of the box. Plus, they seem to be wearing well, as I am not noticing any accelerated wear issues with this tire at all.
If there is anything to say negative here, it would be in terms of rolling resistance, which this tire is a bit on the negative side here, but considering that the grip is so good, I think the trade off is well worth it. Then there is the weight. At 860-870 grams for my test samples here, they won’t win any hearts over with their mass. However; if you are not a racer, or if you just need an excellent trail tire for a wide range of conditions, look no further than the On One Smorgasbord. It will give you a lot of grip, and should be a pretty stout tire on most Trail/AM 29″ers.
Note: These On One tires were purchased by Guitar Ted for testing and review. I am not being paid, nor bribed for this review and will strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
Any comment on the casing, specifically the sidewall protection?
The sidewalls are very similar to the maxxis exo, on-one even calls them ‘ekso’.
I really like the tires too. I run them on the rear at the moment in the normal enduro single compound version and they roll well for a full knobby tire.
@Evasive: The casing is beefy compared to most tires we test. I suspect that contributes to the excellent tubeless performance as well. I would recommend it for folks having issues with weak sidewalls, but that said, anything can and will fail.
I’ve been riding this tires for one and a half months now in my Scandal 29er, and I’m absolutely impressed. The tires happen to be produced by Maxxis, that’s something that I suspected from the very beguinning, because the compound looks and feels sooo similar to the supertacky (I´ve DH Minion’s in my Kona Coilair).
I’ve completed an epic race (95 kms.) in a very varied terrain after 2 days of heavy rains, with wet soil, mud, singletracks, roots, rock gardens, loose rocks on fast descends, and didn’t slip at all in the hole race. They feel very grippy in all canditions and very confortable too, as you can run low pressures on them (even though I run them with tubes, no flats at all so far).
Probably the best good-for-all tires that I’ve ever tried.
How are they in the mud, compared to maxxis beaver?
@RGB Nameless: Well, c_g tested the Beaver, and I the Smorgasbord. I can only say that compared to Bontrager’s Mud X tire, the Smorgasbord is slightly less capable in mud, but much more capable than the Mud X as an all arounder.
Hope that helps.
@GT, but you are tested Geax Gatos, right ? Can you compare them ? 2.1 and 2.3 both to 2.25 smorgasbord ? I found that 2.3 folding ( non-tnt ) gatos got too round profile for my riding, and they ride mostly on central knobs, while sideknobs does not work.
@RGB Nameless: I did test the TNT version of the wider Gato, and am now riding the 2.1 Gato. Both are exactly as you described them. I found the wider Gato worked best on a Salsa Gordo rim, (35mm width outside to outside), and the narrower Gato is going to end up on Flows for the same reasons.
In comparison, the Smorgasbord has a much flatter, (but still slightly rounded), profile on Flows. All the knobs hook up at lower pressures easily. At slightly boosted pressures, you still have side knob bite, but you just have to ride the bike more actively to get them to work for you.
thanks. Looks like I should try them.
Hi GT,
While I am planning to use Panaracer Driver Pro at the rear and Rubena Kratos at the front for Marathon and Tour, I got my hands on a Smorgasbord Enduro and plan to ride it together with the Kratos on more ambitious trails. As you know both tyres, which one do you recommend as front tyre and why?
Thanks, TS
@TS: The Kratos is good, but it has lower volume and thus less effect for suspension and overall traction than the Smorgasbord. But- the Smorg may not leave enough room for mud in some cases,and the tread may be a bit more aggressive causing higher rolling resistance than the Kratos. Pick yer poison. I like both for different reasons. As in a purely trail situation- where I would always go for the Smorg, for instance.