Here’s a quote from the e-newsletter:

Yes, we are breaking the hot news that we have been spending the past 6 months working on developing the On-One fleet by using the black wonder material and were getting very close to launching some hot new
models in 2010.

This is a World exclusive sneak preview to the first product to be launched in what we will be a first year launch of three exclusive frame designs plus the worlds first, only, and probably last carbon
29er rims.

Interestingly, the”sneak peek” they refer to will be a carbon rendition of the venerable AM hard tail, the 456. Also of interest is the mention of the carbon 29″er rims, but obviously they are not the “world’s first, only, and probably last carbon 29er rims”. We’re taking that as a bit of cheeky Brit humor here. That or they are daft. Anyway………

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this development. We can’t imagine that a carbon 29″er Inbred could be too far behind the 456 intro.

You can check out On One by clicking the link.

Image courtesy of Soul Cycles

The available colors are, from the back, Pearl Root Beer Brown, Pearl White, “Scotch Brite” w/Clear Coat, and Midnight Blue.

For more info go to www.ridesoul.com

The 2010 Manitou Minute with 20mm through axle on the Salsa Cycles Big Mama.

First of all, I must clear up something that had me baffled for a bit. In the introductory post, I mentioned that this fork was a 100mm travel model. well, I couldn’t get over how long it was. It seemed like much more than 100mm travel fork. So, being the red blooded American male that I am, I dug out the owners manual and had a look, after I had it installed! Turns out that by measuring the distance from the seal at the top of the lowers along the outside of the stanchion to the crown interface yeilded a measurement that Manitou indicated was a 120mm travel fork. Oh! Okay! Now it all makes sense!

I had thought I ordered the 100mm fork, but as it turns out, this will be a good comparison to the 120mm Reba Team fork I just finished testing. The Manitou also features a 20mm through axle that they dub “Hex-Lock”. The lowers have the distinctive Reverse Arch that Manitou has used for several years now and revised graphics for 2010. I am not as fond of the big, blocky letters down the side as I am of last years more subtle look, but hey, that’s me. I also know that white forks are wearing thin on people, but I don’t mind the color myself. To each his own, as they say. One thing is certain, Manitou sure gets a high polish on their fork crowns! Finally, the Absolute + Damper is on board, promising no funky clicking noises and a better range of adjustment than before.

Absolute + Damper lever on top of the right fork stanchion.

The adjustments are the air spring, the rebound on the lower right side, and the Absolute + Damper lever on top of the right fork stanchion. Turning the Absolute + damper knob fully clockwise approximates a platform for pedaling efficiency. This can be adjusted internally by way of shims. Otherwise, set your air spring, compression, and rebound and go for a ride. Simple.

The Hex-Lock is a very secure looking axle attachment system, but it has five fasteners you have to deal with and you’ll need two Allen wrenches to do it. Makes me really appreciate the Maxle Lite from the Reba! That said, my Hope hub fit perfectly. I wish I could have said the same for my Quad Dime XC brake though. That will need some shims to set the rotor outwards a hair so my caliper won’t drag. In the meantime, I employed an Avid Juicy 3 front brake so I could get to riding. (Thanks CPS!) Other than that little pitfall, things went well with installation and set up. Manitou’s owner’s manual had clearly written set up instructions and charts for setting up the air spring according to rider weight.

I’m not quite as fond of the graphics as I was 2009 product, but the performance more than made up for that.

Ride Impressions: So now that I was all set to go, I took the fork out for a couple of shake down rides. The fork was very smooth right out of the box. Maybe a hint of stiction, but that should disappear after it breaks in. The fork steered precisely. Manitou should be using a 46mm offset here, but I will have to confirm that as neither the website nor the owners manual indicates this measurement. That aside, I liked the way the bike was handling. Very similar in that regard to how it handled with the Rock Shox. I set the compression damping two clicks from full counterclockwise and this seemed to be fine.

Then it was time to hit up some more serious trail. The fork was again very impressive for its smoothness. Very linear feeling travel compared to the Rock Shox, and the Reba Team is no slouch in that regard. Stiffness was a notch better than a Reba Team. The rebound was spot on for me, and a good thing it was, as it was next to impossible to turn the control knob with a gloved hand. The knob feels a bit too stiff, but as I said, it was no matter for now, since I was happy with that aspect of the performance. I’ll have to look into this though. Further on into the ride, I was really starting to notice how much better the Manitou matched up with the Fox rear shock on the Big Mama. The linear travel feel on the front end matched up very nicely with the active Salsa suspension. I was ripping some single track and felt the bike was really working the trail on both ends to the point that I thought the trail must have been buffed out. Nope! One look down at the fork and I could see it working like crazy. Small branches and some frozen tractor tire marks in the dirt didn’t faze the shock at all. Small drops were sucked up with no drama and the Minute had great rebound action.

At the end of the ride I measured a full 110mm of travel used. Pretty good for the first hard ride. The fork worked great, and I am pretty impressed with the performance so far. The downers are the fidgety front axle attachment, the graphics, and that rebound control knob. And oh yeah…….did I mention the fork was dead quiet the entire time? No clicks. Not even a whoosh or any untoward noise. Just smoove travel! So far, so good.

Stay tuned for a Mid-Term Update coming in a month or so.

Note:This product was purchased to review on Twenty Nine Inches. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Big, meaty rubber and high tech casing designs are finally making an appearance in 29 inch sizes.

It seems as if lots of riders are looking for something that isn’t available. A “mythical tire” that doesn’t exist, or something that is similar to what we have but is lacking in some critical area. While there are well over two dozen different tires that a big wheeler can choose from, what combination of traits is missing? What features are lacking? What is it that big wheel riders are looking for? Finally, do we really need it?

Here are some areas that I have seen talked about along with some of my observations……..

What the tires says on the sidewall is a big thorn in a lot of riders sides.

Truth In Sizing: This is probably the biggest burr under a lot of folks saddles. The inconsistencies in sizing have befuddled many a rider. Tires that are “measuring up” to what they claim are few and far between. Or- you have to wait until they are done stretching to get a width that matches the hot patch. Why can’t we get tires that measure what manufacturers say they should? Well, there are many reasons. One thing is for certain, it isn’t going to change much in the near term. 29 inch mountain bike tires are still a pretty new territory for many manufacturers. Getting zeroed in on size targets will most likely be better in the future. Still, the idea that all 29″er tires will someday measure what manufacturers claim to within a close enough tolerance to satisfy a majority of riders might be a bar that is set too high.

Tubeless/UST Tires: The other thing I see complained about a lot is why aren’t there more 29 inch tubeless and UST standard tires? Why are there different systems? Why can’t it be like 26 inch choices? Well, there are several reasons for this. First of all, even amongst manufacturers that offer 26 inch tubeless products, there isn’t a consensus in how tubelessness is achieved, and some manufacturers don’t believe it is the best for bicycles, (Although they may not admit this publicly). Add to this that making a 29 inch tire bead that will sustain the forces exerted on it by using it tubeless are very different than they are for 26 inch tires and you might see that a whole new set of design parameters must be employed here. That costs money, and the market for 29 inch tires isn’t anywhere in the same zip code as it is for 26 inch product.

Bontrager’s Tubeless Ready System tires and rims are one of the few tried and true tubeless systems for 29″ers available.

That we have tires that work tubeless for 29″ers now is pretty amazing. The debate continues though as to how to achieve this. With users being able to match up tires to varying degrees of quality in 700c rims and think that they can all be converted to tubeless use safely and reliably puts a red flag up in a tire manufacturers head. So some have gone with the integrated system approach, (Bontrager, Hutchinson/Geax with UST rims) and some have gone with a “wink and nod” approach to tubeless usage. Not really being forthright about whether their tires should be used tubeless, and not really advocating a rim/tubeless system. Now on the rim side of things it appears as though several manufacturers are going with what I am referring to as the “Stan’s Default” tubeless system, marketing their 2010 rims as tubeless compatible for 29″ers with a Stan’s strip. That’s great, but conveniently, tires are left out of the discussion.

Yes there are some tubeless systems that include recommended rims and tires. As for the rest claiming tubelessness, until tire manufacturers and rim manufacturers have tested and recommended combinations to riders as being “safe and reliable” it will be a sort of “latex roulette” that riders will have to play out for themselves in terms of what will work tubeless for wagon wheelers.

Sidewall/Casing Technology: Until 2009, 29″er tires were pretty low tech affairs in comparison to the same models in 26 inch sizes. Again, owing to the minuscule size of the 29 inch market compared to 26 inch product, this wasn’t really all that surprising. Still, riders complained bitterly about ripping sidewalls open as if they were riding balloons in a land full of knives. Now we are starting to see some new designs and model upgrades to a few tires that offer some sidewall protection. Bontrager’s “AR” casing, Schwalbe’s “Snake Skin”, and WTB’s “Inner Peace”/”Super Duty” casing technologies are some examples here. This, of course, all comes at the expense of weight. However; this is an encouraging sign for choices in 29″er tires, and perhaps an indication that big wheels are gaining more ground in the marketplace compared to 26 inch wheels, at least in America.

Speaking Of Weight… This is an area where the desires of 29″er riders and the realities of physics seem to be leading divergent paths in many cases. On one hand, riders are asking for bigger, more voluminous casings with big knobs, they still want to be able to run them tubeless and have sidewalls that won’t wilt at the sight of a jagged rock. Yet when the tires that come out with any sort of casing technologies added and have a decent knob size, they are panned for being too heavy. The tires everyone seems to reference in these discussions of width and volume fail miserably on the tubeless reliability scale or the toughness scale. Sometimes both. And we haven’t even entered into tread pattern and knob size discussions. I’m sure tire manufacturers are left a bit confused by this, as the “magic elixir” that will allow them to make this mythical tire still eludes their grasp. If someone ever does solve that riddle, rest assured that they will own a big slice of the 29″er pie in tire sales. (I won’t be holding my breath for that one, however.)

Is It Really Necessary?: Then the question should be asked- do we really need a bigger, wider, lighter, tubeless tire? When you go back to the first true 29″er tire- the Nanoraptor- and consider how much can be done with that one tread pattern, with tubes inside, one has to wonder just what all the fuss is about. Now I am not saying we shouldn’t have the choices we have, but we have a lot of really good choices. Just about any sort of riding one can do on big wheels has an excellent choice in tires that will work for that riding style and terrain. Sure- we can dream up new desires and voice opinions on what would be nice to see. That said, I think a bit of reality would be well advised for those that are looking for something in a 29″er tire they don’t find in the ones they are using. There are limitations.

Now I invite you to comment on what you would like to see in tires for 29″ers in the future. Be realistic. Be nice! ( I will delete non-constructive comments at my discretion) Tire manufacturing/marketing guys are reading this, so let ‘em know what ya’all think out there!

The Reba Team I received to review is not the U-Turn model. I have kept the fork at 120mm travel for the duration of this test, (one year) and have used it on two bikes. The first was the HiFi Deluxe and for the better part of the test it resided on the Salsa Cycles Big Mama I have on test here. The Reba Team features Rock Shox’s Maxle lite through axle which is a 20mm type axle. The chassis also features “Power Bulges” and Rock Shox’s Black Box Motion Control Damper.

The fork used all of its travel if set up correctly for my weight on bigger hits about once or twice a ride. Perfect. With the compression setting, I could dial in a great feel and avoid most brake dive. The fork also came with a Pop Loc which I found to be a so-so feature. First of all, it was a bit fiddly to set up, and secondly I never really got into using it. I preferred the fork to be active during climbing, but that is a personal preference. The quality of travel is classic Rock Shox. Pretty smooth and linear till near bottom out. Rebound damping worked well for me on my trails. The range of adjustment was a bit vague, but it suited my riding okay, so no real complaints there. The air spring held pressure consistently through out the year. I was pleasantly surprised that my previous settings from a first gen Reba carried over to the new platform.

Chassis stiffness is a world above the old quick release first generation Reba. That said, it still isn’t in the territory of some of the competition. Close, but not quite. And the fork had a Maxle Lite through axle. The flex was mostly fore/aft, but a very slight side to side flex was noticed at times. I can’t imagine the quick release version of this fork feeling any better. So in terms of chassis stiffness, the Reba Team is adequate, but nothing to crow about. Not in light of some of today’s competition.

The Maxle Lite is brilliant. I really came to like this feature. No tool front wheel removal is good, and it never let me down. That said, the threads of the Maxle Lite are not very coarse, and look like they could easily be stripped. Care with installation is recommended. Other than that, I give the system very high marks. The post mount disc brake was a new feature for 2009. I never had any issues with different calipers and removing/replacing the studs. That said, you will need to pay attention when installing fasteners into the post mounts. Threading by hand in a careful manner is recommended here. Otherwise you are good. Is post mount better? Truthfully, I can not tell the difference. The brakes worked as well on the old bracket system. I didn’t see any increase in braking efficiency with post mounts.

Finally, some of the newer tire rim combinations that may come out may be at the limits of what the Reba can deal with. I found this out with the Gordo/Dissent rim/tire combo recently. On a fork with this much travel, set ups like the one I tried will be looked at for the Reba. I experienced some tire rub on the fork brace with the Gordo/Dissent combo. Other tires should be okay though. It is worth noting that it is reported that other fork brands seem to have better clearance with the new big, monster 29″er tire.

Conclusions: Over all the fork performed well and was trouble free over the course of testing. I felt confident that it would continue to perform consistently whenever I rode it. The Maxle Lite worked great, and the through axle set up was definitely better than the old quick release model I was using. The forks features were an improvement over the first generation Reba, but with newer forks hitting the market that rival the suspension feel and surpass the Reba in over all chassis stiffness, the Reba isn’t the top of the heap fork it once was. It is very good, but not “great”. Some things like the Pop Loc seem odd to me in their finicky nature on a fork this expensive. Considering the approximately $700.00 MSRP on this fork, it is pushing the limits of value for the buck spent. Still, it is hard to argue with this models reliability and performance over the long haul. If you have longer travel on the brain, like simpler set up procedures, and want a killer through axle set up that is easy to use, the Rock Shox Reba Team fork is worth a look. Are you a big guy or need a rock solid stiff chassis and are not impressed with Pop Loc? You may want to look elsewhere.

Note: This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Easton Stem Recall Notice: Here is a press release issued concerning a recall on Easton EA30 stems. Of particular interest is that these stems in question were used on some Raleigh 29″er models. Here is the release:

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Easton Sports, has announced a voluntary recall on about 6,400 bikes with EA30 stems.

Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Easton Sports toll-free at (866) 892-6059 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s Web site at www.eastonbike.com.

New Geax Website: Above is the image sent to us by Geax depicting what you can expect to see on the updated website. Navigation has certainly been streamlined over the old site and finding information about 29 inch tires from Geax like the Saguaro, Gato, and Barro Race is easier than ever. Of particular note here is the missing UST Saguaro 29″er tire. Apparently it has been dropped from the line up. TNT still remains a mainstay; however, and is a highly recommended way to go for tubeless set ups or for those looking for a tougher sidewall in a 29″er tire.

Rumor has it that Geax’s next 29″er model will be the “AKA”. To see the 26 inch version of that tire and other Geax offerings, see the site at http://www.geax.com

Siren Bicycles Announces The John Henry Model: We’ve posted on this before and now Siren Bicycles is officially announcing availability of the steel hard tail called the “John Henry”. Here’s some specifics from Siren’s website:

Our first “standard handbuilt” frame is ready to go… anywhere you want to. In honor of the John Henry namesake, we build this 29″ hammer-swinger the old school way- here in the USA, by people who ride & love building bikes, and take pride in their craft. John Henry takes on the machine, bringing quality and performance comparable to high end custom frames at a production bike price. John Henry is available through your local bike shop, or directly from us at Siren Bicycles.
MSRP $995 USD

For more on Siren Bicycles go to their website.

Kodiak 2.5″ 29″er tires available: A reminder that the Kodiak 2.5 inch 29 inch tire is available now from Niner Bikes. They have an exclusive on this burly tire and they will be distributing it for the foreseeable future. Si if you have seen my test/review on it, and want to get a hold of these, then Niner Bikes is where to go. Just wanted to make that point clear.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more “News and Rumors” coming soon.

Is the Intense 2951 prototype the next step in 29″er development that will ultimately affect all 29″ers?

Why 29 DH? Maybe the question should be asked, “Why do a 29″er DH rig?” It is a legitimate question, but whether you fall on one side of the fence or the other on the 29″er DH thing, what really matters is how this will all ultimately affect 29″ers over all. Make no mistake, this DH thing will change the 29″er landscape, no matter if it gets accepted or not. To make the leap to big hit, gravity driven wagon wheeling, components are being developed, and are already in place, that will affect how everyday trail riders on 29″ers will ride in the future. It will affect what they ride on. It will affect the performance of 29 inch wheels, forks, and frames. In my opinion, it will refine the 29 inch wheeled bikes in a good way.

You may not agree that a 29 inch wheeled bike will make a good, serious, race winning down hill bike, but there is no doubt that much is to be learned from the experiments on those big wheeled gravity sleds. Down hill racing, and the technology to do it well, will lead to technologies and ideas for those big wheelers that can be trickled down to full suspension rigs, tires, and forks that trail riders will use in the future on 29″ers.

And of course, the whole 29″er DH thing might just work out after all. Time will tell, and very soon, it would seem.

First off, I continue to be amazed at how well the Dissent rolls on hard surfaces. That’s saying a lot since the novelty of the tire has worn off. I will never be afraid of having a tire this heavy if they all will roll this well. Just an impossibly smooth tire for its girth and weight. WTB really nailed the best possible combination of low rolling resistance and big knob size on this tire.

Secondly, while hitting wet, slippery rocks and roots may not suit this tire very well, it simply rules on a wide rim in the mud. The wide rim, (in this instance a Salsa Cycles Gordo) makes the Dissent flatten out in profile which in turn gives the tire a capability to float up on mud that rounder casings would cut into, get mired down, and grind to a halt in. Along with this the Dissent shows a propensity for shedding even some of the stickiest mud I could run across here. Maybe not a clay type mud, but a black dirt, silty, sandy soil is no match for this tread.

I usually run my mud tests alongside a creek that has trails that regularly get flooded. Riding on these trails isn’t a no-no, since it won’t be long before they are flooded again, and all traces of previous passages are rearranged beyond recognition. That said, we all should be very careful about riding wet trails, so take this part of the review with advisement. That said, the conditions for a mud test couldn’t have been better recently as vast parts of the trail were recently under water, which usually means you can’t get five feet in before you are done riding. Not with the Dissent though!

Here’s the example I am describing. The picture on the left is a section of recently flooded, wet, sticky, muddy trail. Normally I wouldn’t even get through this section without bogging down with most tires. The picture on the right shows the rear Dissent immediately after this section. Knobs still showing, and not much packing in. Amazing! This tire on this rim is the best mud riding combination I have ever used. Will it work in your mud? I can not say, but I’m betting that short of sticky clay, the Dissent will shed mud like a champ. (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

The other really impressive trait, and again probably due to the profile of the tire on the wide rim, is the Dissent’s float on sand. This same creek trail gets drifted over in deep, fine river sand, which the Dissent just rolls right on through without any problems. Very impressive, and not surprising for a wide, supple tire like this. Now if the sand were granulated, or really loose, the width of the Dissent wouldn’t help at all, and you would be bogged down, but if there is any hint of the sand being wet, or holding together, the Dissent will float on over. I can’t wait to see how it does on packed in snow. I’m thinking it might work pretty well there too.

Finally, the Dissent is a pretty tough tire. I have literally given up even lifting my rear end up, or making any concessions at all for any curbs in my neighborhood. I simply plow right into them without even slowing down now. The Inner Peace anti-pinch flat protection works well. Now that isn’t to say that sharp trail rocks wouldn’t do some damage, but I have yet to get this tire anywhere near a trail with such features, so curbs and steps will have to do for now. I’ve no doubt that the Dissent will do well in that scenario. It also bears mentioning that even if you did manage to flat the Dissent, it will most probably stay on the rim, since the sidewalls are so stiff near the bead.

All the testing so far has been done with sub-20psi pressures and I have gotten below 15psi on one ride. The low pressures seem to be the ticket here, Better casing performance, great traction, and the aforementioned Inner Peace keeps you from pinch flatting. (Yes tubes here!) Other notes; The Gordo rims and the Dissent are a great match. I had to use three tire levers to remove the bead on the Dissent from the Gordo recently. They are also a bit of a chore to mount. The cornering traction is excellent. You have to lean it over with conviction to get the side knobs to bite, but when they do, they exhibit a ton of grip on the harder dirt and packed rock surfaces I tried the cornering tests on.

More trail testing will occur over the next few months as weather allows. I’ll chime back in with a Final Review after the New Year, but for now I would give the Dissent pretty high marks for its intended use.

Note:This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Again, this is the 20mm through axle model and features the Absolute Plus damper. Stay tuned for a more detailed first impressions post coming soon.

Note:This product was purchased to review on Twenty Nine Inches. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.

The Kodiaks have a very different profile than the Dissent tires do.

Okay, so with no further adieu, here are the weights and widths. (Width measurements taken after 24 hours of the tires being mounted.)
-Weight: 1320grams and 1360 grams each.
-Width: Width of Casing @ approx 40psi: 58.2mm. Width Knob to Knob @ approx 40psi: 64.6mm. Casing Height:54.5mm

Here is Niner Bike’s press release info on the Kodiak:

A 2.5′” monster, this Niner exclusive tire is the burliest rubber you can spec on your 29”
bike. Made with WTB’s High Grip DNA™ rubber compound, the tread is specifically designed for
fast, gnarly, technical descending. The WTB Inner Peace™ sidewall reinforcement has your back
when it comes to pinch flat protection, sidewall stiffness and keeping tire damage to a minimum.
Finally, the wire bead means less bead stretch and better rim retention when you do push the
limits of your riding. 29×2.5″, 1400 grams, 50 Durometer, 27 TPI.

The Kodiaks were even more difficult to mount than the Dissents were. I had to use a steel lever to mount these on the Gordos. The side walls are of similar construction to the Dissents with the Inner Peace bead protection. Like the Dissent, the beads sat up fine and I was off and running. I thought the Dissents looked wider at first. The high crown made the Kodiaks look narrower to my eye. I had already ridden the Dissents, obviously, and had higher expectations for the rolling feel of the Kodiaks. The big knobs of this tire added weight over the Dissents though, so I was skeptical of having the same sort of epiphany I had when starting out on the Dissent. Certainly the Dissent has a more voluminous casing, basically “filling out the corners” where the Kodiak is missing that part, thus the rounded cross section. That probably will allow the Kodiak to fit more frames than the Dissent though.

Since the casing on the Kodiak is very different in cross section than the Dissent, the Kodiak having a rather pronounced crown to its profile, the shape of the Kodiak fit my Rock Shox Reba Team better. The Dissent rubs the fork brace at times while the clearance with the Kodiak is fine. No chance of fork contact with the Kodiak. The differences do not stop there either. The tread is very different on the Kodiak with the center of the casing having some rectangular pairs of ramped knobs. Then alongside of those is a row of intermediate knobs that are larger and well supported. These are flanked by even larger outer knobs that are very well supported. All the outer and intermediate knobs are sort of connected at the base in a “tie bar” sort of way. Make no mistake- these knobs are like fortresses and are large. Deeper and more of a multi shaped affair than what is seen on the Dissent.

The Kodiak has some massive side knobs.

Ride Impressions: With everything set up and ready to go, I gave the Kodiaks a test run in the neighborhood before loading up to hit the test loop. I felt similar sensations as I did with the Dissents. Nice rolling tires for all those knobs. Maybe a bit more buzz and noise with the Kodiaks though. Once out on the trail, I noticed that the Kodiak climbed well, gave a nice ride over rocks and roots, and cornered like it was on rails. More on that in a bit. I should say that the trails were extremely dry at this particular time, so the tacky, wet conditions I rode the Dissents in were gone for the moment. I did find leaf strewn trails with hard pack to some tacky conditions and some sand. That said, here’s a few comments about the Kodiak tires so far in these conditions.

I found that the tires outer knobs wanted to grab the sides of ruts and pull you up into the sides of the ruts. Also, the Kodiak showed a tendency to cut into sand more than the Dissent, which was definitely a floater in sand. I accounted this as being a result of the Kodiaks high crowned casing versus the Dissents flatter crowned casing. The Kodiak did seem to carry speed better though on the hard pack due to this. I liked the climbing in the dry conditions just fine, but I will have to wait until after a rainfall here to duplicate some of the conditions I got to run the Dissent in to gain a clearer comparison there. The Kodiak run at low psi ranges (sub 20 to lower teens) rolls over stuff in its path great. Very smooth, yet the Inner Peace and stiffer casing keep your rims from coming into contact with trail debris. I thought the tires gave great trail feed back though. They certainly didn’t feel “dead” at all.

Now back to that cornering thing for a minute. I will first say that the Dissent is no slouch in cornering, but this Kodiak is a tire that seems to be even better. I tried to wash it out on some hard packed dirt/gravel. I was amazed at how far I could push into the corner and not even detect any looseness at all. The tire felt glued to the surface. This was a totally flat surface too. I was at a lean angle by the end of it that I hadn’t tried before and still the Kodiak stuck the corner. Impressive! At least on dry stuff. On other sections of trail the Kodiak gave no hint of letting go. The softer compound and side knobs just railed. I think I would have to reach some terminal velocities before I found out where “over the edge” was with the Kodiak. Again- I will have to see if the Kodiak is moisture friendly before I can pass further judgment though. I will say that I got the Dissent to hint at breaking away far before I leaned the Kodiak over as far as I did.

Kodiak 2.5″ 29″er tires are available now only from Niner Bikes.

Stay tuned for more coming in a few weeks.

Note:This product was provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. I am not being paid or bribed for this review. I will give my honest opinion or thoughts through out.