Twenty Nine Inches has received a Maxxis Aspen 29″ X 2.1″ tire for test and review. The Aspen was introduced last fall at Interbike along with the Ardent 2.4″ tire which we are also testing. (You can check out our posts on the Ardent here and here.) The Aspen is an XC oriented tread pattern tire that boasts of low rolling resistance and low weight. Claimed width is 2.1″, so it falls squarely in the category of many other race oriented 29″er tires.
Stay tuned for an Out Of The Box post coming soon where the weight, mounting method, and measurements for our sample will be given.
Note: The reviewed products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. I was not paid or bribed for this review. I will give/gave my honest opinion or thoughts through out
I’ve been waiting for this review. I’m hoping I like these even though I don’t like the similar purpose Racing Ralphs (one of the few I know). These would allow me to drop close to a pound off my bike.
Oh, the reasons I suspect I will like them more: cheaper, less weight, different tread pattern, & better sidewalls than the reg RR.
The Aspen seems promising, it has some superficial similarities to the old Michelin Jet S, which was a surprisingly good allrounder. The Racing Ralph got a revamp for this year too, hope to see a review soon.
Just mounted and converted mine to tubeless yesterday. Looking forward to riding them and your review!
To quote my girlfriend: ‘Those look like they could actually work’.
Uhm, that was me.
I really want this tire to work! It fills the gap between the small volume XR1, 29-3 2.0″, Crow and the bigger Raven 2.2 and Racing Ralph, weighing considerably less than the Racing Ralph, while (hopefully) retaining cornering bite and with a more supple tread.
That was just my wishful thinking. Cannot wait to try them out this weekend.
I’ve been loving mine. Used them in St. George and never had an issue. I’d really like to have someone measure them to see if they are actually 2.1.
Mine are 50mm (1.97″) on ZTR355, measured on the casing. They sat and stretched for a while, so they will probably not get any wider.
Good to know! Mine are also on 355’s and have completely stretched. Maybe I should invest in a caliper since I find this stuff so interresting.
t0m- There is no change to the Racing Ralph for ’10. The Snakeskin 2.25 was added to the catalog but it has been available since last spring.
Give me a snakeskin 2.4″ Racing Ralph and I’m in.
53mm wide casing mounted up tubeless on my Crests with mid 20 psi’s. They measure 1-2mm wider casing when mounted on Flows, Blunts, Delgado Discs, etc… . My pair weigh 490/500g.
They are the real deal. I did quite a few races on them last season (prototypes). Plenty of traction front and rear and a great XC race tire.
@bruce brown: I remember seeing yours and the sample I have is no where near as voluminous as your prototype. Unfortunately the production tires look to be a bit skinnier, but given some time to ride them, I may see some stretch.
Stay tuned, a report should follow within a week or two now that the snow is gone…..
I’m just mounting a pair up tubeless on a set of Specialized Roval wheels (with the Stan’s rim strip)and while it’s a tight fit, it seals up and inflates fine. I had XR1s and while i was happy with them in general, I wanted a larger volume tire to help protect the wheels when running sub-30psi pressures, and a slightly more aggressive tread in softer trail conditions. I’ll give them a try this weekend!