I'm always second guessing myself when it comes to these big tires and racing because it's such uncharted territory and goes against all old school race thinking. I was going to run 700 40 Maxxis Ramblers. But thinking about this there's no way those would roll as well as Thunder Burt Liteskin front and a Compass Switchback Hill rear setup. Especially on the paved sections.
I just got back from my first ride on the Thunder Burts. Wow, they're lightning fast. The ride was mostly pavement and I felt like I was on a road tire. Very fast rolling tire. The only gravel near me is a section about 1.2 miles long. I beat my PR on it by 4 seconds despite the fact that half of it had freshly spread "gravel", more like plain old dirt spread over the road and I averaged 16 watts lower for the segment than my previous best time. I'm very impressed. Good cornering grip too. Just for reference, mine are TLE Snakeskin.
A Thunder Burt up front with a slick, fast rolling tire in the rear would be super fast.
As far as installation, the front tire mounted easier than any tubeless tire I've ever mounted. Put it on, put sealant in, hit it with the compressor and it sealed immediately. Back tire wasn't so easy. I used soapy water, tried a strap, no go. I drained the sealant out, put in a tube and inflated it to 55 lbs. Let the air out, pulled the tube out, put sealant in and then it finally sealed up. Not the hardest ever, but not easy and not what I was expecting after the first one.
Dan Reese wrote:I just got back from my first ride on the Thunder Burts. Wow, they're lightning fast. The ride was mostly pavement and I felt like I was on a road tire. Very fast rolling tire. The only gravel near me is a section about 1.2 miles long. I beat my PR on it by 4 seconds despite the fact that half of it had freshly spread "gravel", more like plain old dirt spread over the road and I averaged 16 watts lower for the segment than my previous best time. I'm very impressed. Good cornering grip too. Just for reference, mine are TLE Snakeskin.
A Thunder Burt up front with a slick, fast rolling tire in the rear would be super fast.
As far as installation, the front tire mounted easier than any tubeless tire I've ever mounted. Put it on, put sealant in, hit it with the compressor and it sealed immediately. Back tire wasn't so easy. I used soapy water, tried a strap, no go. I drained the sealant out, put in a tube and inflated it to 55 lbs. Let the air out, pulled the tube out, put sealant in and then it finally sealed up. Not the hardest ever, but not easy and not what I was expecting after the first one.
That's nice to hear, what pressure did you run the Thunder Burts at?
Just under 40 in the rear and just under 35 in the front. The bike and me kitted up is probably 215. Maybe a pound or 2 less. Might be a little high for really rough roads. The section I hit was relatively smooth, although there were a fair number of potholes. I hit multiple potholes and didn't feel like I was pogoing Super fast on pavement at that pressure. I wanted to test them on some rougher roads today but it was cold and windy so I rode the fatbike in the woods instead.
I'm planning a Gorilla Monsoon bulid, and although that bike is not going to be about going fast i'm looking for some 2.2 tyres that are not too draggy if I ever find myself on pavement for some reason. The Thunder Burt sounds like a perfect candidate with some light MTB wheels.
I'll add a +1 for the thunderburts. I'm running them on my newly converted rigid 29er and they are smoking fast. I can hold nearly the same pace on flat pavement as I can with my '16 Diverge with 35mm G-ones, and the off road performance is vastly superior.
My Thunder Burt Front and Smooth rear seemed to work pretty good in my mixed surface race yesterday. I came in 5th and Im not sure they were noticeably "slower" than the guys on 700c and cross tires. I ran them at 22.5psi front and 23 rear. We have quite a bit of loose gravel around here and the larger tires are amazing to have when there is no good line.
2.1" TB upfront with Hutchinson Black Mamba 127 tpi RR at the back is very fast onroad and pretty deft at (easyish) offroad. Or Maxxis Maxxlite at the back if you like to live dangerously. There are many more fast mtb tire options though.
My plan is to do 3-4 hour rides mainly on dirt roads with some pavement to connect them, nothing crazy.
I try to do this on my current bike, I have 43 and 38 GravelKing SKs. More than enough grip for what I do and they roll beautifully on pavement, but after about 2 hours I get too beat up. Need some more suspension.
That is good feedback, thanks guys. The Thunder Burt (TB) has a rolling resistance of about 22.3 watts For comparison, Conti Gatorskin has 19.3 watts per tire (i.e. not a difference I can feel) I would guess that the G-One is in the range of 16-21 watts.
So yeah when loose gravel and stability are more important than weight and aero (i.e. most gravel rides/races), there is a strong case for the bigger TB
I’m thinking of putting a 650b 2.1” TB on the front of my bike and a 700c 40mm G-One on the rear (as that is about what my frame will accept. They seem to have the same diameter. That would give me a fast/efficient tire for power transfer in the rear, and a wide footprint for gravel stability in the front.
Just as a follow up, I did a race this past weekend with the Thunder Burts. It rained overnight before the race, so the course was wet, with standing water in a lot of places, but not deep mud except a couple of spots. The Thunder Burts were great everywhere except of course in the deep mud. There, they slid around almost like a slick. On the wet dirt they had good traction and rolled well. On pavement they were super fast. I caught quite a few people on paved descents and flats. Now if I could just get fitness to match my tire performance;-).
I continue to be impressed with the TB's. So far I've tackled ~60 miles of urban riding when I traveled for work VIA train and bike, a legit 14 mi XC loop with some mild techy sections, and a 44 mi gravel ride this last weekend with a ton of climbing and some very loose sections. The only time I felt a little held back by them were some of the descents on my XC loop, but this could definitely be remedied with a grippier tire up front... I wasn't expecting DH performance out of a lightweight XC/gravel race tire anyway! I think Schwalbe nailed it with this one.
