Tight fit on my HED Belgium tubeless setup, but once they're on they really hold air. Pressure stays for months, and I have ridden them at CX races at good pressures (27fr, 28r) with no burping, etc. On wide rims they appear a little balloon-y but traction is good and the volume helps w the ride. Great traction on dry or tacky conditions. I have seen some Stan's leakage in the sidewalls, but usually once I refresh the Stan's this stops. This is my 3rd season w them.
It's probably obvious, but they are horrendous in the mud. I raced them in a full mud-fest and they just accumulate like crazy. It felt like I was on a fat bike by the end of 40 mins - they don't shed at all. But that's not their designed purpose. My mistake and I paid for my laziness in not changing them out. Overall when used as intended they're great.
These tires are fine for pavement and mild gravel rides. About 30 miles into my first ride with these I tore a sidewall on what I'd condider a semi-rough section of road but not a unusually rocky road. They did well on gravel roads where any 2wd car can go, but failed quickly on roads meant for high clearance vehicles.
I booted the tire and will use use them for crising around the neighborhood, but I'd not consider them capable on rocky trails or gravel roads that 4wd roads.
I live near mountains, where there are many remote long fast rocky downhills on forest roads that are not well maintained. A gravel tire needs to be dependable.
The tires worked perfectly in a tubeless setup and allowed me to finish cross season with no flats!
I was sweating bullets waiting for this newly introduced tire in TCS version to arrive far enough ahead of this year's Dirty Kanza 200 mile gravel race for me to test it. Fortunately, it did finally arrive about 3 weeks before the race and I put it through the wringer, riding it on the nastiest gravel I could find, at high speed, pushing it through corners, TRYING to ride it through stuff where it should flat so I'd know what it's limits were...but I couldn't get it to flat. I also rode it on rocky MTB single track, sand, you name it...nothing bothered it.
It survived 124 miles of Dirty Kanza flawlessly (I had to pull due to a broken GPS, no water, and massive blisters from carrying my bike for 3 miles across the mud stretch). In fact, the tires are still showing just nominal wear, especially in the back...after over 800 training and racing miles on tough terrain, that's amazing.
This tire has decent volume, is reasonably compliant, has adequate traction on dry hard, loose over hard, sand. Loaded up completely in the peanut butter mud of Dirty Kanza, but I'd have to think so did every other tire. On pavement this tire is very fast and holds high speed corners very well. The one downside is that it's a bit heavier than I'd like, but there's a balance between weight and durability. Overall, the tire is a winner, with zero flats running tubeless with Orange Seal.
I love my MTB's tubeless setup so much, I decided (after several seasons of dealing with CX tubulars) to take the tubeless plunge with this tire. I have them mounted on Velocity A23s using Stan's tape and sealant, and the setup is brilliant. I'm about 190lbs and I've gone into the 25-30 psi range with zero burping.
Did three CX races on them toward the end of last season with no flats or problems of any kind, and just did a big on-roadoff-roadsingletrack kind of ride, and once again, these tires really shone. They were fast on the pavement, dug in on the soft stuff, and I felt very confident in fast corners (both paved and dirt).
Never going back to tubulars. I'll mostly likely replace these with the exact model for as long as WTB keeps making them.
This tire, by far, has been the easiest CX tire to setup tubeless. I have mounted this tire on both tubeless ready rims and non. Both rims seated the bead with just a floor pump and held a tight seal from the start. I am using sealant (Orange Seal) and it continues to maintain a 99% seal - even after weeks, these tires don't seem to lose much pressure.
I raced CX on this tires during the last two comps of the season. The are GREAT! They are a great all-around CX tire, as the tread pattern seems to hookup on all but the muddiest of conditions. Being a clydesdale (240), I was running TPIs of F34 R37 and the tires provided a plush, but connected ride. The 35mm width is a perfect balance of volume vs. rotational weight (only 400 grams!) They have yet to burp... even on the off-camber sections during intense CX racing. I have commuted and gravel grinded on these tires... obviously, they are not an ideal pavement tire, but they are surprisingly quiet. On gravel, these tires shine. I plan on running these tires in the Lost and Found gravel, as the varied conditions in that race will match this tires capabilities.
My final opinion is that, if you wanted only one tire to cover most conditions well, this would be the one.
5 stars for the tire because
They seat easily
Hold air well (using Stan's)
Fast & grippy
1 star for me because I rode my CX bike in a MTB park and tore an inch-long gash in these marvelous tires.
These are my go-to race tires for mostly dry to dry condition courses. They excel on grass courses as well. The number of side knobs instills confidence in the corners. I'm a huge fan of wider tires for CX.
I gave these tires a poor review on May 2nd and I would like to revise that review. I was using Finishline Sealant that was bleeding through the pores and seems of the tire causing the tires to lose pressure. I never had that problem with Stans sealant, so I decided to change the sealant to Stans. The bleed through problem immediately stopped and now the tires hold air pressure very well. I am happy with the tires now and I would recommend using Stans sealant when running them tubeless.
I set these tires up tubeless on A23 rims and Finishline sealant. They seemed to work pretty good for about 2 weeks, then I noticed sealant bubbling through all of the tire seams. Now they leak so bad, I will have to use an inner tube. I thought it might be a problem with the Finishline sealant, but after reading other reviews, I think its just a poorly designed tire for tubeless applications.
I had the same problem as Dr. Dilweed. Extremely hard to seat on rims that no other tires have had any problem with. I don't know what psi was needed to seat tire, but was well in excess of 150psi., plus soap on the bead. Sealant bleeding through tire. 3 flats in 3 rides. Don't buy these tires.
I carefully chose these tires for a couple of CX races before I switched back to my go-to gravel tires as I work-up for another go at Dirty Kanza 200. The reviews for these were all very favorable and the price seemed tough to beat, so I was excited to try these out. Right away we (me and my LBS) had difficulty getting them to seat on my carbon rims that all other tires have seated almost instantly. Then I noticed a few spots along the sidewall where sealant was bubbling, but that soon stopped, figured I was good to go. Did a couple warm up rides before my CX race, didn't really have any trouble, but they did seem to need quite a pump-up each morning compared to other tubeless tires I have used. CX race went fine with respect to the tires, but then a few days later I went on a gravel ride and the rear went flat. I fount the hole, used a plug in it and was able to get it to hold airCO2, but had to re-fill 2 more times to finish the ride. I hope I just had two bad tires - based on the other reviews this was an unusual experience.
I bought them for a gravel ride on my road bike. I�m using 700c and the tires fit perfectly. It also works very well for an easy mountain bike trail.
