It’s been a long year of riding and of course wearing out parts. We have been relatively fortunate that we have not gone through more rear derailuers.

Chains have not been so good. We are mostly riding 10 speed at this time. We have gone through 3 chains in 2 months. Not including limping a couple along by splicing.

Our latest seems to be tires. Uwharrie seems to take it’s toll on tires. As companies push the boundaries of light weight 29er tires it seems they are more willing to sacrifice durability. Make sure you know your terrain before you spend big money on tires. If I spent $80-$90 dollars on tires i would expect more then two rides on them before I had to throw them away.

The latest casualty is the Schwable Racing Ralgh Tires with the new tubeless ready casing. Here is the latest damage. Be safe out there and remember it is faster, and cheaper, to be able to ride your bike then it is to walk off the trail or repair a tire trail side.

Check out the tube popping out the side wall ! The tire has been on the bike less then 24 hours at this point.

29eronline has never been good at announcing new product.  Reporting on braking news is not really our thing. As much as I love new parts getting all band wagon on the latest and greatest is usually best left for the websites that have ins at companies. So while the Specialized Ground Control tires are news and I am telling you all about them, it is only because we have a set here and can actually give you feedback based on experience.

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Specialized Uses FEA to design these tires. Basically they design these on a computer and use it to decipher different conditions and how the tire reacts. This allows for less prototype testing and tire molds which at least speeds up the process and should significantly decrease  cost. No final word on pricing yet.

click to enlarge

The tire samples that I have ridden are prototype tires. One thing I noticed right away is how supple the casings are. They roll very quickly despite the aggressive knobs. They are super sticky on all types of terrain, braking and digging in while climbing.  On loose quartz gravel over  hard pack sand the captain controls somehow found traction . They Clear mud very well. On wet rocks they stuck better then any 2.1 I have ridden to date and close to on par with larger tires.

Our prototype tires weigh in at 600 grams. They set up tubeless on Stans ZTR rims, holding air with no incident. On the other hand I am having trouble keeping air in them on the UST Easton Haven rims.  They seem to have very thin side walls. I assume this will be speced heavier for production versions(remember these are pre-production samples). The other S-Works casing tires have been very reliable and I expect the same from the Ground Controls.

600 grams

Overall the Specialized Ground Controls are lively, fast rolling and with  traction to spare, finish that with their light weight and I cant think of a better tire. As of now I cant think of a situation I have not liked them. We had a nice rain shower so they will be tested on some wet roots soon.  The Ground Controls are an Impressive tire and seem to be able to do it all.

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Fat Bob called me up and said he had some cool race tires for me to test – I have been bugging him for some go fast stuff so I could gain an advantage over my riding buddies.

At first glance the Barro’s look very fast with very short low rolling resistance knobs and a stiff sidewall.

My Racing Ralf’s are starting to wear down some and they are so light that the side walls love to weep air unless you keep plenty of fresh Stan’s in them so the new Geax Barro Race tires and there super tuff looking sidewalls peaked my interest.

I should have been suspicious when Fat Bob mentioned that these tires might be a little tuff to mount and to make sure that I had some tire tools.  I quickly found out what a under statement that was – impossible to mount would be more like it.

tight fit!

The Ralf’s came off without tools but the Geax tires seemed just too small and the fight was on.  I could not get even the first bead to go on my Stan’s no tube rim – what the hell is up with these tires – they had 29 printed in big numbers right on the sidewall but they refused to mount.

After bending the crap out of every tire tool I had I finally got the first side to bead on the rim and guess what, the inside of the tire was very tight fitting even in the center of the rim.  So after I started beading the second side and inserted the proper dose of Stan’s sealant I hit a brick wall no way was the tire going on.  I then recruited my super strong son that would just love to show up the old man – it did not take to long for this tire to whip him too.  His comment I better order a 29 ½” tire this one is too small and I agreed.

I faced a real dilemma I had a week of riding planned and a tire that won’t go on.  I had a good 10 inches of bead left and ¾” overlap with an almost zero stretch side wall.  I tried several side wall lubricants (soap / alcohol / water) to add some slip but no luck.  My thoughts cure it or kill it – its not my tire it’s Fat Bobs – is he playing a trick on me?  After searching my garage I settled on a well worn 12” Craftsmen flat blade screwdriver.  I finally had enough leverage – either this tire is going to rip or the rim is going to bend but it is going on and it did along with some new scratches on my high dollar rim.  Well a tire that tight should bead up real easy right?

Well it would if you could get the air to go in but the tire was so tight on the center of the rim that it is blocking off the back side of the presta valve– no air would go in even though I pumped 140 psi.  I finally pulled hard on the sidewalls while holding an air chuck and got the tire to pump up.

Note the side wall in relation to the valve stem.

A simple tire change had turned into an all afternoon ordeal.  Fat Bob then tells me the tire was not compatible with my rim – no sh_t / then he said the tire needs UST rim. I never attempted putting the second tire on the rear.

Test Setup:

Front tire – Geax Barro Race 2.0 – rear tire Schwalbe Racing Ralf 2.25

Test bike:

Niner RIP 9

Test results:

At different NC trails

White Water trail in Charlotte A+ dry very hard pack clay

Warriors Creek Wilkesboro /A+ machine cut smooth hard pack clay

Wild Turkey Greensboro /A- hard pack clay with a little loose sand

DuPont State Forest / A+ on the granite stuff, B+ on the hard pack trails

Governors Creek / A- dry hard pack clay some sand and pine needles

Harris Lake / B hard pack clay with pine needles and roots

Jonesboro Fault Trail Sanford / C- not recommended crashed twice both times on fast sweeping turns with loose gravel

Comments:

This tire is narrow the sidewalls are stiff and the tread has very shallow knobs with wide spacing – that is why it has such low rolling resistance which makes it fast on specific hard surfaces – Granite & brick hard clay trails.

Add a little sand and you start drifting in your turns.  Where this tire doesn’t work is cornering on gravel there is so much round rubber between the shallow knobs that little pieces of rock act like ball bearings and will roll the tire right out from under you – I got plenty of scrapes and bruises to show from using this tire on loose trail surfaces. After my crashes I was very reluctant to push the limits with this tire unless the surface was clean and hard.

I had no issues with straight line braking and you just don’t grab a hand full of front brakes in a turn especially with these tires.

Conclusions:

If you race on granite or dry hard pack clay trails this tire screams.  If you ride on loose stuff you will need a tire with more tread on it.

I have some sixer UST rims in my garage and the rim channel is much deeper than my Stan’s ZTR 355 29er rims so I suspect these tires will mount with less hassle on a UST specific rim.

Specialized Purgatory

29X2.20 Dual Compound 2bliss

By Donn-O

Fat Bob called me up and say’s Donn-O we got more tires to test and I am thinking dang I love this sick Eskar front tire and don’t want to test some ho-hum set of tires.  He say’s Donn-O these Purgatories are hot off the press and I think you might like them so I stopped by to check them out and that was a couple of months ago.

As a highly skilled non-paid testing technician I have a tendency to latch on to products that I really like – its sort of a compensation thing.  Here the Bob traipsed off to the Sea Otter all the way on the left coast and I am thinking that he is bringing me back some cool swag from all the vendors he plans to visit – but I get nothing what’s up with that?

Well enough bitching – Specialized is starting to win me over with some of these new tires they are coming out with.  I liked the looks of the tread on the Purgatory when I first saw them and so I agreed to test them.  I have attached some tire photos to this report – take a look at the center of the tread pattern – this tire has some massive ground chewing extra wide lugs spaced out and combined with enough filler lugs to give excellent traction and still have decent rolling resistance.  The other thing you will notice is the large side lugs – now you really have to lean the bike over to have these come into play but don’t be scared just go ahead and do it with complete confidence.

The other thing I noticed was the sidewalls – there were way more substantial than some of the paper thin sidewalls I have seen on tube type tires that we have been testing tubeless lately.   The bead on these tires is so good I was able to seat them on the rim with a manual tire pump where typically I have to use an air compressor.  Sure there is a weight penalty but give me the extra reliability because I never carry a pump with me when I ride.  Specialized lists them as 2bliss ready and doesn’t void the warranty if you run sealant in them – don’t run a tube in this tire you don’t need to.  Before you buy any tire read the warranty – see if they allow sealants you don’t want to buy dissolving tires.

Traction: I did not get these tires in time for the mid winter slop fest but I did subject them to everything else North Carolina has to offer – slick red clay / sand / gravel / slate & granite / dry hard pack – bottom line these tires hook up!  These tires are perfect for the aggressive all mountain type rider.

cornering knob muddy imprint

straight up muddy imprint

Speed: I have always felt that these tires were a little slow – big knobs = rolling resistance but my lap times did not reflect that.  Anyway I got this riding buddy who dumped his sixer for a Niner EDM with Maxxis Ignitor tires and it is amazing how much faster he is on a niner so to say the least we have been pushing the speed envelope this spring.  I thought I had a secret weapon to use against him so the other day – I dumped the Purgatories and put my Racing Ralf’s back on.  Yes they are lighter and spin up faster but they sure don’t hook up like the Purgatories do – I felt so much more stable on the Purgatories,  The Ralf’s have a ton of speed but there lack of traction has tripped me up more than once racing with this guy.  My theory on this is the Purgatories are so traction stable that you feel more comfortable riding them hence the feeling that you are going slower. Compare that to the Racing Ralphs which feel super fast but is that due to lack of traction and that skidding sliding out of control feeling = speed.

On smooth hard pack the Ralphs are king but on anything more challenging the Purgatories hold there own.

Braking: No complaints they stop fine.

Turning: the aggressive side knobs hook up great – I was looking at some Continental Mountain Kings and noticed how soft the side knobs were I could bend them to the point that they would fold over by hand – not so on the Specialized Purgatory tires the side knobs had plenty of backbone to grip in the turns.

Durability: I rode these tires hard for well over a month and they still looked new – this could be the result of the dual compound rubber Specialized is using on this tire.  The 2bliss sidewall construction is a lot beefier than the sidewalls used on the tube tires we have been testing lately that along with sealant rated rubber makes these tires very durable.

Conclusion: These are not racing specific tires but they are one of the better all condition / all mountain tires out there.  Purgatories make a very good set up for winter riding conditions and for playing on slippery surfaces requiring extra traction.  These tires inspire a lot of confidence when tackling extreme terrain – I would recommend these tires for tackling tuff trails

Additional Notes From Joel:

weight for the 2.2 size. 760 grams

Donn O

Fat Bob said Donn you got to test tires –but dang I love my Racing Ralf’s please don’t make me switch tires.

I looked at the tires he gave me and I decided that maybe a little more aggressive tread on the back would help me claw up thru the big rocks on our local Jonesboro Fault Trail and stir up the sand better for an upcoming Florida trip so I put the Specialized “The Captain” on the back of my Niner RIP 9 and left my favored Racing Ralf on the front.

Captain control retains mud.

In my opinion there is nothing better that my Racing Ralf’s on dry hard pack clay soils.

When I switched to the Captain the first thing I noticed was the taller tread would skid easier under heavy braking when on the same dry hard pack trail.

The Captain side view photo by Donn O

On the plus side it did have more climbing traction in the loose stuff and would claw slightly better over the big rocks.

In the wet neither tire are great – both are prone to load up which I found out the hard way in Florida. I thought our North Carolina red clay was bad but I got into some sticky white clay down there and it totally clogged both tires to the point I had to stop and use a stick to scrape off the white crud so the tires would spin again.

We have built several miles of new trail this winter and this tire does a reasonable job on the soft wet new trail surface except for the occasional loading up problem.

We had a rare winter snow storm so I took this opportunity to do a tread impression in the new snow so you could visualize how the rubber actually connects to the trail.

I might have to get Fat Bob to spring for some extra thick frozen Margaritas so I can do this test in the summer. You can see a fairly continuous center block pattern with widely spaced side paddles – the side tread did not come into play even though I weighted the tire to make this impression. Overall I like this tire only wish it did not clog as bad.

Snow imprint. Photo:Donn O

 

 

I equipped my awesome new Niner R.I.P. with my favorite fast tire of choice the Schwalbe Racing Ralph.  I installed them on a super light custom built wheel set – DT Swiss 240 hubs combined with a Stan’s Notube ZTR355 rim.  My light body weight (140 lbs) and smooth riding style allows me to get away with this lightweight set up.  Oh by the way we are running this tire without a tube, just some Stan’s sealant keeping the air in.   Holy cow this makes for a light wheel set – way lighter than a lot of the sixer wheel / tire combo’s

Performance:

This combination spins up so fast the acceleration is stunning.

True race tire performance on hard pack surfaces this is one fast tire.

Noticeably less rolling resistance makes the bike easy to pedal.

On softer surfaces it still grips like mad, I have a tendency to come into corners to hot and have been able to pull of some controlled two wheel drifts without eating dirt with these tires.

On our Free Fall rock garden test track I probably want a tire with larger more aggressive knobs instead of the Racing Ralph’s.

I have been caught in several wet situations like a downpour half way thru the ride and this combination does extremely well on wet roots – I don’t know if it is the tires or just niners in general that perform well on wet roots – my friend was just slipping and spinning on everything with his sixer.

Climbing – I have made some unbelievable climbs – is it the bike or tires I’m not sure.

Durability – Not great but what do you expect from a race tire and not using tubes.  Check out the super macro photos I took they show the tires with 350 miles of wear – the back tire defiantly has some tread erosion the front still looks good.

Tubeless?

Running regular tires tubeless is a sketchy practice I learned this the hard way with these tires.  After about 200 miles the rear tire started to leak down after about a week and then it started to leak down overnight.  Guess what can happen if it leaks down during a ride.

The Lesson:

Well I run low air pressure to start with; 28 to 30 psi and I started out on a friendly game of race with one of my co-workers.  We were pushing 11MPH average thru some very tight turny single track on the Greensboro, NC, Wild Turkey trail.  Everything was cool going out; we were really pushing the limits.  On the way back not knowing my tire had leaked down I came fast into a hard 90 degree turn just before a steep ditch crossing and the bike wallowed some in the turn causing me to miss the exit of the ditch crossing causing me to augur into the far side of the ditch.  The impact snapped my bike high into the air and it fell back to earth landing on my back, ouch! brush burns on the legs and chain ring gouges on my back.

I dusted myself off and started off down the trail but immediately felt the back of the bike wallowing with the back tire very soft.  We had to pump up the tire twice to make it back to my truck – the tire was leaking that fast.  When I got home I pumped the tire up hard and took my garden hose to it, the whole sidewall was bleeding air, and I figured that the constant flexing had turned it porous.  Great I’m hurting from a major crash and I got a tire with only 200 miles on it and it was already junk.

I went to my local bike shop looking for some tubes to put in it and we decided to give the Stan’s sealant another shot.  We popped one side of the tire off and found large marble size ball of solidified Stan’s rolling around inside the tire.  I am wondering if the ball of Stan’s rolling around the inside of the tire rubbed the sealant coating off the inside of the tire causing it to leak.  We installed some fresh Stan’s sealant and I have ridden another 150 miles with no further issues of loosing air.  So far I have had no problem with the front tire.

Conclusion:

Running regular tires tubeless is the lightest and fastest thing going but do so at your own risk, regular tires don’t bead up as well and are prone to burp air from hard hits.  Tube tires have softer and much thinner sidewalls which are prone to wear out and bleed air quicker than tubeless tires.

I’m sure Schwalbe doesn’t recommend that you run there tube tires without tubes,

But that need for speed causes some of us to push the limit, did I say boy they are fast.  Some of my larger friends that ride very aggressively have had problems burping these tires so if you fall into that class be warned and carry a pump. Schwalbe has a snake skin version of this tire which might be a better choice if you’re trying to run it tubeless.  Schwalbe is making a tubeless version of this tire for the sixer folks but they have left the niner crowd out in the cold.

Warning:

Running tube tires tubeless is risky but why should I be the only one that gets to bust my ass, try it you will like it.

If anybody out there has a sealant that works better than Stan’s let us know we would like to test it.

The Capitan control tire was first used as a rear tire. Specialized labels this as a all condition tire. I found this to be true. It does not excel in any terrain, but it can at least hold it’s own. It’s not the fastest tire, but it offers excellent traction in a great rolling package. 

It corners very good. I can’t say excellent because it does break loose at high speeds if you really lean it. It took some time to find the limit of these tire’s. I have to say I was not expecting the tires to break loose when they did. It was a beautiful two wheel drift. I  would be really proud of myself if I had tried to do it. I have to say I was terrified while it was happening. I removed my foot to try to make a anti eat crap effort, It was then that the Captain Controls hooked up and safely got my bike through the turn. 

The Captain Control delivered on its promise of an all-around type of tire

Climbing traction is the strong point of the Specialized Capitan tire. On muddy climbs they spin and slip a bit, but ultimately give as much traction as any other tire in these circumstances. When I first looked at the tread I figured it would pack up easily with mud. The knobs are tightly spaced but, they don’t. They clear really well. I thought for sure I could ding these tires for something. As hard as I tried, I really have nothing to complain about. 

On the rooty, rocky trails and wet conditions we ride on, these tires are among the best I have ridden. Breaking bite was unnoticeable. This means they were never a problem. I never noticed the breaks over power the traction of the tires. 

I recently used these tires as a front tire. I have to say this is not my favorite use for these tires. They feel a little under gunned for a front tire. I cannot recommend the Capitan tires for this application. They were fine, they didn’t suck , but are not nearly as good as the Eskar tire, made also by Specialized. Keep these on the back, reserve the front for something else.

If I had to pick something negative, I would say they are a little heavy. You really feel the weight when you ride it next to a tire like the Schwable Racing Ralphs. It is 2bliss, but you still need to use tubeless sealer to get it to work as a tubeless tire. If  you  have to go through that process, you could just use the normal casing tires and save weight.

In the 2bliss casing’s defense the reliability of the 2bliss system is excellent. Once you have it seated on the rim and holding air, they loose very little air over time. Compared to standard casings this is a big difference. This works best on a tubeless rated wheel. It is possible to convert most rims but if you have the choice buy your wheels already set up to accept a tubeless tire. Also the heavier casings offer excellent protection in rocky terrain.

All that being said, it still feels heavy. However, for the trail rider who rides in diverse terrain and wants a tire that is completely reliable wherever they want to ride, the Specialized Capitan Control 2Bliss tire gets a thumbs up. Wow, that really hurt my heart saying that. I think I will go and weep bitterly, and search my soul for new meaning in life.

 

The captain next to the Swable Albert 29er tire. The Scwable is a wet condition tire. This is as bad as the Specialized tire got.

 

CrossMark

               

General Information Specifications Â

              

The CrossMark is the dramatic evolution of the cross country racing tire. The nearly continuous center ridge flies on hardpack, yet has enough spacing to grab wet roots and rocks. The slightly raised ridge of side knobs offers cornering precision never before seen on a tire this fast.    Fast rolling center ridge – front or rear Raised side knobs for better cornering Start Review: Ill start by saying, I typically like Maxxis rubber. With the Maxxis crossmark tires I have come up with a few things I like,but mostly not so good. Where do I even start? I have ridden these tires for a few weeks, and I still cant figure out what they are supposed to do well.  By the looks of the add above, I guess they are supposed to roll fast and grab wet rocks and roots, in addition to cornering like a mofo. Maybe Maxxis would like to add walk the dog, water the lawn, and wash the car. I found one of the advertising claims to be kind of true. They do corner preity well. yes I said preitty well, as in good but not inspiring. They would probably corner better if they actually slowed you down in some sort of controlled manner before you hit the intended corner. These tires did not inspire confidence at all. If the breaking bite was bad, you might assume that the fast rolling claim would be true. I can not agree with this statement. If you are comparing this tire to the WTB stouts you just took off your bike,then yeah they may feel fast. If you are comparing to say, the Schwable racing ralphs, then NO WAY. I was left unimpressed by the speed of this tire. It felt sluggish and unresponsive. Last but not least,the claim of grabbing wet roots and rocks. What The! Are you high? These things are terrible in wet conditions.  O.K. the high remark was a bit much(unless they really were high). The crossmarks are not all doom and gloom. For once we have a tire that is really close to its advertised size. Another good thing is this tire has good volume. They have nice beefy side walls for their weight. This helped when we converted them to tubeless using the Stans No-Tubes set up. I used 3 scoops of Stans sealant. This number went up from our original 2 1/2 scoops we have been using .  After the initial air up, I set it on a bucket on their side. I left it there, came back, flipped it over and repeated on the other side. from this point on they have held air with no incident. I did not lubricate the bead, still no problems converting with this tire and the Stans No-Tubes set up. In dry rocks the crossmarks are fine. Nothing note worthy, bad or good. I still stick with my opinion that these tires do not inspire confidence.  So what type of rider would like these tires? I had to think about this for a while. I guess if you ride in a place like Fruita Colorado or Arizona and only ride true cross county these would be adequate. Even in these conditions I would still recommend other choices. If you live in the east coast look else where. I would definitely say as a whole Maxxis does a good job with tires . I look forward to trying out the Ardent tires, and I have a set of Ignitors here that I bought for 29eronline. As stated earlier I typically like Maxxis tires. These are a miss for me.    Measure in inches casing height     Â

MSRP:$75.85 each

Weight:claimed 580 grams Actual: 580 grams

Casing Width Claimed: 2.25 Actual:2.188

Casing Height:2.050

My initial reaction to these tires was that these would be the tires to measure all tires. They were light, good volume, and fast rolling. 

They seated up nicely on the rim, and with the usual 2 1/2 scoops of Stan’s No Tube Sealant, they converted to tubeless easily.  After sitting overnight, they were flat.  I re-inflated them, went for a ride and they’ve been fine since.   FYI:  These are not officially tubeless tires, so proceed at your own risk.  We at 29er online have had great success with this setup.  

The Racing Ralph’s are not rated as a wet condition tire.  I noticed that on my first muddy climb, that I was spinning out but still making progress.  Since the tire isn’t rated as a wet condition tire, I thought for sure that it would be packed with mud, but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t.  

 Although I would not say they were “good ” for muddy rides, over all, for a tire that isn’t rated for muddy rides, they did quite well. However,  they are still not my first choice. 

After some time on the Schwable  tires I am seeing some weaknesses .  They are crappy on wet roots, and are not up to par on dry ones either . I eventually got used to their manners on the dry ones but the wet ones are a little scary. Even on dry roots ,if you don’t hit them square ( not on an angle) , be prepared for them to kick  to the sides. Steer with your hips and eventually they grab . 

To be fair to the Racing Ralphs,  not many tires are good in wet roots . I felt like this is worth noting . The good news is that on wet roots this tire is predictable . The bad news is they are predictably bad .

O.k. to  reiterate these are not wet condition tires ,however not many riders I know only ride in box recommended conditions .

The Racing Ralphs are a little light duty for real rock Gardens . I cased my rim in our local rock garden.  The traction was fine, but they just did not have enough meat to protect the rims .

I noticed on some of our off camber up hill rocks, the tires slid while I was powering over .  They were very predictable on these types of maneuvers . I rode the same feature with Panaracer Rampage 2.3 tires and really didn’t notice much of a difference . To me that says a lot about this tires performance .NICE.

 The real strength of these tires are the weight to performance .  These are light and fast rolling .  I feel like I can confidently say that in the intended condition,  these are nothing short of excellent .  It goes without saying that if you compare these to a 2.3 ,  800 gram aggressive tread tire, they don’t have quite  as much traction .  Conversely, compared to a 1.9 semi slick tire ,they don’t pedal as well . However, I don’t feel like you sacrifice that much .  The happy compromise is well worth it to me . I understand this review can seem confusing.  My opinion is that this tire is excellent for it’s intended purpose, but if you ride in wet conditions, look elsewhere.

So the verdict is ,if you are a cross country, finesse rider (no steam rolling rock gardens)  , ride in dry or   

 

tacky soil , are weight conscious, and don’t want to compromise weight for traction and speed (who does?), then the Schwable tire is a worthy tread for your bike. 

 

First things first.  I do not like Specialized as a company. I don’t have any real justifiable reason . The reason is personal . Now that you know  my prejudice , Ill continue.

I was actually excited to ride these big old meaty tubeless ready tires. They look like they mean business.

I added my usual 2 scoops of Stans goo and hooked up to my air compressor . Everything was going as planned , the Eskars were holding air as a tire  that is labeled 2Bliss should . Then the part of the tire that said Specialized  reared its ugly ultra corporate head . It was flat as a board in about 6 hours .

The inflation , going flat cycle went on for two days . Finally last night when I checked the tire it seamed to be holding air. Better late then never I guess. Seams kind of like their entry into the 29er world .

The next bone to pick is that these tires are not 2.3 inch tires . My calipers measure the casing width as a 2.1 . The knob width is 2.2 at best . Maybe Specialized can tell all your wives their method of measuring …you know for posterity.  Where are these manufacturers getting their measurements from . By the way for those so inclined the metric measure is 55.72 mm knob width and 53.39mm casing width .

The weights were 700grams each or about 1 pound 9 oz.  I find it is easier and more accurate to measure in grams . I will always try to display both measurements.

O.k. enough of the whine fest. If you can get over the sizing discrepancy and are patient with the inflation head ache these are very good tires . when I first looked at them a man that used to test Bontrager tires said they would suck in mud .

I rode in muddy conditions recently . I got a little nervous when they started to pack up with mud on the first climb of the day . This was a very wet mud . I was pleasantly surprised when during a flat section they started flinging mud all over  me and ended up cleared and ready for the next challenge .

After that they were nothing less then impressive . On our wet rooty trails that are covered in composting leaves ,the specialized Eskars hooked up .  I would still be hesitant to use these tires in really sticky mud  but I was pleasantly surprised in the muddy stuff I was in . The thing that saved these tires was that the mud was really wet . Ill keep you posted when I get a chance at some stickier mud .

So while my opinion of Specialized has not changed , these tires are really good . Ill post more when I get some more time on them including some rock crawling.