Putting new products through their paces
At Bike4Health we’re passionate about recommending products we really think make a difference to your cycling experience; whether you are an individual just embarking on your cycling journey, trying to shave milliseconds off a 10k time trial personal record or are a school looking to give kids great cycling experiences. To achieve this our staff and guides are constantly testing new products across a variety of disciplines including Road, Gravel, Enduro, XC and urban riding.
Recently we had a visit from Jake at Vittoria Tyres to explain their new developments in tyre production and what makes Vittoria Tyres a cut above the rest of the market. Vittoria are producing tyres with four different compounds in a single tyre, each of which includes graphene – a wonder material for tyres. Graphene sits between other larger rubber molecules like a kind of alloy, decreasing the wear rate AND rolling resistance whilst increasing tackiness and grip. Too good to be true? We didn’t want to take Jake at his word, so hit up the local roads, trails and gravel paths to find out.
Łukasz has been heading out around the hills and paths of Consett to test the Terreno Dry TLR tyres on his gravel bike over the Christmas period. Firstly, he found them easy to set up as tubeless on his bike – straight on with no issues. Even though he has been out in some really wet and snowy conditions on the dry version of Vittoria’s gravel tyres he said the grip was much better than his previous Schwalbe and Specialized gravel tyres – he just ran a little less pressure. He also said that the rolling resistance was noticeably lower – especially thanks to the smooth central tread in the middle of the tyres.
Artur and Dan headed to Chopwell woods before Chirstmas to test Vittoria’s flagship enduro tyres on a variety of terrain found there. Both were riding a 2.6” Mazza with the heavier ‘enduro’ casing on the front and a 2.35” Martello on the rear. Both found the enduro casing to be heavier than previous tyres – its really intended for downhill and extreme rocky abuse. Even with the extra weight however, both noticed the forest road climbs seemed to wile away more easily compared to the the Maxxis minion and assegai tyres they had previously been riding. The graphene compound seems to make a noticeable difference to rolling resistance.
Firstly they rode some technical rooty sections.
Grip was surprisingly good even for the extremely greasy condition the roots were in on the day. The Tyres were less grippy on muddy natural trails but in fairness, Vittoria do make a specific mud tyre – the Mota – for riding in these conditions. Where the tyre really came into its own was in fast technical berms on man made sections.
Dan found the tyres had a really even grip profile – when leaning right over the tyres didn’t slide then bite right on the edge – they had a really reassuring grip right across the tyre.
Artur thought after his first ride that for man made trails he couldn’t think of any better tyres; the tyres are great for hard pack, dry, loose over hard. He thought that there may be better tyres out there for wet mud and greasy roots, but cant wait to also try them in the dry because he feels they’d be great in those conditions.
We’ve all been impressed with the Tyres Vittoria have sent us for testing and will be happily recommending them to our customers and fitting them to our new 2021 fleet of Mountain bikes. If you need your tyres changed think about fitting a set of Vittoria Tyres next!