29er tire braaap squadron

The 29er adventure officially begins when all the parts arrive and coalesce.

Tires are covered in a big way.

If all goes well, I’ll soon be riding a Stumpjumper FSR 29 Expert Carbon with a Fox non-Brain shock and a Fox 34 fork.

This bike will be seeing all kinds of use, from quick trail (riding part of Trans Rockies with my man Vance McMurry) to general trail (coaching lots of XC riders these days) to gravity racing (Sea Otter DS and maybe DH, plus some Super D and the Winter Park Enduro) to serious gnar (I think this bike will move into Specialized Enduro territory). The only thing this bike will not do (probably) is race XC.

I like the idea of mixing and matching various tires to suit conditions. I asked Specialized tire genius Chris Wyatt for his recommended tire arsenal.

Here is Dr. Wyatt’s prescription, from fast to gnar:

• Ground Control 29×2.1 – On test 29ers they’ve been faaaast and pretty grippy.
• Purgatory 29×2.2 – An easy, consistent tire in both wheel sizes.
• Ground Control 29×2.3* – The Stumpy 26 loves this tire.
• Butcher 29×2.3* – When you ride Butchers, you ride with impunity.
• Purgatory 29×2.4 – Big meat for mega gnar.

*These tires are model year 2013. They should be available in summer 2012.

All tires have the Control casings, which are pretty light and so far plenty durable here in rocky Colorado. They are tubeless ready, but if I’m switching around I’ll use tubes.

Thinking about combos, from fast to gnar:

• Ground Control 2.1 rear and Purgatory 2.2 front
• Ground Control 2.1 rear and Ground Control 2.3 front
• Purgatory 2.2 rear and Ground Control 2.3 front
• Ground Control 2.3 rear and Butcher 2.3 front (probable default)
• Ground Control 2.3 rear and Purgatory 2.4 front
• and so on …

Stay tuned.

Exciting!

Lee

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