Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

This friend, can you see him in the room now?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fattest of them all?

First ride on SRAM AXS and all seemed to be going well with a few shifter position adjustments needed. Only question so far: can you make it shift more than one gear per click? Anyway, it was going well until I cut my rear tyre about as far from home as I can get and then the dynaplugs didn't take. First time I've ever had to plug my MTB and first time dynaplugs haven't just worked.

Obviously I blame SRAM.

I'm pretty sure that SRAM deraillers are Transformers and this one unwound itself and jumped off the frame when I wasn't looking, sliced the tyre with one of its jockey wheels before remounting and chuckling to itself as I frantically time trialed home with some pumpy pumpy every few km.

#fuckingsram

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Edit. Wrong answer

Yes, configure in the app what you want it to do.

JFGI

https://support.sram.com/hc/en-us/articles/6030740190363-Can-I-shift-multiple-gears-when-pressing-and-holding-an-Eagle-AXS-controller-button

Anway, now I need to fix (read: stick somewhere, forget and in 3 years time, bin) the tyre so I won't be riding it for a bit. Fucking SRAM.

Might stick the 2.6" Mezcal back on. Pray for my paint...

Will I die if I run a tyre that's bigger than the insert is designed for?

My Cushcore are max 2.4" tyres but I wanna stick on a 2.6 Mezal.

"Tire Widths: 1.8″-2.4″
Inner Rim Width: 22mm-32mm"

You are going to die anyway. Unlikely the insert will be the cause.

Will I die

Yes

if I run a tyre that's bigger than the insert is designed for?

The insert won't work as well as it would with the correct sized tyre, and might not do much at all if the tyre does go flat. However, it won't do bad things just by being there. Unless you're Thomas de Gendt.

Remove the insert = problem solved

The insert is what got me home yesterday. Or at least let me ride the tyre very flat before adding more air each time.

Tried another plug and it's not sealing either. I was going to add some superglue around it all to see if that helped. Any other ideas?

I couldn't be bothered opening a superglue for something that should probably be pulled and patched (or binned) so it's had shoe glue dumped on it for lols.

Yeah nah, fuck this. I'll get a new tyre and this one can go in the (I'm too lazy to ever) patch pile.

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If you've got some thick thread and a strong needle you may be able to sew the split together and then either tyre boot it, or pray for sealant.

I've used a speedy stitcher to do this previously.

Actually, thinking about it, maybe I just stole the tough thread from the speedy stitcher and used a normal (but chunky) needle to do the tyre repair.

I do have this stuff, but I'd only bother doing that if I was in the middle of nowhere and had to get going again. As it stands it's at home so I'm more inclined to just replace the tyre to get rolling quickly and then properly repair the tyre with an internal patch. It's a cheapish tyre and has done quite a few miles with no issues until now.

Ardent Race or something else this time?

I'd go with something with a slightly thicker casing, tbh. Low resistance tread pattern, but more actual tyre material to stop pointy things doing holes.
Bike tyres are absolutely awful compared to every other tyred pastime. You don't often see motorbike riders at the side of the road trying to use a dynaplug...

I'd go with something with a slightly thicker casing, tbh. Low resistance tread pattern, but more actual tyre material to stop pointy things doing holes.

Fair shout, but like what? Hmm, does that rolling resistance site do XC tyres? ... yep
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/mtb-reviews

Even the Ardent Race tyres I'm using have 20 different versions (different rubber, different TPI, different widths, etc)

The Ardent Race also get caned on that website, scoring 3.
2.20", 30.6, 1.5 / need Pro to get sidewall width

Rekon Race has lower knobs and thicker tyre if you believe BRR
Rekon Race MaxxSpeed EXO/TR
2.40", 26.8, 2.1 / need Pro

Mezcal XC Race TLR G+ 2.0 is faster (lower knobbage) but also thicker
2.25", 24.4, 2.7 / Pro

God knows, tyres are baffling. If you can decipher most companies naming conventions then you're a genius. All I know is, I gave someone an EXO casing tyre the other day and it was so flimsy that I'd be very surprised if it lasted 20mins. Even most enduro tyres are starting to feel like they're not substantial enough. Thicker sidewalls and generally more tyre material negates the need for inserts too, imo.

Gotta remember what my main use case is though - I do a lot of mixed surface (lots of road/gravel in between steep with stabby rocks) so I don't really want anything much slower going on (I could pinch the tyres off the Scott -Schwalbe Wicked Will 29x2.4" EVO Super Race / TLE / 67EPI / Addix Speed Grip) which have much bigger knobs than Ardent Race. Everyone seems to use Mezcals so maybe I should try the skinnier Mezcals and at least test them before a TD ride.

(insert random version details here) Mezcals in 2.35" are even cheaper than my Ardent Race.

I think rolling resistance has more to do with tread pattern and compound than how thick they are though. So, a hardpack trail tyre in a speed orientated compound should be as quick as an all-out XC tyre but won't burst the instant it sees something larger than gravel.
I'd look some up, but it would take all day to write out the exact name of a Schwalbe Fast Fanny Speedwhizzz TLE SuperSlip 29x2.1 ThinSkin Mk6 or whatever it's called

So probably Mezcals

Even the Mezcals have TLR and TNT versions (looks like all black vs. grey sidewall, 60tpi vs 120 tpi and 100g difference). Might just get the cheap ones and see how I like them. Probs should sell the little used Mezcal/Barzo 2.6" combo.

Motorbikes don't have quite the same weight concerns so more material is easy to add without putting much strain on decently powered engine rather than some tired legs. Tread pattern is ment to make less difference to rolling resistance than you'd imagine, sounds and feels rough on a road though. Casing and compound is where it's at, a load of extra rubber all over might slow things down more then some extra knobs.

Looking at this, Barzo is a little thicker than Mezcal with higher knobs, lacks that central "go fast" bit, but is only 2W slower.

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these tests are bullshit, so far from real world

I Barzo 2.35/Mezcal 2.25'ed Lesperit - reasonable success with them for the first half with 0 punctures (my event ending washouts probably more due to bad lines on ruts and poor technique on a sand corner), the lack of slick tread on the fast sections is barely gnawing when all the toughest (loose/steep/chunky) parts are really using all of the barzo's traction possible

I think I also made a conscious choice from changing from 2.4" Tan walls to the eventual grey endurance casing setup, as I'd rather some rolling and climbing inefficiency than maltimed backcountry punctures

If I was touring more champagne gravel however I might do Mezcal 2.1" front and rear so I can swap F/R as the rear wears out