Not that I am aware of. Although I have found that some tires are worse than others. My Nobby Nics didn’t appear to pick up as much sealant as other tires.
I’ve given up on trying to get the tire clean of old sealant - other than any really big pieces, or sealant on the bead that prevents the tire from seating when first inflating.
I’ve thought about trying a very light coating of something like WD40 inside the tire - but that might prevent the sealant from actually doing its job binding to the tire to seal holes.
Skip the WD40, grab a very stiff bristle brush (Clorox with white and blue bristles) and do several passes with very hot and soapy water. A little soaking in the hot and soapy water in a bucket also helps. Microfiber wipe after a combo of those and they will be like new. Swapped 3 different sets of tires back and forth all through this past CX season per above with a little elbow grease worked like a charm.
First impressions are very good! The Ray on the front is just perfect for my riding. Like you, I really wouldn’t want a less grippy tire on the front especially in winter season.
The Burt definately rolls much better than the Ikon and it handled itsself ok-ish in the muddy conditions. Couple moments where it slid away, but that was easy to control. For winter riding I’d probably go with a Ralph on the back, but as I hate switching out tires and our trails aren’t that technical the Burt is just fine. I expect it to shine once the trails dry out. I wouldn’t recommend the Burt if there are technical wet/rooty climbs on your trails though. You’ll lose grip very fast.
I just raced on the new Renegade t5 2.35 and its fast yet really good contract. It took a little bit to get use to it but I’m really liking the tire so far as a rear.
I just put on Racing Ray / Racing Ralph 2.35 on i25 rims. At 190 pounds I don’t really like them. They are squirmy. Running 25 PSI rear, 21 PSI front with inserts.
Barzo / Mezcal in 2.35 with TNT sidewalls works well for me usually. I can usually get away with 23.5 psi rear (with inserts) and 19-20psi front. And they hold up really really well.
I can definitely understand where you’re coming from. The Schwalbe’s are definitely softer/more supple both in the side wall and tread.
I did notice more squirm on the Ray/Ralph when I went from my Anthem with Stan’s rims to my Spark with Hunt’s. I think it was a combination of the better bead on the Stan’s and riding the Spark harder and faster.
I only had to bump up from ~18-19psi to ~20-21psi to remedy it though.
I’m going to be back on Barzo/Mezcal again myself for the winter, they’re more supportive but I find the Ray/Ralph to be the faster combo.
I forgot that I had a Burt (Snakeskin Pacestar) that I picked up on clearance a while back ($10!). I am going to put that on for the True Grit Epic. Should (should) be all hard pack and dry, grippy rocks the whole race.
I have a brand new pair of Kenda Boosters if that ends up being a bad idea.
For my Epic Evo build I have chosen a less well-known manufacturer: Wolfpack. The Cross (front) and Race (rear) tires both come in with a tad over 700g in 2.4 width. Unfortunately I am still hunting for missing parts for the bike so it will take some more time until they’ll touch dirt.
I’ve never heard of Wolfpack but they look interesting. The tread patters probably suit the terrain I’d be using them on but just bought a new Forekaster 2.35 for my front tyre after washing kit with a Reckon Race. The Wolfpack tyres are a good weight for the size, but the website confuses me. It names all the technology used by competitors but nothing about their own tyres.
Does anyone know what the difference between the Rekon Race 2.4 XC and Rekon Race 2.4 WT is?
I assume the XC has less protection as there’s no mention of EXO etc. I can’t find a weight listed for an XC version, or confirmation of the difference in width/casing.
Same here - I more or less stumbled over them but as I couldn’t decide on wether to go with Maxxis or Specialized rubber I gave them a try. Information is sparse on the website but the tires look fine and are close to the claimed weight .