underexposed

random musings of a neurotic

Bike Tires - Specialized Armadillo Fast Trak Elite

[ No Comments ] Posted on 10.25.08 under bikes

Talking to my friend Del about bike stuff yesterday, the subject was tires. I’d just picked up my bike from Conte’s after having the fork serviced. I wasn’t getting any rebound damping, and Roberio turned it around for me in one day!. That dude’s fast talking, but I think it’s ’cause he gets excited about bikes like we do. He ended up putting in 10wt. oil over the recommended 7.5, and it feels more solid, with plush rebound and that sweet tsssst! sound coming off of hits.

Anyway, so while in the shop Roberio and I were talking about tires and their role in a bike’s suspension. This is my first full suspension bike, bought back in April or so, so I’ve just been riding and learning how to tune it properly as I go.

For a while there, I was riding with higher pressure than I normally would on a hardtail with a crummy front fork — like around 30-35psi, thinking that, well, it’s full suspension, new technology, shouldn’t I be relying more on the suspension and getting the faster rolling benefit of higher pressure? Well, yes and no, I found. Yes I can run a higher pressure, but 35psi’s way too much, and even 30psi’s still kinda up there. Experimentation on the trail brought me to around something in the low-mid-upper 20’s for that juuust right feeling, just the right amount of squishiness to take the edge off of hits, while still making the suspension do its job, and without being overly sluggish on the straights or soaking up too much pedal power. The result is a smooth, fast rolling ride, that transfers hits into the suspension, and with a medium-fast rebound, the bike is plush over hits, and the wheels stay on the ground for better traction and control, my concerns mostly about taking turns fast without the front sliding out.

So Roberio was showing me these tires while he was explaining to me casing volume and how the tire plays a role in the suspension process, twisting and flexing, and that tires aren’t just about traction. He pulled out the Specialized catalog to point out some differences, and I saw this Armadillo line. Del and I are suckers for wide grippy tires, mostly just ’cause — I won’t lie — they look tough as hell. When we started riding seriously again, we were pretty much ignorant about all the new technologies out there these days. It’s crazy how much there is. You can’t really keep up with everything out there, but I mean, come on, bike tires? How much difference could there possibly be? Well, a lot, it seems.

This is Specialized’s Armadillo line of puncture resistant tires.

We’ve always known we need different tires for different conditions. Ipswich is loose — loamy, they’d call it; you know, loose & sort of squishy? So we need a tire that bites better back there. But remembering how smooth and fast we were saying it was up at Freedom Park in Williamsburg, I think that was probably more of a hardpack condition, which we really don’t see around here.

I currently ride with Panaracer Rampage 2.3’s, and it’s been a great all around tire so far, though I’ve read reviews that say they suck in the wet, and chunk on rocks. Well, that’s not us here in VB. I like the edge burning knobs because they bite in turns back in Ipswich. It’s also pretty smooth rolling though, which is why I really liked it for up at Freedom, too. Unfortunately, these Panaracer tires are pretty soft, and aren’t exactly puncture resistant. Apparently the entire Armadillo line is.

At first glance, I like the Armadillo Fast Track Elite. comes in a 2.2 — they say large volume tire that rolls fast and side knobs that hook up in the fastest turns.

Not to be confused with the Fast Track LK model — same tread pattern, only 30% reduction in knob height, which I imagine is to be even faster and maybe shave some weight. I’d go for the Elite. a Specialized 2.2 is probably really fat and tall. Bet it would be sweet.