“Are those GOODYEAR MTB tires?!” Since first building up my Starling Murmur, I have received more questions on its tires than the bike itself. On my preferred terrain, tires don’t last long, sometimes I’ll get a month out of them, sometimes it only takes a single ride for me to have a few Dynaplugs in them, so when tires last nine months, I am beyond impressed. I’ve had great luck and a good run with the Goodyear 29 x 2.6″ Escape tires, so let’s take a quick look at these robust tires…

Escape tires come in an EN Premium (1175g) and EN Ultimate (1093g) casings. Surprisingly, these lighter-weight, EN Ultimate tires were incredibly reliable during this review period. Typically, lighter weight casings don’t last nearly as long as their tougher, meatier siblings.

Rear Wear (left), Front Wear (right)

It’s no surprise that a rear tire will always wear faster than a front. The Escape’s tread pattern is hardly what I would consider “aggressive”. While I don’t think it would perform well in mud, it has been very reliable in our dusty and sandy low country trails while being beefy enough for the higher elevation scree and chunder.

The side knobs are just beefy enough and the mid-volume 2.6″ width – when run at lower pressures (15psi) with a CushCore – offer plenty of grip on loose corners. I’ve ridden these tires in Los Angeles, Tucson, and the trails surrounding Santa Fe, all of which are riddled with very sharp rocks, and the sidewalls always fought back resiliently.

It’s unfortunate the rear tread is almost gone and it was a sad day when I had to take these tires off for a bit of a refresh on the Starling Murmur. What I will say is if you have the opportunity to ride the Goodyear Escape tires, don’t miss out.

These tires are available from your local dealer for about $75 each, which considering how well they have performed over these past nine months, I’d say they’re well worth their pricetag!

See more at Goodyear.