The Radavist

Made by Panaracer in Japan, designed by Fairweather for XC riding and in stock now at Blue Lug, these tires look incredible. My only question: who in the States will be carrying them? See more at the Blue Lug Flickr!

If you need scientific data to support tire purchasing, you need not continue reading. Just look at the pretty photos and move on. This is not a controlled test on rolling resistance, aerodynamics or puncture protection. I don’t do that kind of product review. What I do is actually use something until I feel like I can sign off on its quality, before I choose to write anything.

Let’s look at this tire’s history before we go any further. Bruce Gordon was arguably one of the first builders in the USA to support “gravel grinding”. His bikes were straight-forward, utilitarian beasts that sometimes were painted like an 80’s hotrod, or even adorned with animal print. They are wild. In fact, one of the first BG bikes I ever saw was a flat bar cross bike, with these tires and tiger stripes that was well before any 29’r hit the market. A lot of bikes back in the 80’s couldn’t even fit these tires. There weren’t exactly stock framesets that fit a 700c x 43c wheel, so these stood out from other offerings of the time.

Bruce’s Rock N Road tires are iconic, much like his bikes. Originally designed by Joe Murray, a well-known figure in the MTB community. These 43mm (1.72″) tires were designed to be high-volume, fast rolling and rip through gravel like I rip through a Frito Pie. Are they slow on the road? Of course. They have decent tread. Are they good for loose and sandy conditions? Mostly, yes. They move as fast as you pedal them.

The Rock N Road tire is one that’s at home on chip seal, paved, gravel, rock, sand and just about everything else you can throw at it on a ride. It’ll handle great at 60psi on asphalt and excel at 40psi in gravel. I had a great time ripping through the cedar-topped trails here in Austin, as well as a few gravel roads and even rocky terrain. All save for one flat (snake bite in a rock garden), I’ve yet to have any issues. Let me add however that if all you do is ride sealed roads on your rig, I would go for something else, mostly because you’ll probably wear through the tread too fast.

Puncture protection? It’s not thorn season here in Austin, so I’ve yet to tackle anything like that but I’d say they’re pretty resilient to the normal road and trail debris. Some tire liners would help and I read somewhere that people have been successful at running these on a tubeless wheel. If anyone has insight to that, share in the comments!

If you want a big, fat tire for your cross, touring or even MTB with 700c or 29’r wheels, look no further. $50 a piece is a great deal for anything coming out of the Panaracer facilities in Japan I might add! For the weight-conscious, they’re 540g each. One major note. They’re BIG and wouldn’t come close to fitting on my cross bike, so MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLEARANCE!

Pick up a pair at Bruce Gordon’s online shop in skinwall or blackwall.

I have a love / hate relationship with this tire. Last year, I had a bad batch. The tread pulled off almost immediately but luckily, they were easy enough to return. I swore them off, claiming they were just popular because of their gum-colored side wall. It took me going to LA and seeing how people rode their Grifos on everything: asphalt, dirt, rock, and even mud (yes, there’s mud in SoCal).

If I still had a touring bike (sigh), these would be on it for sure. The Bruce Gordon Cycles Rock n’ Road all terrain 700c / 29r tire is back in stock and all I can think is “put them on the cross bike”. Made in Japan by Panaracer, so you know they’re worth the money!

Fyxation‘s expanding their line for 2013 and their new catalog highlights their newest products, including new framesets. Check it all out above, with more frame photos here, at their blog.

Fyxation’s photography contest is still going on and out of all the submissions, Joseph’s is the only video. Check it out as Ryan rips through the streets of SF with the Session tires. You can see all the finalists here, on Fyxation.

Check it out as FBM Riders Eric Hennessey, Adam Guilliams and Garrett Guilliams hit up some Northeast trails with John “Supes” Skvarla, Pauly Cvikevich, Dave King and “Ekim” King for Tioga BMX. And here I’ve been, sitting indoors all day working on stuff…

See larger here

After a catastrophic blowout on my last tire where a beer and pride was lost, I headed out to my shed, La Maison de Fixie to see what tires I had in stock. Resist sent me a box of sample tires some time ago and I had completely forgotten about the 28c Nomads that were in the package. After some finagling, I managed to squeeze one on the Icarus. The tread is rather nice. You can attest to that if you’ve ridden them on your fixed freestyle rig. Skidding is consistent and aside from the blue label (drive side only), the tires are devoid of any flashy branding.

I’ve had these on for about two weeks with no issues but like all tires, the more you skid on them, the more prone you are to punctures. If you get the opportunity to, give them a whirl. Check out more details here, at Resist.

This is the first in a few posts on tires I’ll be making over the next few days, so stay tuned.

Resist just announced their shipment of 28c Nomad tires. I had these on my touring bike and loved them. Now available in 45c, 35c, 26″ x 2.25″ and 28c. Hit up your local Resist dealer to order.

Resist just posted up this contest to win a free set of Nomad tires:

“For all you guys that have completely bald, ripped or shredded tires, we have the contest for you.  Send us a picture via our Facebook wall of your worn out tire and we’ll see if you deserve a free replacement of new Resist Nomad tires.  Is it that simple? YES!  Read more for the rules.

Date of Contest Ending: July 2012

Contest:
Send us a picture of your worn out tire and we’ll see if you deserve a free replacement set of new Resist Nomad tires.  It would help if you also sent us a picture of your complete bike also.  We obviously can’t give free tires out to everyone out there and we’ll be judging on who best deserves the tires.  We’ll only consider worn out tires that have been ridden and won’t accept a new looking tire with slashes or rips that looks like it could have been deliberately done.

How to submit your worn out tire.
All submissions have to be submitted to our Facebook Wall.  Also helps if you LIKE our page too.

Wins:
A free set of Nomad tires (sidewall colors and sizes may vary due to current inventory).

Rules: 
1. Contests are only for Continental US residents (unless winner wants to pay for the overseas shipping)
2. We’ll only accept 1 entry per person.”

This one’s easy!

Resist just got their Nomad 26″ tires in stock. They come in black or gumwall and at 2.25″. Head into your LBS to pick a pair up.