The perfect tyre?

It is safe to say there is no perfect tyre that is ideally suited to all the conditions that you will ever ride, but I stumbled across a gem this year that I thought I should share. It is called the Maxxis Rendez and normally thought of as a tyre for dry conditions and perfect for the skatey decomposed granite surface of places like Mt Stromlo, but with a few modifications it becomes a very capable mud tyre.

I had a few in my kit bag for my trip to race the World Cups this year and mid way through they hadn't seen too much use as dry tracks are few and fair between over there. I spent a fair chunk of time at Montreal riding on the hard packed greasy mud and root of Mont Royal and the Rendez on the front, in a 2.1" with fairly low pressure (around 26psi), was working fairly well over the roots. I had noticed however that the thinly spaced ramped centre knobs were clearing the mud really well in the slick mud, but the side knobs clogged easily due to their tight spacing (most likely there for cornering stability in dry hard packed conditions) and turning corners was a bit scary. The specific mud tyres that i had were 1.9" Medusa, awesome pizza cutters for proper deep mud and off camber, but roots and rocks are pretty dogdy and the rolling resistance on the fire road sections really limits the applications for these sort of tyres. I had the idea of cutting off the inner row of side knobs. About 30mins of action with some large toenail clippers (plus a trip to the shop to buy a new set when those ones broke half way through) and a couple of blisters later i had myself a custom made tyre. And i was very impressed with the pile of rubber that had collected, because you know what that means.......grams!

I tested it out and as I expected the mud cleared a lot better from the sides. I ended up using this tyre at the Bromont Canada Cup and the Mont-Sainte-Anne world cup, both in very muddy conditions, and it went a treat. I got a bit more efficient at cutting off the knobs by using side cutters instead of the trusty toenail clippers. I have even used them back at home at Stromlo and Cooma with the knobs missing and they still handle dry conditions really well, but i used a fresh one with side knobs at the world champs.

So all in all i reckon that the Rendez 2.1 up front is a pretty good all round tyre that is versatile and could minimise the amount of tyres that you carry if you travel away to a race. It is certainly not ideal for all conditions, but it is right up there for a very broad range of conditions and a very capable all-rounder.

The Rendez with to knobs cut off

Early season training and the Highland Fling

Early season training is going well. Coach has got me doing some nice long k's and plently of gym sessions. I am loving the mountain bike at the moment, it is always at this time of year (without any big races or pressure) that I remember why I love riding. Trying to keep up with Warren Burgess around Manly dam (him on a Rize and me on a HT) has been a highlilght, along with going out to smash apart the Cooma trails but often coming off second best.

The Highland Fling has been a bit of an annual pilrmige for me and this year's event was as good as ever. It is always a great atmosphere at the camping and fun to chat with the neighbours and make new friends. My form was as expected, OK for speed, but lacking in endurance. I managed to get second in the "Bundanoon Dash" behind Pez with Dennis Van Mill 3rd. The main event, the 112km marathon, started well and I spent a brief period in an early solo break. It was all together again through the first transition and as expected the attacking started during the 2nd stage. I managed to hang on in the main bunch until about the halfway point where I blew apart. From there it was a less than impressive display of suffering just to get to the end for 9th position. Good training though, and just a fun event to be a part of - well done the all the Wild Horizons crew.