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I'm assuming those 14.6l/100km of diesel are for a large delivery vehicle or goods transporter? Using that much fuel to carry a single person would sound insane in the age of 4-6l/100km diesel cars.

These kinds of super expensive luxury things don't really matter much for overall CO2 emissions because there are so few of them. Same for Ferraris or other supercars. They use a lot of petrol but they are so exotic and are driven so rarely that it doesn't matter.

Aren't E bike systems generic for the most part?

Except for some custom Specialized stuff most seem to be running of-the-shelf systems from Bosch, Yamaha, Shimano or Brose.

No direct comparison. I run an Eliminator T7 on the trail bike which has decent grip on wet rocks and rolls ok by "Enduro" standards. Which means the rubber is closer to Maxxterra than to XC race rubber. 

The T5 on the other hand seems to be a really fast and therefore less grippy XC rubber. A magazine measured rolling speed in the same range as other XC race tyres. I guess you will find that tyre to be quite similar to the Aspen.

In the section describing the performance of the Specialized Fast Track, which one did you run? The T7 or the T5 version?

These two are quite different tyres, especially with respect to rolling speed and wet grip.

Its very beautiful, really loving the thin tubes. Prettier than the Spark, which i would consider it's main rival. The Spark wins the price/value contest by a mile, though.

„pedals well enough to get to the top of the mountain without an exhausting amount of effort.“

He must be an absolute animal to say something like that when the bike rolls (can you even use that word?) on Maxxgrip DH casing Assegais front and rear.

Sorry for ranting, but worrying about the environmental effects of chain lube seems utterly ridiculous in a sport who's practitioners habitually discard their "made in Vietnam"-carbon bikes after a single season and constantly use multi-ton V8 trucks for shuttling their toys around.

+1 for the Bontrager pack. The only drawback is the limited carrying capacity.

I buy riding glasses which don't sit too close to the face. That helps a lot in my case. Most sports glasses don't seem designed for slow, sweaty mtb riding. They sit too close and touch my eyebrows or forehead, which then channel sweat onto the glass.

Posted by: RAHrider
If you like the reach but the stack is too low get a taller riser. If the reach is too long get a bunch of spacers.

If going for the taller riser you probably need a shorter stem too. Otherwise your hands are more forward, relative to the steering axle.

Also, Pinkbike seems to have some kind of group-think going on where they fetishize the reach number. I notice that in other articles and also the podcast, where they say things along the lines of "i feel comfortable on bikes with a reach of 470mm, but 480mm is too long for me". Which doesn't make any sense when ignoring the rest of the bike.

Posted by: Hepcat

Wonder if that's true though. Been running one a few weeks, wear seems normal. 

Maybe in the Maxxgrip compound they'd wear faster. Then again if wear is a top concern could always run a Dual compound.

The side knobs on the Dissector are just standard Aggressor/ High Roller 2 knobs, nothing there to make them wear faster that I can detect.

The Aggressor usually comes in Dual compound rubber, the Dissector in Maxxterrra or even Maxxgrip.

I have two relatively cheap SKS pumps which I had strapped to the frame for many years without any protection. Still working fine. Mud, snow, dust, hose, whatever.

Posted by: WeTYC...
One question mark though is the compound.  I'd always though that black chili was black chili, but it looks like you're right and they do fiddle the compound a little from one tire to the next.  Now I'm curious if there's someone out there with durometer measurements for the various tires...

Your arguments concerning the different thread patterns make a lot of sense. Rubber is a big issue, though. Judging from Maxxterra and Maxxgrip, compound makes a huge difference in rolling speed. Annoyingly, Black Chili is more of an umbrella term for their rubber technology.  Similar to "Addix" for Schwalbe or "Gripton" for Specialized. They make everything from road tires to DH mud spikes in black chili.

Posted by: WeTYC...

Unfortunately even with all the combinations and permutations of bikes and Conti's I've ridden, I've never ridden the same size of Barons and/or Kaisers on the same bike.  The Barons have only ever been on my more "efficient" bikes.  Even though I don't have a direct comparison, I think the 2.5 Kaisers roll easier than the 2.4 Baron Projekts.  To further devalue my opinion though, I'm not the most sensitive to rolling resistance.  If I could get a 2.35 Smoke, I'd probably run them front and rear!

One thing I do though is try to install new tires in the fall then run them through the summer so the knobs are a little more worn down and easier rolling for the longer summer rides.  Although I don't usually use a tire until it's a slick--maybe 50% worn at most?

The 2.4 Kaiser Projekt Protection Apex looks like a very different tyre than the 2.5 Kaiser Apex (26"). Different thread, different casing and probably different rubber. The former is advertised with a fast wearing competition compound, the latter as hard wearing, fast rolling.

1. Living somewhere with mountains and trails again

2. Slowly regaining my confidence after years of abstinence from biking (see above)

3. All day, all weather commuting on the bike. Great way to avoid catching the bug on public transport and the merciless battle for civilization’s most precious resource: the parking spot

4. Complex suspension that isn’t a pain to set up thanks to good setup instructions (MRP and DVO in this case)

Fresh pedals, Works Components angleset, a courtesy bell and a digital pressure gauge (got royally fed up with trying to read 2psi increments from a coin sized dial that goes to 350psi).

Posted by: D_C_
Is it really possible to have a rubber that doesn’t harden in the cold?

Probably depends on your region and definition of cold. ;)

Schwalbe Addix, Conti Black Chili and Specialized Gripton all work fine in the tempereatures i usually ride in (-5°C to 30°C ). Maybe they harden a little bit, but not enough to notice on the trail.

Posted by: tungsten

Oh, thanks for that. How did you know, are you a rubber tech? What would the gummy (durometer?) curve look like? Gradual hardening or stable until 0deg then fall off a cliff?

I'm no professional, but me and my buddies have been riding and alternating between Schwalbe and Maxxis for many years, all year round. None of us noticed any obvious difference between maxxterra and addix soft except for the temperature thing. This was no scientific test, so i can't give you a curve. It was noticeable that in the temperature range around and below zero, maxxterra felt different. On a particularly cold day, one rider on maxxis complained about grip and noticed cracks around the knobs after the ride.

We looked around and found some info on the German Maxxis website. They advise against using Maxxgrip and Maxxterra at ground temperatures below 6°C, because the soft rubber compounds harden, loose grip and might start cracking when used in the cold for too long.

Addix Soft is equivalent to Maxterra, most of the time. The main difference is that Maxterra hardens when temperatures drop below zero and loses grip. Addix doesn’t do that.