martyz profile

Another voice in support of Tannus here. I found myself this summer getting rear-wheel sidewall pinch flats pretty much every ride on my EXO and e-thirteen TR casings, when running anything less than about 27 PSI. I had blamed it on the ENVE rims (and still think they’re partly culpable, with how stiff and thin-beaded they are), as I’d gone years without flatting on aluminum rims. Then I dropped in a Tannus and haven’t flatted since. I can even run <20 PSI if it’s slick and slow and techy. Grip is pretty great too. Threw one in the front after a few hard bottom-outs and have been stoked. TLDR: Tannus good, ENVE bad.

Yours look like a leak at the rim bead. I'm talking about weeping through the entire sidewall, so through the rubber itself. Wondering if anyone has experienced this - is it common to these tires, or just a manufacturing defect in particular runs?

I've mounted the Gum-X rear tire and am finding air is weeping out the sidewall, meaning I have to pump up the tire two or three times in a ride. I expect over time the sealant will mitigate that, but it's irritating for now. Did you find the same on your test tires? How common is a weeping sidewall?

I have a Dakine bag that looks to be the predecessor for the one you've reviewed. Have been using it about a year. Has all the same things except the external cinch straps. I find the water bottle holster on the site pretty useful on longer rides, where I expect to swap out the bottle on my frame when I finish its contents. I have had a full water bottle fly out of that pouch, though, when I was descending something rough in a hurry. I have also found that the waist strap will loosen in the course of a ride, leaving the thing to slide around and become less of a bum bag and more of a gut bag, unless you remember to muffin-top yourself at the top of each descent. These are small gripes. It's comfy and generally does what I expect. And it was cheap. I'd love to have the external straps at my disposal.

"What it doesn't seem to like as much is going slow"... reminds me of my old Transition Blindside. Felt like it only ever really woke up at bike-park speeds.

Install was a piece of cake for me. 29” Enve M6 rim, E-thirteen TRS tire. Put on the first tire bead, then the insert beads one by one. Massaged it around to get the first tire bead into the mid-rim trough, then worked the other bead in. Made sure the tire beads got under the insert and rested into the trough, and used a lever to pop the last 8” into place. Seated without drama with a standard floor pump. 

Followed the advice from the shop to use a hair dryer to restore the insert’s curve before installing (giving it the right shape after it had been stuffed into its box). I think that helped.

Curious as to your thoughts on the benefits of running Tannus on the front tire. Just installed one on the rear as that’s where the flatting issues that I want to mitigate are all happening. Also looking forward to your Enve M6 review. I have one on my rear wheel and have formed some strong opinions. Spoiler: They’re not positive.

Wish they'd engineer a different way to attach their cassettes. My XO Eagle cassette is seized to the XD driver; LBS sheared off all the splines trying to remove it (and yes, it was greased, and torqued to spec). A quick internet search tells me this happens a lot. I'd love to have seen SRAM address that before adding two more teeth. Looking quite seriously at an e-thirteen replacement at this point.

Re: bending the link wing: I did almost exactly that in almost exactly the same way to the top link of my V1 Hightower when I did a bearing swap. Whoops.

I found last week that my riding was as good as it's ever been for early season. I think it's because I've been extra careful and mindful on each move, making sure a moment's inattention didn't throw me off my bike. Nothing like a public health crisis to keep you in the moment.

This climb trail is great and keeps getting better. More than anything else, it’s opened up the place to a whole new kind of rider: one who likes a good singletrack climb too. Love the work and am looking forward to more.

Soquel demo forest. Otherwise there's not much reasonable downhill-ish riding that's legal.