martyz profile

Interesting that you briefly discuss the stiff and heavy stock wheel/tire combo, but all the photos are of ENVEs. Curious as to whether a wheel swap changed the ride much? What does that say about the wheel spec? Also curious about your impressions of the ENVE rims to compare against my own.

Enve replaced a rim I bought second-hand. No hassles. Easy to get a hold of and talk the issue through. Maybe their nominal line is “original owner only”, but they go beyond that in practice. 

SRAM, on the other hand... what a nightmare.

I happen to own this very same jacket, right down to the colour and size. I’m Pete’s weight but three inches taller. Fit is perfect. Nice and light. Easy to layer so I’m just warm enough, even through this winter we’re having here in North Van. Doubles as a decent running or XC ski option when it’s inclement. If I find myself too wet, it’s not the jacket. No complaints.

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.

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.