Specialized Storm Control mud tyres review
Some of you may be waiting with baited breath to hear how I got on with my Storm Control tyres on last Wednesday’s night ride. I feel for you, especially since I’ve always been confused over the phrase ‘baited breath’. What does it mean?!
Yes I know what it’s generally understood to mean but I always thought baiting was the act of priming a trap? In which case, making a trap of your mouth seems, well, odd. Semantics aside though I can now put you out of your misery/curiosity over the performance of my tyres.
To the amusement of all present (Jem, DaveP, Nicola, Matt-not-me, Nick, Tony and myself) I managed to pick up a flint cut on my first outing. Riding along Ranmore Woods toward Denbies, splashing through muddy (oh how muddy) puddles and wet snow the amazing home-brew light that Dave has cobbled (ahem, crafted) started to pick up a fountain of white latex spraying from my front tyre.
It took a while to register what it was, by which time the front end of my bike was coated with the stuff. I had a bit of a squirter and despite my optimistic hopes that the hole would seal itself I ended up sticking in an inner tube to get me home. Talk about the law of Sod. First time out as well.
This will further add to Dave’s conviction that tubeless (2Bliss in Spec-speak) tyres are more trouble than they’re worth. To be fair, it was a sharp flint that caused the damage, Lee has so far not had any similar experiences on the same tyres and of course it’s pretty simple to repair them.
Aside from this worrying evidence of poor puncture protection the tyres performed pretty well. It was -1° and damp from a day’s snow and previous rain, with the trails being pretty wet. The tyres seemed to ride comfortably, they didn’t clag up which most of my tyres usually do in mud and they seemed to grip reasonably well given that I’m still being pretty circumspect. In thick mud they gave up that grip quite predictably too so I have a cautious thumbs up so far.
But these tyres are definitely on Strike One. Any more incidents and I’ll be throwing them on the On-one with inner tubes and going for the real, Mud X deal.
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November 3, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Lee says:
Matt,
I spent the latter part of last week on the trails at Afan/Glyncorrwg and whilst the Storm Controls weren’t my number one choice for those tracks, I have to say I was very impressed (There was no way they were coming off!). OK, it had clearly rained a fair bit before our arrival and those trails aren’t ever really that muddy (parts of Penhydd aside).
Nevertheless, they stuck like glue on wet rocks and roots. A real confidence booster when you know you can take things at speed and know you aren’t going to wash out. I ran them probably at the softest you’d want to go and felt once or twice rocks ‘bottom out’ my tyre to the rim, but on a normal set up that would almost certainly have resulted in a pinch flat.
I’m really liking them, although ironically I still need to test them to the max in the mud!
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November 4, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Dominic says:
I’ve just put mud x on the rear and Swampthing on the front, still got tubes in but will be out for first ride on Thursday night so will see how they match up.
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November 5, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Jem says:
Stick with it Matt. Tubeless is the way forward, in my view they grip better (must be a weight thingy)
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December 3, 2009 at 11:31 am
Muddymoles says:
Ride report: Wednesday 2 December – winter warmer
A muddy circular loop of Norbury Park, Ranmore, Denbies and Mickleham for the Moles after weeks of rainfall
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August 5, 2017 at 7:35 pm
K says:
The larger 2.2 tires are actually lighter weight due to fewer side lugs if my memory serves me. Bought 2 pairs of these in 1991 when they first came out, good to see they still make em as I am due for a new set. Hands down the best slop tire there is, armor all them to shed mud even faster. And they perform well on all surfaces, but I would go with a dual purpose tire if most of your time is on asphalt.
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