MTB Tires

Came across this deal on Maxxis Swampthing MTB Tires the other day when I was researching bike computers and visiting the the online bike shops. I couldn’t believe it… $20.00. I’m not in the market for mountain bike tires right now but I will be in about a month or so. I’m thinking about picking up a set.

I popped into the reviews section of MTBR to see what others are saying about the Maxxis Swampthing. There were 29 reviews with an overall rating of 4.90 out of 5. A couple of the comments I read were that they were a little heavy but not too bad.

The Official Product Description from JensonUSA
The Swampthing is a great downhill tire constructed from soft rubber that will hook on rocks and stumps to give you traction, but still tough enough that it won’t fold when stressed.  A cleated knob design allows you to corner, brake, and accelerate without slipping.

Not sure how long the Maxxis Swampthing Tires are gonna last at $20, but you can pick them up at JensonUSA.

If you’ve used these tires then post up some feedback of what you did or didn’t like about the Maxxis

I finally broke down and picked up a night riding light for mountain biking. I purchased a Magicshine 900 Lumen Bike Light from GeoManGear.com.

This is my first real night riding light but while in the purchase process, I had the chance to try several lights on my light list before buying. In the end it ultimately came down to price. Being on a tight budget the Magicshine 900 Lumen MTB light provides more than enough light to see everything, even on the lowest setting.

I’ve yet to run the light on high for 3 straight hours to test its life, simply because all I usually need is a the low or middle settings for a little over a couple of hours. I did notice that I have a bad connector on my light.. it turns off periodically based on it’s position. To keep it from turning off I simply tape the connection to not allow movement.

All in all it’s a great light at a great price. If you need a light and money is tight, the magic shine is the way to go.

I do recommend you buy a helmet mount. I’ve found it easy to mount the magicshine  straight to my helmet using the vent wholes but all bike helmets are created differently.

I like this light so much I’m considering buying a second one.

Thi past Wednesday I bought a new pair of mountain biking gloves, the DAKINE Cross X Bike Gloves. I was getting my gear ready for a ride and my old Fox Gloves turned up missing. On my way out I stopped at one of our local bike shops and more or less picked based on price and durability.

Unfortunately my only color choice was black and being a warm night I figured for sure the material was going to bleed and turn my hands black from persperation.. to my surprise this wasn’t the case.

After riding with my new DAKINE Cross X Bike Gloves… I love them. They fit really well… I really like the extra padding on the outer palm. The index and second fingers have a great sticky coding on them which is nice.. no slippage on the brake levers.

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I recently upgraded my braking system from vBrakes to Adiv BB7 disc brakes. Having been out of the loop for the last few years I had no idea what was good, bad or ugly when it came to disc brakes. So I asked my friends from the Disciples of Dirt here in Eugene and the concensus was the Avid BB7.

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In my last post about my GT iDrive, I mentioned that I picked up some disc brakes and rims off of Craigslist. Well those rims came with tires on them. It was a mismatched set; 1 Tioga & 1 Kenda (not a clue what style). Anyhow, those were not good tires for me. The tires were slightly worn but still had some life in them, but man, the front tire felt like it wanted to always slide out from under me… I could never get it stick to hard line and have faith that it was gonna stay there. And the rear tire kept spinning out on anytime I would come out of my saddle on a tough climb.

Tonight was the weekly Wednesday ride at Whypass outside of Lorrane, so this morning once my wife got back from her workout I decided I had to change my tires out. My single speed had my WTB Velociraptors. I’ve been riding on VelociRaptors for several years now and just love them. They’re great in the mud and they shed it well. Those other tires did not shed mud.. at all. So on tonights ride… what a difference. I had total confidence that my front mtb tire would stick.. where ever I put it.