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Kit Cischke's Journal
Two Tires, One Review
posted by KitC at 04:53 PM on August 11, 2008
Specialized The Captain Control 2Bliss
The Tire: Specialized The Captain Control 2Bliss, 2.0" x 26"
Rating: 5/5 stars
Final Verdict: A fast yet grippy all-around trail tire. Great for everything except fast XC races (and still not bad for that).
Two summers ago, as I prepared to ride and race for the first time at Copper Harbor's infamous trails, I solicited recommendations from fellow cyclists for a fast-rolling all-mountain kind of tire. At this point, all-mountain might be a bit strong for the kind of riding I'm talking about, and "trail" might be better. Either way, I got some good recommendations for some expensive Continentals and some much less expensive Kenda Nevegals. I picked up the Nevegals and loved them. I was so impressed I bought the Small Block 8's as soon as they became available, because they shared their tread design with the Nevegal. I wanted the SB8's because there was one problem with the Nevegal -- tremendous rolling resistance. They grip everywhere, even when you don't want them to. The Small Blocks have their own problems, but that's for later in the review.
So last year, instead of picking up a new Nevegal to replace the sliced rear tire, I bought a Specialized Resolution. It was great. Fast rolling, but still grippy. I rode that for Copper Harbor as well as most of the fall. I did slice the sidewall eventually, and by then, Specialized was blabbing all about this new, cool trail tire called The Captain. They said it was better than the Resolution, which I thought was better than the Nevegal. I had to try it. My early impressions were mixed. It rolled faster, but seemed to have less grip. I will totally chalk that up to the conditions now, not the tires.
In my area, we have four large trail systems: Tech Trails, Maasto Hihto/Churning Rapids, Swedetown and Copper Harbor. The Tech Trails are the most heavily ridden, and are much more hardpack than the rest. Maasto and Churning are fast and flowy singletrack, but not quite as beat-down as the Tech Trails. Swedetown is similar to Maasto, and Copper Harbor is really in a league by itself -- rocky, rooty, loose with ridiculous elevation changes. You'll barf up a lung on the climbs and then break your neck on the descent. The variety separates good riders from average riders and good equipment from poor equipment. In this case, I can say the Captains shine everywhere. Riding the hardpacked Tech Trails, the tires find bite on the hard stuff, encourage you to really rail the corners and never drag you down. I was setting some new personal bests on sections of the trail because I had so much confidence in my tread. I attacked the corners, stormed up the hills and never spun out the back. It was beautiful. Later that week I rode Churning Rapids with some riders much faster than me. In my struggle to keep up, I never felt like the tires were holding me back, only my size and my strength. I was still blasting down descents with speed and confidence, and railing corners like crazy. Two days later, I was in Copper Harbor, finding my legs had some good climbs in them, and the Captains never let me down nor held me back. On the nasty descents, they held the line and never broke loose under braking. I couldn't have been more impressed.
So bottom line: For a fast-rolling, yet really grippy trail tire, you can't go wrong with the Captains. They are reliable, durable and not too expensive. It will be a while before I search out a "better" trail tire, and I look forward to all of my late season riding on them.
Specialized Fast Trak LK Control 2Bliss
The Tire: Specialized Fast Trak LK Control 2Bliss, 2.0" x 26"
Rating: 4/5 stars
Final Verdict: An exceedingly adequate race tire. Won't let you down too often, but there's nothing exceptional about it.
As I indicated above, I race a little. I usually hit up 5-6 races per summer, and train nearly year-round. In my racer's quest to find the best possible equipment, I have tried a few racing-oriented tires to ride faster. First, it was IRC Mibros. In retrospect, I hate these tires, but they seemed like a good idea at the time. Last summer and early this season was the Kenda Small Block 8. I had fallen in love with the Nevegals and just wanted something that would lose half the rolling resistance and still grip half as well. The Small Blocks did a reasonable job of that, but with one major problem: They wear out too fast. I think I've gone through three sets of the things in a season and a half. The main pair of knobs in the center wear down quickly. First the siping disappears, then the two knobs become one. Once that starts to happen, they skid badly under braking, and have a tendency to spin loose under hard pedaling, especially if the rear wheel is unweighted. The short life seems to have to do with the low durometer rubber used by Kenda.
So I was on the lookout for new racing tires. I had considered the Bontrager Jones XR Team Issue, and to a lesser extent, some Michelin Dry-X tires, along with the Fast Traks. Based on price and what I had heard about lots of flatting with the Bontragers (Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, a Subaru-Gary Fisher rider basically had his Olympic hopes derailed by constant flats), I picked up the Fast Traks. First, the good points.
They self-clean better than the Small Blocks, and have been mud traction to boot. The Small Block 8's clog up fast and stay that way. The Fast Traks also spin out less than the SB8's do. At first, I attributed this to a new bike with a better suspension design, but I've run the Small Blocks on both the old Cake and the new HiFi, and they spun out on both bikes. The Fast Traks don't do that. They roll nicely on hardpack and pavement, which contributed to my good performance at this year's Ore to Shore. That being said, they don't suck in the technical stuff either. Both in my pleasure riding on the Tech Trails and during the really gnarly stuff in the 12 Hours of Potluck, I felt confident that the tires will deliver me to the other side. I also don't have the same problem with the tire skidding around under heavy braking.
My only real complaint with the Fast Traks is their cornering. The SB8's, Nevegals and Captains all seem to have great cornering ability. I can lay the bike over, rail the corners and feel really confident about it. If there is a prime position for cornering with the Fast Traks, I haven't found it. My good time at the 12 Hours of Potluck was almost cut short by the front tire losing it. I can imagine that realy windy singletrack would be a problem (and has been in the past).
Bottom Line here is that the Fast Traks do a reasonable job in everything you'd expect from a race tire: They roll fast, are reliable and grip just enough. If they could just corner well, they'd be even better. From what I've read, Specialized already has a prototype Fast Trak LK 2.0 that Christophe Sauser rode to victory at the XC World Championship race. Maybe (hopefully) they've addressed this, and I could whole-heartedly endorse these tires.
A Brief Aside
I am still a very avid fan of Trek, and love to check out their stuff. I saw a newish Fisher hardtail with the Bontrager Jones XRs, which have front- and rear-specific tread. The front looks like a Fast Trak and the rear looks like a Captain. Given that, I would love to try a Fast Trak/Captain combo on my own ride, or consider the Jones XR Team Issues again to see if they address the cornering issue with the Fast Traks.
categories: General
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