Revolt Super X

This was my second "semi-slick" tire design. The first Revolt SS tires were very fast, loads of fun, but fairly lethal in loose conditions. I wanted to make the Super X roll as fast, but it had to be able to deal with a wider range of trail conditions.

The linked web of raised tread down the center of the tire makes the Super X tire roll fast on smooth, hard packed surfaces. The faces of those knobs are siped (thin slits across the tread to improve traction in wet conditions) to make them work better in wet conditions too.

But instead of wrapping the same sort of pattern around the sides of the tire (as you would in a road tire) I designed the transition and edge knobs to be progressively knobbier. I wanted the cornering and off camber traction characteristics of the Super X to be closer to a full knobby tire.

The combination works. The Super X is fast when you are rolling along upright but has traction approaching that of a full knobby tire when you are leaned over in corners or riding on an off camber trail.

Super X tires are still my favorite tire for summer races and long cross county trail rides. They are surprisingly versatile, especially the 2.2" tires. They work well on any course that doesn't have a lot of loose terrain (they are not greatin deep gravel or crushed rock), They'll even work in mud as long as it isn't too sticky and you drop the tire pressure a little. of this is because of the Tubeless Ready spec.

Chris Eatough and Jeremiah Bishop won a stage and finished close to the front of the TransAlp Challenge on them, and there is a little bit of everything on that course.

Dry X

The Dry X tire is new, and was designed for our pro teams. Think short track and fast XC courses. They wanted tires that were light, fast and with good traction in the conditions they raced in most. No surprises there.

The Dry X casing is small to keep the tire light. Team riders won't race on heavy tires unless they absolutely have to so this part of the spec is critical.

The tire's knob pattern is designed to roll fast and have predictable cornering traction on dry surfaces and rock. The reinforced center and transition knobs are short and stiff so they are predictable on climbs, when braking and in corners.The edge knobs are aggressive enough to keep you upright in the soft stuff you might encounter too.

As small and light as they are, Dry X tires ride like a bigger tire because they are Tubeless Ready. The footprint is larger and small bump absorption is better than any similar racing tire set up with inner tubes.

The Team riders have had plenty of success with the tires since they got them in early 2007.

Jones XR (26" and 29")

The 26" Jones XR tire was actually designed for racing in Moab. It wasn't intended to come out that way initially, but it happened. That's a risk in letting someone who races design tires; it's a subliminal thing.

I ride and race there every year so I had been thinking about how to dial in a tire in for those conditions. I wanted a tire that was more aggressive than a Super X, faster on hard packed terrain than an ACX, and well suited to riding on rock and sand.

The Jones XR's relatively short, well reinforced knobs with specific patterns on the front and rear do their part for traction and still roll fast on hard packed trails. The edge and transition knobs are aggressive enough to hook up when youare leaned over or riding on an off-camber surface, too.

But the most important characteristic of the XR tire is the large casing (large for its knob pattern and weight). XRs conform to the irregularities on a rocky trail when ridden at fairly low pressure. But the large casing keeps the rims clear of the rocks. The XR's large footprint also floats on top of soft sand well too.

And, since they are for racing, they are very light for a tire of this size.

All this sounds like they are just for riding at Moab, but XRs work well in a lot of places, almost everywhere except greasy mud. They are a perfect trail riding and racing tire in a lot of the western US and places with similar conditions.

The 29" version of the tire is a bit different. It's a light fast tire with a small casing and intermediate knobs. The knob pattern and casing proportion of the XR 29er is much closer to a normal tire though.

The goals for the tire are simple. There are quite a few large, aggressive tires for the 29ers, like our ACX, so the XR offers an alternative. It's lighter, quicker, and faster, best when ridden on smoother trails that aren't too technical.

Jones ACX

After spending a few years designing fast rolling racing tires I wanted to develop a full knobby tire that would work well in loose, technical and wet conditions. It wasn't intended to be a freeride tire though, so it had to roll fast enough to be useful in XC applications. That's the background for ACX tire.

The ACX knob pattern and overall layout is inspired by motocross tires. The wide tread is formed with tall, square knobs spaced fairly far apart in a uniform distribution. The knobs are siped for wet traction and are reinforced so that they are stiff enough to work on hard packed surfaces and rock.

I took a small departure from a true MX tread to speed them up a little on hard surfaces. Rather than using a simple symmetric knob pattern with alternating knob counts I chose to offset the knobs in groups from one side to the other. Thistrick reduces the effective gap between the knobs down the center so the tire rolls a little faster, but still provides good traction in loose conditions when the bike is leaned over or on an off camber surface.

Use these when the trail conditions are loose enough to make smoother tires a liability or anytime you want to prioritize traction over rolling speed.

Mud X

The Mud X is not a tire I designed for use in Santa Cruz. We have no mud to speak of.

I am fortunate though. I get to race in a lot of places all over the world. Some of these places are often muddy (I won't say anything about England here, but I could). A good dose of suffering in some serious mud is perfect motivation for designing mud tires.

A typical race course on a wet day is not entirely mud. The same goes for a ride on trails. You generally end up riding on a mix of terrain, with some pavement, rocks, and roots thrown in. Traditional mud tires do well in deep mud, but are lethal on anything else, so you are good in the mud but not so good everywhere else.

The Mud X is designed to work well in mud (of course) as well as all the other conditions you are likely to face on a muddy day, to be good all the way around the course. The keys are in the knob design and the Tubeless Ready set up.

The Mud X knobs are shaped to channel mud away to the sides as you ride through it, like most mud tires. But they are not quite as tall as those found on most traditional mud tires, so they are stiffer and they squirm less on pavement or other hard surfaces. And they are siped so they will connect with roots and rocks and other slippery surfaces.

The most important aspect of their design is that they are a Tubeless Ready tire. You can ride with them using very low inflation pressures so they hook up much better in every situation and trail condition. They feel like a much bigger tire.

They come in two flavors, a 2.0" tire with a light 120 tpi casing and a 1.8" tire with an ARC casing. Use the 2.0" Mud X when rock damage to the sidewalls is not likely to be a actor. Use a 1.8" tire when the conditions are more severe.

Big Earl

I designed this tire with Andrew Shandro. The idea was to come up with a tire that he could use doing what he does. Maximum cornering and braking traction, heavy duty casing and tread blocks, don't worry too much about weight, etc. Simple enough.

I started by looking around at some popular tires. I dislike the trend of using a reasonable distribution of center knobs and an almost solid line of edge knobs, with nothing in between. It makes no sense to me. A tire like that might work OK, but that gap toothed approach to the knob layout can't contribute much to the overall performance.

Sturdy edge knobs are fine, a good idea on this type of tire. But the contact patch area should not change while you are leaning a bike over, no matter what type of bike you are riding. There would be no gaps on this tire. I laid out the basic tread pattern and set it up with a uniform distribution of knobs, starting from the center and adding in some stiff transition and edge knobs. There were no gaps.

The complexity came when Andrew tested the prototypes. The combination of his aggression, rocks, and the soft rubber we used for these tires left knobs dangling and behind on the trail after a hard run.

Back to the computer, where I beefed up and reinforced the knobs some more. That did it. He is still rough on tires and these don't last forever. But they delivered the traction and performance he wanted and let him do what he does. They'll do the same for you.

Two flavors: Dry and Wet. Use what you need in the area you ride most. The wet tires will work well in dry conditions if you aren't stopping too hard on slabs of rock. The Dry tires will be OK in wet conditions if it is deep moist loam and not all roots. But using them the way we designed them to be used is best. Nothing is simple.