27.5″ Conti Trinotal and Dubnital tyres came in the mail. Was really hesitant to put them on initially as the fat 2.8 and 2.6 Specialized tyres look so rad, have so much traction and felt so cushy out on the trails in comparison to the thin 29″ Specialized Fast Track and Air Track tyres, but since I had them in my hands I thought I might as well at least give them a go.
Turns out what sealant was in the tyres had turned to water and man, just like the super wide Roval CLX II front wheel on my Tarmac SL8, the tyres were near impossible to get on and off these rims. I got the front tyre on AOK, but the rear was a prick and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get the bead to sit so I put the rear Dubnital (which was even harder to get off the rim than on) on a ZEN Carbon Bike rear wheel I had in my parts bin and voila! Went on easy as.
Turns out the ZEN rear wheel is way lighter than the Roval and it’s brought the total weight down to 11.1kg’s. The Conti tyres also don’t look as anemic as I thought they would look with the front Trinotal looking quite round and chunky.
I’m happier with the bike with the smaller wheels. Excited to feel the difference in weight and rolling speed with these vs. the Butcher and Purgatory setup. Still waiting on some much needed shorter cranks to claim back some of the -18mm BB drop.