National Marathon Champs Avoca - Course Condition & Tyres

pistonbroke

pistonbroke

Eats Squid
Course is steep with 3500m of climbing. So pick tyres on the light side. Weather forecast is 18 degrees and a shower or 2.
 
LordNikon

LordNikon

Uber Geek
Not sure what tyres to ride with? I can tell you that you’re best to run something with grip and that doesn’t puncture easily. Don’t get sucked into a set of thin, no tread 300gram race tyres. The course is both rocky and loose in parts. What you need is a good set of Maxxis tyres that boast both
great rolling resistance but also superior traction and grip. My suggestion is to check out the Maxxis
Cross mark, Aspen, Ranchero or Larsen TT.
Click to expand...
Taken from the rider race pack pdf.

Personally, I'll be riding Schwalbe's Nobby Nic front and Racing Ralph rear, full UST with sealant. IMHO it's better to carry a little extra weight than deal with punctures.
 
pistonbroke

pistonbroke

Eats Squid
I am running Race Kings. But I have not seen the course. I think Furious Freds may be a little light on for tread. Ralphs and/or Nics would be better. Crossmarks would probably be ok too.
 
butlerhr

butlerhr

Likes Bikes
pistonbroke said:
I am running Race Kings. But I have not seen the course. I think Furious Freds may be a little light on for tread. Ralphs and/or Nics would be better. Crossmarks would probably be ok too.
Click to expand...
Has anyone out there seen the course? I can't bring all my tyres down...........
 
felixmtb

felixmtb

Likes Dirt
Just wondering, do you reckon the Hutchinson Python would survive? Knowing their reputation for rocky tracks... I have a crossmark tubeless, but last time we did that, it just would not work, no matter what we tried.
 
T

thelankyman

Likes Dirt
I have ridden part of the track. I would be going with something with some grip as there was alot of loose stuff. There are also some rocky section, so would always recommend tubeless as a goer. For those Rigid riders definately go tubeless with some decent bags at a lowish pressure, Weirwolfs will work will.

Alot of the track was unridable because it was so loose and was traversing the mountain. Will be interesting to see what the other half of the course is like. There is at least one section that I wouldnt want to be last rider down it, cos it will be getting ripped to shit, with a 45 degree downhill section, which require full braking

Starting to wish i had trained properly. They seem serious with the amount of climbing. I reckon that it might be harder than the Odessey as some of the hills on the 'walking track' were so loose.
 
Grover

Grover

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I've ridden 50km of the course. I'll echo the above recommendations. You want something fast rolling but sturdy. I rode Michelin XCR DryII 2.0 UST tyres and would be running them if I was racing. If it got a little damp which is forecast I'd put something with a bit more bite on the front...my preference would be Michelin XCR AT 2.0 UST.

Many of the singletrack (walking track) climbs you won't be riding no matter the tyre or weather. The front wheel bite is for the loose descents that will clog up tyres if it's damp. The UST is due to the nature of the (walking) trails that are littered with sizeable sticks and boulders that will do damage to the thin sidewalled varieties of tyre.
 
T

tjb

Likes Dirt
You guys are sure talking this one up ... Frankly just can't wait at this rate to ride (walk) this goat track
 
Grover

Grover

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Plenty of people walk a big chunk of the Otway and still come back the following year. Yes you'll do some walking...but yes you'll also ride sweet singletrack, get that sense of achievement and want to suffer through it all again the following year. The sections you walk this year do need to be altered to take on less of a gradient and be made rideabe but it'll take years to get it all done at the rate it's being done.

That is unless the one guy that does the majority of the work by himself by hand in his spare time gets some funding and/or some assistance...but that's another topic altogether so let's stick to tyre choice. FAST, UST, SEALANT.
 
akashra

akashra

Eats Squid
In the Maxxis range I'll be going with Crossmarks; I wouldn't be recommending Monorails or Aspens for that kind of climbing, they just don't have the grip.
 
B

Burly

Cannon Fodder
I am not running tubeless but have put on some Racing Ralphs. I have read many reviews that say they are susceptible to side wall tears etc as they are thin walled. Are these tires going to last for me on the day or should I revert to my Crossmarks?? I have lots of spare tubes so if I punture I puncture, I'll deal with that whether they are RR or Croassmarks. Any suggestions??
 
LordNikon

LordNikon

Uber Geek
The best suggestion for you Burly is to convert to tubeless.

Obviously if you're careful and have spare tubes you should be able to make the distance with the tyres you have, but tubeless is definitely the way forward.

I have been running tubeless for 3 years and have had a grand total of 0 punctures in that time, not a single one. I will never run tubes on a mountain bike again.
 
solo

solo

Likes Dirt
hey butler i was at the course last sunday and have ridden most of it
i will be using nobby nics on my bike but reckon crossmark will be fine too not sure what the tread on those others you mentioned are like
the singletrack is mostly soft especially after recent rains in the area and due to the fact alot of it is newly cleared or made from scratch so hasn't had much traffic
hope this helps
 
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