WTB Stout vs Navegal vs Rampage vs Exiwolf

[Nurse Ben]

Okay, so I have now installed all four of these tires on my KH 29er, much to my chagrin

The winners:

Largest Casing/Volume = Navegal
Heaviest = Stout (duh!)
Lightest= Exiwolf
Stiffest Casing = Navegal

Ride review: The best muni ride was a split between the Rampage, Stout, and Navegal. The Exiwolf is a little less sticky, I also found it washes out at low volumes, likely due to the light weight casing. I like the Rampage, but it was smaller volumed by ever so slightly that the Navegal, so I rode the Navegal until I got the Stout. Across the board I'd say that the Navegal has the stiffest casing, then the Stout, then the Rampage. The Stout and Navegal are rated about the same on rubber "stickiness", though the Stout seems stickier.

The loser: Me! Because I believed the hype and bought yet another damn
29er tire!!

Fortunately I have a 29er mtb, so I can use the tires on it, nonetheless I am a bit irritated, esp since I just went to the trouble of dismounting the Navegal to mount the Stout.

In summary, if you're running a Navegal, keep it. The rubber is just as sticky as the Stout or Rampage, plus it has a little more voume over the Stout. If you're buying a new tire, I'd get the one that's on sale (Rampage, Stout, or Navegal.

Tire Shopping? Check out www.bike29.com sometimes they have deals.

Here are some dimensions comparisons:

Navegal 29er:
Casing Cross Section 2 1/4"
Casing Height 1 7/8"
Tread Cross Section 2 5/16"

Stout 29er:
Casing Cross Section 2 1/8""
Casing Height 1 15/16"
Tread Cross Section 2 5/16"

Duro (24"):
Casing Cross Section 2 1/2"
Casing Height 2 3/8"
Tread Cross Section 2 3/4"

Kenda Kolossal DH (24"):
Casing Cross Section 2 1/4"
Casing Height 2 1/16"
Tread Cross Section 2 9/16"

[JohnnyReggae]

I've been running the ExiWolf purely because it was the only one I could get. My 29'er came with the Big Apple.

I'm not really impressed with the ExiWolf. The sidewall is super thin so it folds really easily even on the smallest of drops, and if you pump the tyre up so that it doesn't fold as easily then it's too hard to manage on the dirt properly and seems to dig into the loose sand very easily trapping the tyre. I also found on my last ride with it on Sunday that it doesn't handle rocky sections well including loose small rocky/sandy sections.

I tried to get a Stout, but unfortunately the LBS' in South Africa seem to have limited stock of even the 29'ers despite them having stock of 29" MTB's. The only other tyre I could get was the Kenda Small-Block 8, which in my opinion is worse than the ExiWolf.

I'll keep running the ExiWolf for now, only because replacing it is a problem (lack of stock) and it's an expensive exercise to keep changing tyres.