Hey folks!
Have you ever used Bontrager tires?
This is the in-house brand for Trek bikes.
Over the years I used quite a few of their tires that came with my bikes.
However, today I'm gonna concentrate on this pair of XR3 tires.
They have a few options for their tires, these ones are XR3 Team Issue, tubeless ready (TLR),
mountain bike tires, XR3 27.5 x 2.35,
and all their tires are made in Taiwan.
Rumor has it that Maxxis makes their tires,
but I don't know that 100%.
Here on the back, quite a bit of information starting with ETRTO,
these are supposed to be 59 mm width
They show you how to install the tire properly,
they show you that the Team Issue are the best tires that they have.
The other two are Expert and Comp.
Here you can see that the they have the reinforced sidewalls,
and they are tubeless ready which we know already.
And here it's indicated what kind of tires these are.
And as you can see the preference for these XR3s would be for loamy,
loose over hard pack type of terrain.
However, like I mentioned, the XR3 is a very good trail tire overall.
Aside from the rubber compound the Team Issue tires are usually lighter
You can see this one at 710 grams,
it is supposed to be 705 g as per specs.
And this one that already had opened up,
is just under 700 grams.
For the longest time, these were the graphics on these tires
however looks like for this year, at least for the Team Issue, they've changed it again.
This is just a silver color
and see it here, tubeless ready, 27.5 x 2.35, made in Taiwan,
and a bit more information about the tire dimension including the ETRTO it's printed over here.
This is a directional pattern,
so you have the direction arrow printed here on both sidewalls.
And here it is installed on a 23 mm ID rim.
These are tubeless already, I installed them tubeless from the get-go
since it's very easy to do that.
I inflated them to about 35 psi
and they stayed like that for about a week.
And you're gonna see it measure next to these XR4,
actually these are the SE4s, XR4 with reinforced sidewall and casing.
The construction of this tire is almost perfect,
you can see the casing is just nice and round no wobble whatsoever.
And from this side view, I hope you can see how the sidewall and the cornering knobs
are pretty much on the same level.
ETRTO or tire width 59 mm,
you can see 59.5 mm, and I'm measuring knob to knob here,
I'm not touching the sidewall.
That is almost 2.35 in, as mentioned in the spec.
Compare that with this XR4 which is slightly wider,
and it has bigger cornering knobs.
This comes up to exactly 2.35 in
being specified as a 2.35 tire as well.
Tire height to the center knobs is 57 millimeters,
you can see 77 on the caliper with a 20 mm height rim.
Finally here next to the XR4,
you can see the big difference here definitely on the cornering knobs.
XR4 being more aggressive.
Then the rolling center here which is split in the case of the XR3.
Both very capable tires and nice big volume, round-ish profile.
And there you have guys!
Very capable tires, actually this XR4 - XR3 combination is very popular
as a front-rear combo.
If you haven't tried them ever, give them a try.
They just reduced the price in Canada
to something that's a bit more competitive so,
highly recommend them.
If you have any questions let me know in the comments below.
And until next time,
I hope to see you guys on the trails,
hopefully riding some Bontrager tires.
Cheers guys, cheers!