Hey everyone welcome!
I have to admit that it wasn't until we smashed 3 rear rims in a season that I started to look into cross-country tire inserts.
There's not that many out there that are lightweight
but today I have for you two products from Pepi's Tire Noodle or PTN, let's take a closer look at them!
The yellow Rokkline inserts have a round profile and you see the world champion stripes over here
because apparently Nino Schurter used to use these Inserts.
As for their use they are recommended for pretty much any type of riding
they are meant to be light and durable this yellow plasticky mesh fully covering the foam insert.
And that's why I think they're considered to be ultra resistant
and these would be some of the benefits of running with the tire insert to start with
that wouldn't necessarily be specific to Pepi's Tire Noodle.
That same world champion theme is to be found on this couple of stickers that are provided
together with the valves, they call them the Lufty2, they're supposed to be ultra light
and they have multiple openings here in the back just so the flow of air and sealant wouldn't be obstructed by the insert.
Here in the back they're gonna tell you to read the instructions before installing
and you can see that they make these in 26", 27.5" and 29er and 3 sizes: Small, Medium, and Large
kind of ambiguously described over here based on either the rim external width or the tire the ETRTO.
Interestingly here where they mentioned the tires, we're using 2.35 or 2.4
you can see that I can get both the Small and the Medium.
I listened to a podcast from Vittoria that make tire inserts as well
and they recommended to err on the smaller side if you are in between sizes so that's the reason why
even the Evolution or R-evolution inserts that I got are the Small size.
These R-evolution inserts are newer,
if you look at cross-country racing today you're going to see a lot of riders using these specific inserts
and here in their little leaflet you get clearer information about what you should get for your tires
and this is where you're gonna see that for 2.2-2.4 tires like we usually use
they recommend this S/M size that has that incredible 75 gram weight.
So if the original Rokkline was perfectly nice around you can see this R-evolution being flatter so it takes up less volume into the tire
and also here where it sits into the rim channel is nicely shaped as opposed to just round in the case of the old yellow one.
You can see that even here in the two graphs that they provide.
Interestingly the R-evolution can be used even for gravel you can see here the S and S/M and the recommended tire sizes for it.
So this R-evolution is definitely more versatile insert compared to the original one.
And you can see that specified here on the other side starting with gravel all the way to downhill
and they use that lightweight closed cell foam that's why they're probably even lighter than the original Rokkline that used that plasticky shell .
This is just a closed cell foam through and through.
As usual, they will mention that reduced rolling resistance,
obviously that comes from the fact that you can run lower tire pressure with the tire inserts
and you do get the same two specific valves that are recommended with their inserts
and they would be just stapled here on the inside of this R-evolution bag which is actually quite cool,
the R-evolution inserts came with it and it looks pretty nice
definitely nice branding and marketing for the product.
And I mentioned initially that one of the reasons why I considered the inserts is protecting the rims,
this is an aluminum rim, 27.5 millimeter ID and if I look from the top, I hope you can see how this sitting into the rim channel
definitely perturbs out, it does give you a little bit more sidewall stiffness if nothing else
and also, if you were to crush this rim, just push it really hard
you would hit the insert first definitely before hitting the obstacle with your rim.
Same rim ,different dimension, this is 25.5 mm ID and you can see that original Rokkline
even though it has the round profile that would take up more space inside the tire
when it comes to protecting the rim it would be no different
so chances of snake bites on the tire or rim damage will definitely be reduced
with the added benefit of the stiffer sidewall of the tire as well.
But one other way to look at tire inserts is the adjustment of the air space or air volume that you have in your tire
and I want you guys to think of this very similarly to thinking about your suspension and adjusting it with volume spacers.
What's gonna happen is, because you reduce the available air space in the tire with the insert
when running low tire pressure you're gonna have a quick or more progressive ramp up of the pressure in the tire
when it compresses rolling over obstacles.
That would definitely make the tire feel different obviously you would benefit from the lower rolling resistance of the low tire pressure.
How much air space would you be taking out of a tire?
If you look at this Maxxis Aspen 2.4, on a 27 mm ID rim
it's a pretty big volume tire and this Pepi's Rokkline Small insert will still take up a considerable amount of space inside the tire
why I'm tempted to test the Small size first as opposed to the recommended Medium.
The R-evolution insert wouldn't be any different but again there is less volume taken out by this giving its shape.
For any cross-country racer obviously adding rotational weight to the wheels it's a no-no
and that's one of the reasons why again I considered these because of their light weight.
Let's take a look at this Rokkline, Medium size and it comes up to 115-116 grams.
The Small size of the same Rockline, it evolves around 87-88 grams as you see over here
and finally the R-evolution Small size the spec is 65 grams and you can see it here
66-68 grams for this little insert so really really impressive.
Add one of these, add 60-70 ml of sealant in the tire and you should be able to run a cross-country race no problem
without a lot of added rotational weight and with a lot more protection for your tire and the rim.
You will find other cross-country tire inserts in the marketplace
but from my research I figured that these are some of the lightest in the industry and also
these are some of the easier to install inserts in the industry.
Make sure you check out that video that they have posted, it's not rocket science but it definitely helps to take a look at it.
So do you guys use tire inserts for cross-country or trail riding or enduro riding?
Which models do you like the best? Have you ever used PTN or Pepi's Tire Noodles?
Let me know in the comments below.
Hope you guys found this useful and if you did don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment
and until next time hope to see you guys on the trails
why not using some tire inserts.
Cheers guys, cheers!