Obviously I came into this test not knowing what to expect
and to my big surprise these tires are good man, as in really good!
Hey everyone, welcome!
Ever since I looked at the Maxxis Aspen last year, the 2.4 version,
I kept looking for these other lightweight tires, the Scorpion tires from Pirelli.
Right before the Olympics they launched their 2.4 version of the tires
so let's take a closer look at them and see how they compare!
Pirelli only got into the bicycle tire game in 2019 and they did have a version of the Scorpion tire in 2.2
This 2.4 is recommended for wider rims, you see that 30 mm ID that they recommend for it
and this Team edition has that yellow markings on the sidewall
but if you don't like the yellow color they do have a version with gray but that wouldn't be called Team edition.
They have two versions of the sidewalls, this is the LITE or Superlight Casing Technology,
no reinforced sidewalls and with that 120 dpi casing
this is supposed to be very compliant and good for lighter riders.
They also have what's called the ProWALL technology, reinforced sidewalls and that comes with a penalty in weight
but again, the sidewalls here will be more supportive.
Most of current tires rely on multiple compounds to provide you fast rolling and then good grip when cornering.
Pirelli uses their motorsport technology and they came up with this Smartgrip compound
that's supposed to be good in all kinds of conditions.
As for the application suggested by Pirelli, they're all listed here
this is best suited for DRY and even WET for hardpack, rocky, and mixed conditions.
The SmartGRIP compound of the rubber, and then the 120 tpi, they are both tubeless ready
and here on the ProWALL you see also the protective or the additional protection of the sidewall.
This is 700 grams and the LITE version is 650 grams.
If you guys remember, when I looked at the Maxxis Aspen, my two Aspen tires.
one was 715 grams and the other one 745 grams.
If I look at this Pirelli LITE, this is supposed to be 650g
and as you see it over here it is 626g so it comes under the stated weight.
I have another one here, this is 10 grams heavier.
The ProWALL version of this comes up to 681 grams, my second tire is about 10 grams heavier,
so these tires are anywhere between 30-40-50 grams lighter than the Aspen 2.4 that N1NO is using.
and obviously I don't know where that weight difference comes from
but I can tell you that these ProWALL tires seem pretty much the same as the ASPEN, the EXO reinforced sidewall of the Maxxis
They're very nice and plush and smooth.
Probably as expected, the LITE version of these, yes it saves 50 grams
but the sidewalls feel very thin, this might be very compliant and also a good candidate to run it with rear inserts!
I looked at Pepi's not too long ago, these are about 65-70 grams in weight
so it would be very interesting to get one of these inserts used with this LITE tire from Pirelli
to get the most compliance and also protection from rim strikes and reinforced sidewalls because of the insert.
but let's get these tires installed on a 30 mm ID rim like they suggest,
and I'm gonna be using the Elite Wheels, the Elite carbons that I reviewed not too long ago.
These are 30 mm ID rims, pretty good price and weight
and by the way the 15% discount it's still available, take a look at that video for more details!
And here is inflated tubeless, very easily.
If you look carefully at the sidewall you're going to see 29 x 2.4 here on one end,
in tiny writing here you're going to get the recommended tubeless pressure
they mentioned 22 to 58 PSI
and on the other side you're going to see manufacturing in Thailand,
and this tiny tiny rotation arrow, I would pay attention to that because otherwise the tread pattern of these tires is pretty deceiving.
The valves that I usually use these days is either the new Schwalbe that have a nice big hole here
so it doesn't get clogged up with sealant or,
even better, the Miles Wide tubeless valves that have like three openings here at the back
and for sealant these days I use the Muck-Off No puncture because it's a bit thicker than Stan's and it seemed to seal a little bit better.
And here's the tire tread like I said it can be a bit confusing unless you look at this rolling center
which kind of gives you the direction of the tire.
And right next to the Aspen which is a tire that we've used in the rear for quite a bit this year.
It's a nice big volume tire, did I say big?? Huge volume tire with good rolling resistance and incredibly good cornering grip.
The side knobs are usually responsible for that cornering grip and interestingly if you look at the Pirelli
you're gonna see that they are designed very similarly.
Also Pirelli has these rows of three knobs, kind of angled the way the tire goes
which in case of the Aspen are replaced by these two so very interesting to see how the cornering is on the Pirelli compared.
You see the nice rolling center here on the Maxxis, you have more knobs on the Pirelli,
that might give you slightly better hard pack rolling resistance.
You have more braking surfaces here on the Pirelli versus the Aspen
so if anything these two tires should be very similar.
And just looking at them from the top it's hard to tell if the Aspen is bigger volume than the Pirelli, so let's measure the Pirelli.
2.42 inches, a bit over 61 mm and you can see here how the casing actually bulges a bit out compared to even the side knobs.
And the Aspen is not quite as wide but still measures at 2.4 inches.
Height of the tire, Aspen is at 82 mm, that's with a 24 mm height rim.
And the Pirelli is right there so if anything I would say that these two tires measure pretty much the same.
Also meaning that the aspect ratio of the tire is identical, so that is the height versus width.
Cornering knobs come up to a bit over 4 mm height and the rolling center is right at 2 mm height.
And I had the chance to ride these tires a couple of times, actually even race them locally
and I had them installed the reinforced sidewall, so the ProWALL, I had it installed up front
and I had the light casing installed here in the back
and if you remember I mentioned using the inserts for it, this is on a 30 mm ID rim like they recommend.
And what can I tell you?
In loose over hardpack dry riding, these tires are really really good.
The reinforced sidewall that you see over here up front it feels pretty much like the Aspen with EXO
so nice, compliant, however if you were to look at the LITE version of the tire,
this one just feels even by hand so much better!
Now I know this is not really that supported because it doesn't have the reinforced sidewalls however
with the insert you get that support up to about here, so the traction and compliance of this tire in the rear is absolutely phenomenal!
I had the rear at 21 psi, the front was at 18 psi,
and when pushed hard in corners this would let go kind of predictably and also gradually.
Obviously it won't have the traction of a Maxxis Minion if you were wondering.
Yeah I don't know if you can hear the rain...
it's coming down hard
On the trails after a little bit of a rain, everything is wet
I know these trails pretty well but what I'm going to try to do is
try to maintain
my dry weather lines see what kind of traction I get.
Okay, this is all slippery rocks
this is the ultimate test
here we go, rock face climb
Wow, just like in the dry,
it's awesome!
all right...
man, even on those really slippery roots!
oh ho ho, that was close!
I was going pretty much full send
Obviously I came into this test not knowing what to expect
and to my big surprise these tires are good man!
As in really good!
Bike is soaked, I would say I was able to do maybe 80 percent of my usually slow-ish speed
but for greasy conditions like this these are very good.
So without using these tires for half a season or so I can tell you that I'm definitely very happy.
Happy enough that the Pirellis are going to replace the Schwalbe that I run on my yeti in the last few years.
So what do you guys think? Have you ever used Pirelli tires?
Are you interested in these 2.4s or the old 2.2s?
Let me know in the comments below.
Hope you 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.
Cheers guys, cheers!