Challenge Grifo vs FMB SSC?

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Permalink Reply by Scott David Bond on January 25, 2010 at 4:59pm

SSC treads are deeper -- and it sheds mud better than the Grifo, SSC is also more supple and rolls at low pressure better. Drawback for SSC is that the knobs don't go as far to the side of the tire as the new Grifo tread --- and this is a problem if you ride your crossbike like your in a crit(leaning the bike in corners) -

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Permalink Reply by jmoote on January 25, 2010 at 7:21pm

This is all correct, but I find the extra knob height somewhat makes up for the side knob placement. I've washed out Grifos (with the new tread) way more often than my SSCs just because the round dot cornering knobs don't really do much for me.

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Permalink Reply by andrew on January 26, 2010 at 9:01am

i'd agree with jmoote - the side knob on the ssc seems to bit better for me as well. the downside? one of ours fell apart after 10 rides...

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Permalink Reply by Mike on January 26, 2010 at 2:51pm

I was mostly disappointed in the grifos this past season (32's on a carbon tubular). Although I would head out on initial recon laps with them, in most conditions I ended up with a different combination of tires. I found them OK in most dry conditions good on grass/sand tacky stuff, and pretty bad when it got muddy. If I could do it again, I would have gone with a different tire, perhaps a tufo flexus cubis or dugast. After all the cash I spent another $60/tire (after you count in cost to get them glued) does not seem like that much now. That said, I got my ass kicked by guys with grifos only, although they were the 140lb dinker type an might not require as much traction as bigger guys.

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Permalink Reply by Scott David Bond on January 26, 2010 at 5:36pm

We had the wettest, muddiest season we have ever had (OVCX) - and everyone was searching for something better -- and it was not the Grifo and definitely not the Fango, FMB SSC's and Dugast Rhino's seemed to become the tire of choice (SSC in slippery conditions and Rhino in serious mud)

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Permalink Reply by jmoote on January 26, 2010 at 8:35pm

"SSC in slippery conditions and Rhino in serious mud"

That describes my tire selection for last season. The Rhinos were good in the heavy stuff, and SSCs for everything else. I'm adding file treads for the dry races this year (SSC Sprints) and trying the FMB Gripos (old Racing Ralph tread) to see where it fits in to the loose/slippery conditions continuum.

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Permalink Reply by John Osgood on January 27, 2010 at 3:31pm

Hey thanks for all the feedback. It's real helpful! And keep it coming....

So in a nut shell, does the SSC tread roll as well as the Grifo? Slower or faster? Or is there really not much difference? Would this be a good tire overall as a switch from Grifos since this is the tire I am most familiar with? I already have Rhinos for the mud. And most of our races are in Dry to slippery grass conditions. Not a lot of thick mud. And the Grifos have worked well. That is, the ones that have not had any deffects... So I was looking to upgrade, but not get away from the Clement style of tread... Get my drift?

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Permalink Reply by jmoote on January 31, 2010 at 9:53pm

SSC sounds good for you, IMO.

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Permalink Reply by Carl Ring on February 2, 2010 at 11:37am

My absolute favorite tire in dry/mixed conditions is the Grifo tread on FMB casings. Molly Cameron out in Portland has them and rumor is that Zanconato is going to have them this year. In pure mud I would run Rhinos, or another mud only tire (the Grippos or Tufo Cubus, or Vittoria XM).

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