Madison tire choices

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Permalink Reply by Chris Mayhew on December 13, 2011 at 11:25am

The Fango is pretty not a great tire except for some very specific conditions. Skip that. That's about all I can offer.

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Permalink Reply by John Verheul on December 13, 2011 at 11:49am

Challenge's mud tire is the Limus, the Fango wasn't really good for anything. I'd consider the Limus, or the Clement PDX. I've used the PDX for 3/4 of my races this year (note to readers, Jerry is local to me), including the muddy courses at Fort Collins (day 1), Las Cruces, and Hays Apple Farm, and they've been great. Ryan T has been winning on them all year as well.

The Limus may be a bit cheaper to buy, but the PDX (since it's a tubeless tubular with fairly tough sidewalls) will be a tire you can also use on NM courses with all the goatheads.

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Permalink Reply by Ron on December 13, 2011 at 7:36pm

The fango was bomber on the nationals course this past weekend.  Granted it was 25° on Sat and 35° on Sunday and no snow.  There was some slippery stuff in the sun on Sunday though.  Most of the course is on grass and no real mud sections.  Some sand.

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Permalink Reply by Cyclocross Magazine on December 16, 2011 at 2:25am

I take it you're looking for tubulars?

If not, the Rocket Ron in clincher form would be a very good snow tire.  The new Terra Specialized tire is also a reasonably aggressive option, although the Limus is more aggressive than the Terra.  

Older Racing Ralphs were quite grippy too. 

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Shere on December 16, 2011 at 9:48am

After some thought, I'm taking three wheelsets to Madison. All are tubulars and all are alloy rims. I don't like the braking with carbon rims in the cold and wet, regardless of the pads/brakes. The tire choices will be Challenge Fango 32, Tufo Cubus 32, and Tufo Dry 32. That should cover it. The biggest surprise for me this year has been the Dry 32's. After 12 years of cross I had never ridden file tires in race conditions. These tires are really fast and work in a surprising variety of conditions. Thanks for the input.

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