Vittoria XM?

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Permalink Reply by Britton Kusiak on October 14, 2009 at 8:26pm

Yes. I have a few friends running them. They work great. Especially in the rear.

Fangos and Bulldogs are good in the mud too.

If you are looking for tubular, vittoria is coming out with a new xm, 320tpi with black (more softer) tread. They should be great but cost just as much as challenge.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Plunkett on October 14, 2009 at 8:27pm

i've had 2 races on the xm tubulars and am coming from clinchers, typically the raze and the racing ralph.

therefore ... i think the fact they are tubulars and not clinchers is going to weigh heavily on my impression.

i love them.

i am still getting the pressure sorted but they are far, far superior to running the clinchers.
in the mud i found that the centre line stayed clear and i was getting great traction on uphill, off camber slippery turns.
but, i also found that the side knobs packed up and fast cornering was sketch ... but it was looking that way for everyone so, they didn`t make up for my lack of skill in that instance.

i ran them in the dry (95% mud free) last weekend and they were superb. ran a lower pressure than previous and it felt like i was cornering on rails. hooked up fantastically in the grass, hard downhill 180's and loamy muck. saved my lower back a lot of pain and were generally fantastic.

of note was that we had some old xg's kicking it in the basement and the casing on the new vittorias are noticeably more supple than the older, lower thread count, casing.

but, as i have noted. i have not run dugast, challenge, schwalbe etc... in tubular form. first tubulars. but im loving them.

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Permalink Reply by Katsu Tanda on October 14, 2009 at 8:34pm

I run Fango tubulars and they are ok in low to medium mud. But in horrible mud conditions, they suck. Cost really isn't too much of an issue.

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Permalink Reply by andrew on October 14, 2009 at 10:58pm

hey katsu,

we have a pair in test (290 tpi). been good, esp in the rear, but the knobs are very thin so they wear quite fast when it's not soft and muddy (like norcal most of the time before our 4 inches or rain). i like the vittoria sidewalls - not so fragile, and the 320 tpi tire we have (XG) is very supple.

they've been having some supply problems on the 320 tpi - may not make it this season.

rhinos seem to last longer tread-wise, but don't know too many that have worn out the tread on a rhino before needing to replace it for some other reason.

hope that helps. pic of the 320 tpi XM is here

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Permalink Reply by Katsu Tanda on October 19, 2009 at 10:23am

I can't find Rhinos anywhere and looks like QBP has the Black XMs in stock. I have to call to confirm they are the 320tpi but I assume it is.

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Permalink Reply by duane dickey on October 19, 2009 at 11:50am

They are listed as 290tpi. Could be a mistake though.

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Permalink Reply by Katsu Tanda on October 19, 2009 at 2:54pm

I called BikeMine/Vittoria USA and they had 320tpi XM in stock, just 30 of them. Its the same price as the quantity break price at QBP so I am assuming that QBP did not change the description to 320

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Permalink Reply by andrew on October 22, 2009 at 4:00pm

did you order some? let us know how they do, or snap a pic when they arrive. I'm awaiting our test pair too.

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Permalink Reply by Katsu Tanda on October 22, 2009 at 5:49pm

The Boss sent out the order before I could add them so I'll probably order them on Monday. Plus I really didn't want to rush glue the tires for this weekend.

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Permalink Reply by Carl Ring on October 21, 2009 at 3:54pm

America's top pro cyclocross racer (hint the only guy to ever podium at elite worlds) had a set on the muddy day at Gloucester. He is sponsored by a different tire maker, so I am not mentioning his name (though he is also from NH, enough hints?). Though he is generally not picky about equipment, he does like good tires, and says he likes these for mud conditions. He was also running Rhinos in the mud.

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Permalink Reply by duane dickey on October 22, 2009 at 10:36am

I will. Jon Page.

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Permalink Reply by Katsu Tanda on October 28, 2009 at 9:09am

Well I just received our shop order and those XM's on QBP are indeed the new 320tpi. Super supple casing, way better than the older 290tpi casing and nice sticky black rubber.

Andrew, how are you running these tires? Reversed on the back?

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