My pit bike has clinchers and I am covered for tires for that (Grifo & Limus based on conditions). My A bike has tubulars, and about 50% of the time last 2 seasons I couldn't run my current tires (Tufo Primus) because it was too muddy and they were useless, so ran the clinchers from the pit bike.
I am looking for a set of tubular tires for the A bike that I can mount to cover both dry and wet/muddy conditions reasonably well. I've narrowed it down to Fangos or Limus. I would prefer the Limus but I've heard that are really only great for muddy races as the knobs are too squirmy for drier conditions. The Fango is billed as Challenge's wet/mud tire, and based on looks it would appear to be an ok drier conditions tire.
So for one tire to run all season: Fango or Limus?
FMB and Specialized are out because I can't get them through QBP. My team is sponsored by an LBS so we get team pricing on anything in the QBP catalog. Challenge, Tufo, Clement, Vittoria seem to be my choices. I see a lot of Challenge at races, and if I had 2 wheelsets the Limus would definitely be on one of them.
I have a grifo clincher on my other bike, great dry tire but looks like it would pack in the thick mud we get here.
I rode the grifo in some pretty muddy conditions and was fairly happy with the results... I have added a 3rd wheelset this year however, which will be Limus.
i like the fango a lot for faster conditions and slippery grassy stuff. The limus is also a wonder tire in the slop but pretty slow if you don't need all that.
The Clement PDX seemed to be pretty successful this past season under a few pros as their all-around/mud tire selection. I believe Trebon and Berden will be on them again this season.
Having ridden Fangos for several seasons I'd agree they are not mud tires. In fact they suck in it. Good for wet grass and drier conditions. It's time to replace them and I'm probably going to go with Grifos or possibly FMB Grippo XL's.
I ran Fangos on my sole set of tubulars last fall for mid-Atlantic racing and thought they performed excellently as an all-arounder. If you believe this year's conditions will be comparable, I'd go with the Fango.
I'm inclined to believe most "B"-level riders, despite their own self-assessments, are not very good at cornering in general (especially in slick stuff) and therefore are not really optimizing the use of the knobbier tires anyway. You get the greater rolling resistance of the center knobs without really being able to exploit the advantages of the side knobs. That's just this guy's opinion though.
+1 on the Clement PDX. better quality than other brands, works well with sealant, great all-around tread. amazing in mud and good on mixed stuff too. our team used them all season.
Had a local racer friend see this and he totally praised the Fango for our local mixed conditions...he is extremely analytical about his gear so I am going with his suggestion. Anecdotally I have heard extremely good things about the PDX, and after riding the LAS clincher around gravel and singeltrack on my cross bike and loving it, was really tempted, but I can get the Fango for almost half the PDX at my LBS so went that route.
Next year I will have a 2nd tubular set so that will have a Limus for the truly nasty days.
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