The 520g folding AKA landed at BikeRadar Towers in December and we fitted it as a rear tyre to our ‘do everything’ Ibis Tranny hardtail.
We were amazed when it defied our expectations and worked pretty well on loamy forest floor, fine wet sandy soils and snow – and when it found some hard ground it flew.
It was no surprise it prefers harder, drier conditions, but with some careful application of torque, body English and detours through available puddles to help it clear, we rarely failed to find traction.
It’s a fairly high volume tyre with a rounded profile that lends itself to smooth ‘turn in’ when cornering, and the break away when it reaches the shoulder is well signposted and controlled.
Even as the trails dry out we’re still happier running it as a fast rear tyre paired with something more aggressive up front, as we’re still getting a bit of heart-in-mouth understeer from it in damp turns. But full summer dryness might make it more viable up front.