Versus Tires

So, let me start by saying, I will be buying another set, or 2, of these tires within the next month.

When I initially received these tires I was leery. The plan was to put these tires on my DH bike but, I opted to put them on my Capra.  The reason I was leery is because, the tires felt HEAVY for a trail bike.  Regardless, I figured I would give em a shot on my Enduro bike and see how they worked.  After all, compared to Maxxis tires, they were about 50-70 bucks cheaper for a set...so it's not that expensive of a lesson.

Heading down into my garage to mount these tires, this is where the fireworks began  This is where I soured on the tires and nearly had a stroke in the process.  Now, I am a fairly experienced mechanic.  I've worked in a myriad of shops over the years, worked in the industry as an engineer for 4 years, and have been a self support DH racer for over a decade.  All that being said, the story that follows, and my reaction, probably would have made a good .gif to depict pure rage.

Anyway, when I went to install the first tire on the rear wheel, the tire popped onto the rim with minimal effort.  I was surprised because, the casing on these tires are super stiff.  I was half expecting to have to wrestle these tires on with multiple levers but, they popped right on.  

Now, I don't have a compressor to seat tubeless tires but I do have (or had before Thursday) one of those pumps that busts air from a pressurized chamber.  So, I pressurized the chamber to 200 psi, switched the valve to burst the air, and poof!...all of the air comes rushing out around the bead along with about 10 cc's of sealant.  

Okay...NBD...its happened to me before.  So I pulled the tire back off, tried to salvage as much sealant as I could, cleaned the rim with alcohol, and attempted to wrap a 2nd layer of tape around the rim.  Well, I couldn't get the 2nd layer of tape to stick.  No fault of Versus but it ratcheted up the level of frustration.  So...I pulled the original tape off, cleaned the rim with alcohol, and applied 2 new layers of tape.

Round 2.  Popped the tire on, charged up the pump, burst the air in, and....Pfffffff...all the air and 10 cc's of sealant out the bead.  Frustration ratcheted up to about a 6 at this point.  I couldn't bring myself to pull the tire off and add a 3rd layer of tape, so I charged the pump and gave it another shot...Of course...same outcome.  

Now, I am angry.  So I pull the tire back off, clean it again with alcohol, and attempt to add a 3rd layer of tape...which of course...didn't stick.  I removed the 2 layers of tape a just installed, and installed THREE NEW layers of tape.

Round 3...repeat step one...ha...Pffff...all the air and 10 cc's.  Okay...at this point...I had a level 10 melt down.  I smashed my pump off the ground breaking the pressure gauge, and stomped around my garage looking for more stuff to break like a big baby man.  I had to walk away...

Round 4.  So the pump still worked, even though the gauge was broken.  After I cooled off, I figured I would wrestle with if for a while but, I was not willing to add another layer of tape.  So I just kept charging the pump, bursting air in, and pumping like a maniac while chasing leaks around the bead.  After about 20 minutes I FINALLY got it seated.  Wheew!

Now...after all that...I was DREADING installing the front tire.  Regardless, I forged ahead.  This time though, I removed the original tape and double wrapped the front wheel to start.  After the new tape was installed, I popped the tire on, pressurized the chamber, burst the air in, and POP!  WHAT THE!!!  The front tire literally popped right on with no fuss!  I was as relieved as I was confused, but I didn't have time to dwell on it, time to go ride.

Once I had the wheels back on the bike, my Capra felt noticeably heavier.  Granted, the tires I pulled off the bike were a Maxxis Assegai 2.5 in the front and a DHR II 2.4 in the rear with a trail casing.  I was expecting the bike to feel heavier but was still leery about how adding all that rolling mass to the bike was going to effect performance, specifically climbing to the top of the descent and sprinting.  Again, no time to dwell on this, just wanted to ride, and see how these tires stacked up.

Right out of the gate I was surprised by these tires.  My ride starts with a climb up a fire road.  I would say its about a 600 ft climb.  Its a short grinder mostly, with one steep technical spot that is always a challenge.  If your tires aren't on point for the steep bit, you'll get tire slip every time...sometimes to the point where you come to a dead stop.  

Riding up the fire road, the tires didn't feel heavy...like at all.  It actually felt like the bike rolled more efficiently than the trail casing Maxxis tires I removed which were easily 200-300g lighter.  I was VERY pleasantly surprised.  When I got to the steep bit, the tires tracked right up.  No wheel slip, all traction.  I honestly felt like I could have turned off the finesse and just hammered up the chute without fear of the rear tire breaking loose.  Stoke level was rising.

Now for the fun part...the descent.  My local spot has a descent that is just over 3 minutes pinned.  Trail conditions are over hard, clay, chunky berms, flat turns, long and lows, and some roots.  This was the point where, I all but forgot how miserable the installation process was.  This was the point, I came to the realization, these may be the only tires I buy from now on.  

In the brake bump riddled berms that are nearly as hard as concrete, the tires tracked perfectly.  The heavier casing seemed to deaden the blows quite a bit.  Its almost seemed like the tires made my bike more quiet!  In the over hard flat turns, the tires were just as predictable and trustworthy as a 90+ dollar Maxxis DH casing Minion or Assegai.  It almost took too much effort to break them loose.  Slapping a berm or drifting a flat corner required an increased amount of pushing or even a little rear brake tap to get things started.  Regardless...to me...that's a good thing.  I would rather have the seemingly endless traction as opposed to edit worthy drifts and berm slaps.

Braking...well...let me tell you.  These tires may have prevented a lawsuit.  The spot I ride is right in the city of Pittsburgh.  It is usually crowded with runners and hikers...most of them wearing head phones, oblivious to the world.  At one point, there is a crossing on one of the descents where the downhill trail crosses a running trail.  Coming down this descent, there was a runner on the running trail.  I could see him through the trees, I could see that he had headphones in, and I knew he wasn't going to yield.  I had to stab the brakes, hard, on a very loose over hard trail, in a spot that was fairly steep.  Honestly, I was expecting the front wheel to push and I was pretty sure I was going to hit this guy.  But to my dismay, the harder I grabbed the front brake, the quicker the bike slowed down...to the point where, I basically did a stoppie, coming to rest right next to this guy.  I've never ridden a tire that brakes that well up front.  This incident happened pretty early in the ride so, I learned quick that I could wait much later to brake before a corner than I typically would with my go-to Maxxis tires.

Ultimately Versus, I don't know what kind of secret sauce you put in these tires, I don't know what kind of magic you put in the tread pattern (which really kind of looks a little bit like a DHR II), and I don't know who you had to sacrifice to get the price of the tires down so low.  All I can say is, I'm glad you did what you did and I hope you'll be around for a while.  I know its gotta be tough to launch a tire brand in the midst of a global pandemic but, please do what you gotta do because your tires perform right up there with the best.  Even though they feel heavy and possibly clunky out of the box, holy cow, they work awesome and the weight is barely noticeable once on the trail.  I am looking forward to outfitting all of my bikes with these tires in the near future.

I would give these tires 4.5 stars, with a 1/2 star penalty for the mounting issue.  The performance and price of these tires more than makes up for the pain of trying to get them seated.  Performance wise, I would put these right up there with Maxxis Minions, Assegai's, and Schwalbe Magic Mary's (Honestly...I feel they are better than the Magic Mary's).  I would give Maxxis a 5 star rating over these Versus tires but, ONLY due to the ease of installation.  So, with Maxxis, the extra 30 bucks you'll pay per tire won't be for performance...but rather ease of insulation.  Personally, I would rather pocket the money, and practice getting better at mounting these tires.

Cheers to you Versus!  Great job on these tires!