Well…my Gazz is beyond middle age, and I can see some spots that I hope I don’t need to rely on grip for when they are down…
The gazz was really the only 3" option when I got it, and I think it’s probably not worth almost twice the price as something similar these days…not to mention that a tire 2 or 3mm skinnier would allow for more clearance, the Gazz’s only downside (in my current setup…perhaps it’s the frame’s downside? the tire is cheaper to remedy)
What 3" non-Gazz’s seem to work best, last longest, look coolest, ect…
I’ve used the Gazz and the Duro (that’s standard on the KH24).
The Gazz is a great tire but I actually prefer the rounder profile of the Duro. It has sufficient volume to provide a fairly cushy ride. It rolls well over obstacles and it grips very well.
I think that overall the Duro is a very good alternative to the Gazz.
I have ridden a Duro 24x3" (labelled Arrow Racing) and the Gazz. The Gazz is a better tyre. I also have a Dyno Fireball 24x3" (hardly ridden) and an IRC Kujo DH 24x3" (not ridden at all yet). Max Dingemans rode one of these for a while - try PM’ing him, maybe.
In my opinion the Gazz remains the best 3" tyre for unicycling.
Jeff Groves was on a Halo at Cal Muni Weekend 2003. He may have some opinions on it.
I ride a 24x3 fireball for commuting and an intense 24x3.0 DH comp 60 tire for offroad. At moab I rode Dan Heaton’s muni with a Gazz. I personally think the intense is as good, if not better than the gazz for 90% of the trails I ride. It has more substantial knobbies and seems to give better grip for hill climbing and descents than the gazz. Also, the sidewalls are beffier than any other tire on the market. It’s most definitely better than the fireball. The only area that the gazz is better in (in my opinion) is skinny riding. It has a slightly squarer profile, which is better for skinies. If I were riding north shore I’d use a gazz.
Kris Holm was on a Duro at Moab 2004. He said it was a better all around muni tire due to the rounder profile, but he did say that for hard core DH and north-shore type riding the gazz excels.
Sofa,
Thanks for starting this thread, it gives me a little more info on tire alternatives since I didn’t get but 1 response to my thread about the arrow 3"r
I have both a Gazz and IRC Kujo. The Gazz beats the Kujo hands down in every way except looks. The Kujo has a red sidewall and that’s the color that ALL tire sidewalls should be.
Comparing downhill tires like the Gazz and other 3" tires is more tricky than it sounds. You have to ride the tire for a while in a variety of conditions and experiment with tire pressure before you can really get to know the tire. If you just try a tire for one ride you can’t really give a good review of it.
There is also the issue of needing to break in the tire. I have two muni wheels for my 24" muni. Both have a 3" Gazz on them. One is well broken in and the other has only been used for one ride. The two tires are completely different. The tire that is new is missing the nice cush. It needs to be broken in. The fact that they are on different rims also makes a difference. The broken in Gazz is on a wide Avro Zum rim (38 mm wide) and the new Gazz is on an Alex DX32 rim (32 mm wide). If I was to try the two tires in a blind test, I would swear they were two different tires. Tire condition (how well it is broken in) and rim width and tire pressure makes a big difference with these tires.
You need to try these big tires for many rides before you can really form an informed opinion about them. If you’ve only tried a tire for one ride you haven’t really gotten to know the tire.
Unfortunately, the only fat tire I’ve every used is a Gazz. I can’t offer any kind of a comparison with other fat 3" tires.
Informed reviews of the Gazz versus other fat 3" tires are lacking because very few people have actually tried more than one tire brand for any length of time. The people who have put several fat tires like the Gazz and Duro through their paces need to write reviews so the rest of us can get an idea about how they compare.
