Hi all, wondering if anyone here has any feedback on cushcore for Muni yet? I am in need of a new tire and will be going tubeless for the first time. My current 27.5 tire weighs in at 1150g and i can get a light XC tire <800g and cushcore <300g so i will be saving a little weight (not money lol) from what i am accustomed too
I am looking to gain for my $80… rim protection, sidewall stability, less bounce on fast rooty trails and a softer ride. Any feedback is appreciated. I will be happy to be the Guinea pig if need be but hoping to gain some insight before i plop down the cash
Tires i am looking at are the schwalbe rocket ron and maxxis recon+ to pair with the cushcore. Feedback on these tire or recommendations for others are welcome
Also if anyone rides trails in the Charlotte North Carolina area please drop me a message. I ride multiple times a week if weather and workload allow
I know Ben Soja uses cushcore and seems to like it. He’s a great Muni rider and is sponsored by Mad4One. I’m not 100% certain, but last time I rode with him it looked like he was riding it in combo with a Maxxis 2.8 tire and an inner tube on a Mad4One rim. You could reach out to him on Facebook through Muni chat or something. Hes pretty responsive.
Another option would be to consider a Schwalbe tire with a Super Gravity carcass ( I like the Hans Dampf and Rock Razor). The Super Gravity carcass has a built in butyl insert in the sidewall. It is an excellent tire for muni. Its narrower width (2.35 but prb more like 2.4 on a dominator rim) combined with the beefy sidewall makes it incredibly stable (esp for side hopping) and in my opinion it rides like a wider tire. The only place where it looses to a wider tire is in loose terrain like deep sand.
I have not had great luck setting up a dominator 2 rim tubeless, but I know some others here on the forums have done it. the main issue is the deep well in the middle of the rim - the tire tends to sit in there and let air pass by when you try to fill it up. I couldn’t even get it setup with an air compressor. You might try some foam strips used to seal windows and doors (found in hardware stores) to fill the gap in the middle of the rim.
There are certainly muni riders using procore or deaneasy and really like it. But that’s not exactly the same.
Rekon+ is 2.8 inch wide nominally. Rocket Ron… wait what? 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 wide RRs are apparently a thing. Nice!
Protection: Buy 80$ of protection to protect about 80$ of a rim? - idk about that.
Weight: might not be the argument either. 300g is almost a ton.
But at 900g you are already running a pretty heavy rim anyway. That of course makes “protection” probably even less important.
Tyre choice, in general: depends a lot on your riding style, the terrain you ride and what features you are looking for. There’s no straight-forward answer.
Sidewall stability: I’d worry a bit about that 42mm outer width rim not being the best choice to support 2.8 or 3.0inch wide thin-walled tyre at low pressure in corners. So cushcore might help here.
Softer ride: Whatever that means exactly, I’d say that comes down to tyre choice, mainly tyre volume and pressure - unless you tend to hit the ground with your rim, then that ring of foam will definitely contribute to the softness of your ride.
Less bounce: There we are. I’d expect most improvement in this point.
Go and be our Guinea pig! Honestly I think it’s worth a try.
But others with actual experience with such foam rings, noodles or similar around one’s rim might know better.
You might as well just buy and set up that lighter plus-sized tyre tubeless and then reconsider if you even want to try cushcore.
My experience too. Including mountain bike tires over the years I have mounted around 30 tires/rims tubeless and the only one that I could not mount was my 26" Dominator 2 rim with a Maxxis DHR II 26x2.8". I tried all the tricks (soapy water, prestretching and setting with tube, strap, etc.) and couldn’t mount it. I finally got it sealed by using tubeless tape and a split tube and home-made foam strips from the hardware store that I cut to fill up the space and press the sidewalls out.
As to the Cushcore: no experience with in myself, but if I were looking with your goals of rim protection and less bounce I would look at the Huck Norris http://hucknorris.com/.
In my eyes you get the protection and reduced volume with lower weight (85g for Freeride or 110g for DH) vs Cushcore at 245g for Pro version.
Well, actually, I would build something myself with foam strips from the hardware store like I did (but I don’t run carbon rims or thin tires so I can run sub 17psi pressure in my 2.8" DHR tires without worrying about the rim): that will get you lighter weight, ability to mount tubeless and reduced bounce by taking up volume, but the rim protection will probably be less than the commercial products.
Wow Quick replies with tons of great info! Thanks guys
I am taking it all to heart and am looking up the options mentioned now. Never heard of procore so will be giving that a closer look for-sure and will look at huck norris again as a couple of you made some good points on weight with cushcore
I went to ride today and my tire was flat again due to another pinch so i am really hoping to get it setup tubeless. I didnt know the Dominator to was such a pita to get it to work.
If setting up tubeless is an issue, procore will help: It will easily seal tubeless as it forces the tire wall against the inside of the rim. No matter of rim shape. Only limitation here is inner rim width. If I remember correctly, 40mm inner rim width is the max and 23mm the min.
Anyhow for the system itself you have to decide if you prefer foam or procore. As usual there are pros and cons for each system.
Finally bought a new tire and set it up tubeless! I settled on a kenda havok pro 2.8” for the tire and installed it with a tube and have been riding it for a week or so at 15psi and it is a definite improvement over the havok sport 3.0” it replaced.
I got my schrader tubeless valve stems in today and set it up tubeless On the first try using a compressor. I used gorilla tape which i already had and stans sealant so will update on ride quality and durability after i ride it more.
I am just happy to be done with pinch flats for now!
