Fresshhh
Omg i need this tyre, they even cut tne nubs out so i don’t have to anymore
that looks promising! i want!
looks promising!
cyko-lite vs this? What do you guys think?
I didnt like the cyco lite because it seemed to small as in the tyre isnt very deep if that makes sense.It folded on me alot and if i put the pressure up it felt too hard.I imagine its great for street but i didn’t like it for trials.I like to try all tyres that come out for 20" and this one looks similar to tryall light but i’m hoping it still feels like the old monty eagleclaw which i ride atm.
The Cyko-Lite tyre is of the same mould as the Echo tyres.
i.e. the bog-standard Chinese bicycle factory churn-out. I’m not saying they’re shit but they are really nothing spectacular in terms of R&D. Yes I am aware that the Cyko-Lite is not the exact same as the Echo but it’s the same mould and compound and the testing/prototyping can’t even come close to the effort that Try-All and Monty put into their tyres. Even Echo who first came out with the tread pattern/design of the Cyko-Lite/Nimbus/Echo tyre yeeeears ago (IIRC circa 2002?) will say that it’s just a very ‘standard’ tyre. In short- not complete turd but nothing special. The Cyko-Lite is a nice cheap option based off a proven ‘standard’ design that works for street but just a no-go for trials when you consider what else is available. Even the Creepy Crawler is better for trials than the Echo/Cyko Lite.
These tyres that established comp-based biketrials brands like Try-All and Monty come out with like the Stiky, Stiky Lite, Eagle Claw, and now this ‘Pro Race’ Eagle Claw are completely custom designed from ground upwards. The compounds are generally quite grippy and suited for their purpose- Trials. There’s a lot more that goes into these tyres like sidewalls, profile, tread allocation etc. and their comparatively higher price reflects this. Both Monty and Koxx/Tryall put their new generation (and old generation) tyres through A LOT of prototyping and testing through their top-level competition riders like Benito Ros, Dani Comas, Cesar Canas, Abel Mustieles to get a tyre that will help give them the edge over their competition in world rounds.
This new Monty Race EC tyre has literally just come out in the biketrials world and only a handful of riders have started to use them. But I predict that this will be the next big thing in terms of mod tyres next to the Try-All Stiky Lite.
If you’re a street rider, stick with the simpler tyres like Echo/Cyko-Lite… 'cos they work for that style of riding! Only people riding predominantly trials will get the most (satisfaction and performance) out of these higher end tyres because that’s what they were designed for.
I hope that it has better sidewalls than a tryall light. if it does im in for one!
just ordered mine, i should have it at unicon 
A good article from Tribalzine giving a first glance and first impressions of the new Monty Race tyre:
http://www.tribalzine.com/?Crash-test-des-pneus-Monty-Pro
(just make sure to google translate the page from French to English if you can’t understand :p)
I know my next tire!
I’ve been riding a Monty eagle claw for quite a while, and I think it’s the best tech trial tire I’ve ridden!!
So an upgrade on it, should make it even better 
If I can get it before Unicon I’ll definitely do so!
anyone who knows where to get hands on it in europe? 
Google!!!
I ordered from here http://www.trial-bikes.com/monty-race-rear-tyre-p-536590.html?language=en&azx=1280 . I sent it to Christian brink, hes gonna bring it to unicon for me 
All very interesting… and not practically well ill-informed.
The “bog-standard Chinese bicycle factory” is a specialist tyre company based in Taiwan. It is also the same factory that makes Try-all, Monty and Nimbus. The development processes you describe are not exactly how it works.
That is not to say that it is not a good tyre, I think it will be. It looks as if it will be great for urban trials and even street with that lower profile tread pattern. I am looking forward to trying it myself.
Roger
I do not have to the know the every in and out nitty gritty of tyre manufacturing to know that the Cyko-Lite is nothing spectacular. I just really dislike it when manufacturers claim that their new product is something special when really it’s just based off a proven old design with a few minor modifications. Unless the Cyko-Lite has seriously had some huge design innovations please do let me know, otherwise it’s a product I can not take seriously as a worthy stand-out. Now if the Cyko-Lite used a completely new mould, carcass, sidewalls, then I wouldn’t be saying all this would I? Can you honestly say that the Cyko-Lite was not influenced by the ‘Echo’/standard Chinese biketrials tyre design? I can say first-hand that some batches of Echo tyres have ranged from +1000g to under 800g. I have owned a ‘light’ Echo tyre and a ‘heavy’ Echo tyre- they are the same, just the sidewalls and carcass have varying thicknesses which contribute to the weight loss/gain.
I use the words ‘bog standard’ because that’s what the Echo tyres are. The owner of Echo (Deng) and all the top level Chinese riders who test for either Echo, Neon, or Zhi don’t really argue against that and don’t mind, because it’s just a standard tyre they can cheaply use to put on completes . That’s just how it is there. Almost everyone I know who buys an Echo complete 20" bike changes those tyres because they’re suicide if you’re riding anything but dry urban and they really aren’t anything special in rebound properties.
If you can speak Mandarin Chinese and go there on a frequent basis, the retailers, top riders, and owners of certain major Chinese biketrials brands are far more open to telling you A LOT of things within the trials industry that they aren’t really going to be as open to to people who just try and get away with English. I’m speaking from personal experience and I know the Chinese culture well. Speak their language and show a genuine interest, and they are some of the kindest and most helpful people you could meet. You learn a lot about the ins-and-outs of the trials industry by getting to know, go riding with, and becoming friends with the major retailers and the riding scene in various cities there. You just don’t get that kind of information in the West. Bottom line- I do not really approve of brands copying other brands or passing off their ‘new product’ as some kind of magic new invention. I would respect it a bit more if they credited where they got their influence from. The Cyko-Lite (yes I’ve seen one and held one) was practically identical to one of the batches of Echo tyres I’ve had in the past. It’s not new, and I do not like fancy cover-ups to plagiarism. Like I said, if the Cyko-Lite was designed from the ground upwards- i.e. completely new mould, tread, carcass, bead, sidewall- then I could respect that and would give my respect.- (and I do to certain brands and products who actually worked from scratch on certain individual products). But the Cyko-Lite is not, and I’m not a fan of dishonesty or even half-honesty when it comes to promoting a ‘new’ product.
I would spend my money on a completely unique and new design like the Monty Race because I do support innovative thinking. I do not however, want to spend my money on copied/plagiarised/slightly modified spins on old, old designs, because I do not support copying and certainly do not like it when manufacturers tell half-truths. I want to see a British brand innovate. Continuing to take already established designs and passing off as your own isn’t great is it? It’s only just now in recent years that Onza have improved their reputation as a legitimate innovative contributor to product design and technology in the trials world. So let’s see more British companies step it up. Lord knows, this country is going to need some pioneers and innovators if it wants to keep up in this ever increasingly competitive world.
Sponge,
I am actually the person sat around a table with the Managing director of the tyre company and their chief production manager. The conversations were in mixture of Chinese and English. The drawings produced were in English.
I have never claimed that the mould was new, it is not. What Cyco-lite was/is is the first to use the combination of materials and carcass to produce this tyre. In that respect it is correct to call it a new tyre - no deception here at all.
The Cyco-lite is definitely a move forward. It has reduced the cost and weight of tyres to the unicycle community.
I am not sure exactly who you are slating about lack of innovation and plagiarism… I assume it me who you are insulting. I find your comments both offensive and inappropriate on this forum.
As I have said I think the Monty tyre will be a great tyre and look forward to trying it.
Roger
Sweet! The Monty is my favourite trials tyre by far, so I can’t wait to try one of these
Hey Sponge, what you wrote about UDC’s tire was out of line and better put into a PM to Roger or simply not said at all.
Roger has always been very helpful to this community and has been forthright and honest in all of his interactions with other users.
If you don’t like what UDC is doing, and you even have a dog in this fight, then maybe you should take it off the forum…
Those were some powerful and nasty words, you owe Roger an apology.
This is where online talking can make arguments sprout when the intention was not there. I think I should make it clear that when I post, I post or write a paragraph online, it is speaking towards a general audience. I prefer to quote someone if giving a direct response to an individual’s post. I read Roger’s points, and made a general point displayed in a few paragraphs. E.g. when I said “If you can speak Mandarin Chinese and go there on a frequent basis…” I wasn’t talking to Roger. I didn’t have any individual in mind when I typed that. In public forums, the way I write is to a general audience usually. I hope the word ‘you’ isn’t taking personally, usually when I use that word online publicly it really is a ‘general’ you.
I am not ‘slating’ any individual, including you Roger. If I had an issue with you personally, which by the way I don’t, I would have emailed or called directly. I see that my above post seemed inflammatory towards an individual, well, No that wasn’t the point. So if it seemed like I had a problem with you personally Roger, then my apologies if you felt that way. I want to make it clear that my critical post was directed towards a product like the Cyko-Lite, and not at Roger.
What I do take issue with (and was the point of my above post) is this idea that so many brands in the cycling world (not only within unicycling) base some ‘new’ products off of already existing and outdated products already made long ago by another brand/company. I actually really want more unicycling brands to step up and create innovative new products from ground up, one of the greatest compliments to a unicycling part is when other sports take interest in that given part. One example is the KH rim. I just happen to believe that Nimbus has a ton of potential, and that the Cyko-Lite is nothing particularly progressive. It’s the Cyko-Lite I can not agree with, not Nimbus, and certainly not Roger.
Echo tyres can come down as low as 800-900g, depending on the batch. I know this first hand as I’ve owned various Echo tyres off completes and sold the tyres off because I think they’re not adequate for trials, dangerous in wet conditions, and there are better options for cheaper. Like the Creepy Crawler. If we’re talking street unicycles then riders could just ask any Echo retailer in the notes section to send them a light one. Echo tyres are cheap, cheaper than the Cyko-Lite whose main selling point is the low weight- which some batches of Echo tyres definitely match. Hence why I just think it’d be so much better if Nimbus created a whole new 19" tyre with a new carcass, tread and compound- starting fresh with just the first two mentioned components alone is enough to create a good lightweight tyre that will get riders’ interest (and not just within unicycling).
I’m just relaxing back home now after another year at university and having an iced tea, speaking my mind. Two years ago I spoke quite thoroughly with a friend who was the frame designer of then-new trials brand Mist Bikes- the whole debate was about how to improve the next Mist frames and I discussed with him that copying Koxx’s tensioning system and various other areas of the frame was not the most progressive and best way to get positive sales and feedback from the market. Turns out the Mist frame failed eventually. Both of us got a lot out of that discussion- it was over some bubble tea and both of us knew that when discussing that frame’s design it was just about that frame- and not about either of us as individuals. Nimbus has done a lot of good, I’m not denying that, in fact my very first unicycle was a hand-me down Nimbus from Joe and I remember I adored it. I like the brand, and I am well aware of the good things Roger has done for unicycling. Hence I don’t have a reason to bite. If I had a problem with Roger or any individual I’d take it up with them personally. As I have already stated, I do not have an issue with Roger personally. I like it when brands (or anyone) take a chance and create something new and innovative, often that investment pays off quite well in the end and the market ends up with a fresh, new, progressive product. That’s what I’d like for Nimbus and more unicycling brands.
This has really off the main topic- the Monty Race, why I like it? Because they completely revised it, and not just taking the old Eagle Claw as a starting base. The actual carcass of the tyre is something completely new.