Need 24x3 tire

[UPD_in_Utah]

My ride … my take

@Nurse Ben

I rode a Felt Bermaster for two days over New Years, it was awful. I played with tire pressures and never did get it to ride well, tended to go all over the place and resist all of my efforts to keep the uni on a straight line on trails, also it is not that sticky and it is quite heavy. The Duro is a far better 24" tire unless you ride road.

The 24x3 Berm Master that Ben was riding was mounted on my N24, which I leant him to ride trails with me here in SLC. I put the Berm Master on my 24 because the trails get sloppy here during the Winter, and I wanted to spend the season working on advancing my [very limited] set of street skills & tricks, and I didn’t want to wear down my Duro riding on streets & sidewalks. I never really intended to use the Berm Master as my main Muni tire on the 24, but I was too lazy to put the Duro back on for Ben. Besides, I didn’t want to give him too much of an advantage on trails!

Although Ben characterized the ride as “awful,” he was still able to keep up with me just fine on the unseasonably dry trails, with me on my KH29. Since Ben is a an absolute 29er FIEND, I’m wondering if the “awfulness” of his experience trying out the Berm Master was more related to inherent twitchyness of the small wheel, than actual tire performance – and with trying to keep up with me on my 29er.

While I would characterize the Berm Master as “more nimble” than the Duro – because the big knobs on the Duro resist twist much more so than the low profile blocks on the Berm Master – I wouldn’t characterize it as “awful” – just more nimble, and not quite as well behaved for trail riding. But it definitely works well for the purpose intended: street & sidewalk riding, mixed with a little bit of off-road on smooth trails.

And although I don’t have the actual weights at my fingertips, the Berm Master is substantially lighter than the Duro, and is more fun to ride down curbs and stairs (although the pressure has got to be just right or it will bounce you off).

For more opinions on the Berm Master, check out this thread: 24x3 Felt Berm Master Tire

The bottom line for me: While it’s not ideal for full-on Muni, at $24.99 the Berm Master is a darned good tire for goofing around in the city, and rides on smoother trails & fire roads. I actually prefer it over the Duro for street use – maybe because I realize I’m not grinding down the knobs on a pricy off-road tire that I’m planning on reinstalling for Muni once things start drying out here.