The 24x3 duro leopard wildlife that came with my kh24 is now completely bald (from gliding among other things). I desperately need a new tire before Moab.
I have enjoyed my duro leopard, but it is hard to resist buying a gazz this time around. However, unicycle.com is out of stock in them, and bedford is charging $83 american + shipping. It looks as though unicycle.com doesn’t sell the 24x3 duro individually. However, darren does: for $45 american + shipping. What are your thoughts? I can’t decide what to do. Is there another tire besides the duro and the gazz that I should be considering? Is the gazz really worth the extra $38? Is the slickrock at Moab more suited towards one of these tires than the other? Anyone have a fairly new 24x3 hanging around?
MOAB has great traction, but also the effect of sandpaper.
Why take a new tire there? Your current Duro would probably be fine.
Also, with regard to tire prices. Take some time to shop around. Your LBS might have a better deal.
I must have some sort of tire fettish, because I am thinking about buying one. All while 2 Fireballs, I Duro and one Gazz sit neglected in my garage and basement. Maybe I should do a Jagur and have and auction.
This true of the entire slickrock trail, but other trails, such as the amassa back trail, and the porcupine rim trail, these other trails have a fair amount of dirt and broken rock where good tire tread will come in mightily handy.
I bought a Gazz from them a few weeks ago for ~45$ +shipping Cheapest I’ve seen. Apparently the national distributor is out of stock for the Gazz, so good luck-
I prefer the Duro. I switched back to it after running the Gaz for a few months. The Arrow “slow react” is the stickiest tire out there and for sticking on rocks, it’s is far ahead of the Gaz and all the others–but the profile is small, meaning it holds far less air so for bounce and cushion it is okay but not great. No single Muni tire meets all criteria, but the Duro is close.
I ride the intense 24x3.0 DH on my muni. I like it better than the gazz for evrything but urban trials and skinny riding. In urban trials, neither are much good, but the gazz is a bit better, and for skinny riding the gazz is noticeably better. The Intense seems to ride better in Santa Cruz for skippery mud, but when the log rides come along it gets crappy.
For slickrock, the bald duro will be fine, for any of the other trails you should consider a new tire. I would reccomend the Intense or the Gazz. The intense has better sidewalls and in my opinion a more effective tread, but you can’t go wrong with the gazz.
I’ll second the comment from Ed. There is more than just the slickrock loop trail at Moab. You could get by with a nearly bald tire on the slickrock loop, but the other trails around Moab are very different. You’ll appreciate having a good tire with good tread on the other trails.
The first year I went to Moab I was worried that the Slickrock trail was going to wear down my nice Gazz by riding on the slickrock. Then I saw what the other trails were like and now I don’t worry about it. Bring a tire that still has tread on it and if you have a new tire don’t worry about wearing it down by riding on the slickrock.
And it’s always a good idea to keep an extra tire on hand just in case. We had a Gazz panic a couple years ago when there was a rumor that Nokian might stop production of the Gazz. I quickly bought a few extra. Products like tires and shoes come and go as manufactures update and change their products. When you find a tire or a shoe that you like it’s wise to buy an extra to keep on hand just in case that product changes for the worse when it’s time for a replacement.
I ended up buying two tires (maybe I have some of bugman’s disease ).
I got the duro leopard from unicycle.com for 23$, and the gazz from wheelworld for 45$. Thanks jrutkows for showing me their website. Hope to see many of you at Moab.
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