Arrow Racing Launch, 24" x 2.35"
Anybody out there tried the Arrow Racing Launch, 24" x 2.35", for street/urban riding? See the Launch tire at: http://www.arrowracing.com/home.html
It has an interesting bidirectional ramped small block tread pattern, and a reasonably strong but flexible sidewall (60 tpi). Rubber comes in at 62 duro, for what should be a good compromise between grip and longevity.
I picked one up last weekend for $35 from my LBS (Go-Ride.com) and am trying to decide whether I should keep it without the benefit of actually riding it on the roads & trails (“try it and you buy it”).
My observations (without having actually ridden the tire out side the house):
Spec. weight is 890 g. Actual weight was 1,040 g.
Mounted on an old-style 42 mm rim and pressured up with 20 p.s.i. the tire width (at the widest point lug-to-lug) is indeed 2.35".
The cross-sectional curvature is a little more rounded than I’d like, but at 20 p.s.i. it flattens out nicely due to several concentric linear cuts in the tread pattern that are aligned with the direction of travel. The tread looks really good for hardpack trails, but may wear excessively on pavement because the knobs are tiny (albeit numerous).
The sidewalls seem a bit thin compared to the Duro Wildlife, but are less flimsy than the Felt Berm Master, and substantially less flimsy than the Kenda Flame 24" x 3", and seem to be suitably strong for unicycling. (BTW, the Launch is made for Arrow Racing by Duro. How can I tell? “Duro” is molded in to the sidewalls).
As expected, the Launch doesn’t have a ton of volume, but I’m pretty sure that if it’s run at 20+ p.s.i. there’s enough volume to avoid rim hits and pinch flats. (Vertical height off the rim is about 1.625" as compared to about 2.3" for the Berm Master and Duro Wildlife – both 24" x 3.0" tires.)
So, has anyone ridden this tire?
(Ben, you mentioned it here: The "official" Muni Tyre Review Page , but I couldn’t tell if you’d actually ridden it. Here’s what you wrote: 24" Arrow Racing Launch 2.35" Good all around hard surface tyre, not a lot of volume, more of an XC trye, medium soft rubber, fairly lightweight, good construction. A good tyre for XC and lighter folks who don’t need a superduty tyre.)
If anyone has ridden this tire for street / urban, I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts. Thanks in advance for the input.
-UPD in Utah