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Maxxis
CrossMark UST
I
have been riding these for about 4 weeks now. Most of
the riding has been on hardpack and a little in the
mud (at Forest to Falls).
These
tyres are intended for XC racing, so straight out of
the box you expect them to roll fast. And they do.
They do roll with ease. I find them “slower” than
running the foldable Larssen TTs but this is because
the foldables are significantly lighter than these,
almost 200g.
Having
said that, the new CrossMarks have a thing called LUST
which stands for Lightweight Ultimate Sidewall
Technology and what this means to you and me; is less
chance of sidewall cuts, and it is in this department
that I have been extremely impressed.
With
all the sort of “urban” mountain biking that most
of us do in JHB and Pretoria, tyres can take a real
beating with glass, rocks etc. I have not had any
problems with the CrossMarks. I have heard dreadful
pinching noised as I speed over rocks, but no flats.
In fact, I have not yet had a flat with these at all.
How
do they look?
 Well
if you have seen the Larssen TT and the Mimo? You will
notice some similarities with the CrossMark. The side
knobs are a combination of the 2 tyres but then there
is a big square knob running down the middle. Think if
the TT and the Mimo had a love child, but because they
are cousins there is sort of an abnormality. Giving
birth to the CrossMark. The big square knob has sort
of a cross in it resembling the Swiss flag.
The
tyre was developed in conjunction with Christof
Sausser. This was while he was riding for Siemens
Cannondale last year, so ironically enough he will
never be seen riding it as he can only ride the big S
products this year.
By
their own admission the tyre does not corner that
well. On the box they only rate it 2 for cornering out
of 4 and rate it 4 for rolling resistance. But I find
that the tyre corners very well. Over the last couple
of weeks I have grown more confident and have really
been whipping my bike in the singletrack and the tyres
have not let me down. I am running them at about 38
PSI and this seems to be the sweet spot. Lighter
riders can push it down to 35 PSI.
I
have also been impressed with the mud performance.
Even though they are not intended for mud riding at
all, I had them on at Forest to Falls and the mud
cleared far better than the TT’s that I had on for
Barberton and Haenertsburg.
We
will be riding these for the Epic this year. Yes there
is a weight penalty over running foldables! But the
puncture and sidewall protection are a must for the
event.
Oh,
and they won’t break the bank! I paid R345 per tyre.
Compared to my other favorite the Racing Ralph this is
about R250 cheaper per tyre!!
www.maxxis.com
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