Barzo XC Trail

Does well on southern NM trails in the desert and mountains. Loose over hard, rocky, smooth, or loose. Barzo up front Mezcal in the rear.

Been thru alot of tires, over 400 miles of hard rocky xc so far and sidewalls holding up and zero flats. Roll good, grip good and brake good. Finally found an excellent medium to light weight tire that actually last

Love the confidence that running the barzo up front provides. Light weight and lower rolling resistance given it's tread pattern. Downside is that the sizing is way off. A 2.6 mounted on a 30mm rim measures 2.43. likewise a 2.35 measures around 2.23.

Love these tires. Got a gravel bike that came with 700c x 37 mm Riddlers, fine on gravel roads, but not great on bumpy descents. I got a second set of wheels, 27.5/650b with 2.1 Barzos, and these have noticeably improved grip and ride on rough stuff. Pumping them up to 40-45 psi gets them rolling pretty good on paved roads, I go 35 PSI on gravel.

I set them up tubeless with Vittoria Airliners (MTB small) and routinely take them down to 25 psi for downhill - which is below the stated minimum (29-55 psi). I'm a heavy guy - 100 kg, and have taken these down some fairly technical and bumpy stuff with aplomb. Not as capable as my MTB but surprisingly good.

Pushed the limits a bit once and broke my seatpost - an Ali Express knock-off Ergon CF Allroad Pro Carbon Setback; $40 vs. $200 - I could blame the cheap Chinese post but it said weight limit 100 kg, and I came down on it hard on a fast drop of about 2 ft, also forgot to lower the saddle. Tires and rims were OK.

Great tires but I think Vittoria should re-examine their max-min pressures, seems too high to me. But I'm sure the Airliners add to the shock absorption. The only mishap I had with low pressure was I once left the bike outside overnight at 25 psi on a cold night (below freezing), and they contracted and lost the rim seal - dead flat in the morning. But I pumped them up, rode around to warm em up, been fine ever since.

Reading other reviews, interesting to see that some say hard to mount, others say easy. I say easy. Being new to tubeless, I let the shop set up my stock tires, so this was the first that I did on my own, and they went on like a dream with a regular floor pump, no issues after 2 years, other than the low-pressure/freezing-temp temporary unsealing. I think that tubeless may not be fully mature with standards yet, or at least the fitting is highly dependent on the tire + rim combination. I put these on DT Swiss G 1800 Spline 25 650b wheels and it worked great.

I bought the Barzo 29x2.35 XC Trail for a lighter (<100lbs) rider, but she preferred a Mezcal-Mezcal setup given the dry trail conditions in recent months. I am 220 and gave a Barzo-Barzo setup a try... ... but a lot of the online warnings about weak side walls ultimately proved true... under the duress of race pace, that is. The first rides at recreational pace were fantastic... what a fun tire! So grippy, light, and responsive. I was stoked and was enjoying the ride. They held even in super rocky Appalachian single track and downhill where I figured would be the biggest test in my range of riding. But... during a race in that same terrain with more aggressive riding, they failed about 2/3 into the race. I talked to another rider who experienced a similar race blowout with the same tire, in similar terrain. I added tire pressure that day knowing that I'd be hitting the trail harder than normal. But, I got into a hornets nest, so to speak. The tire sealant must have been working on some of the first bites and I didn't immediately realize I was losing air, but in the end an irreparable side wall hit must have been the end. Such a bummer because these tires are really fun, but I wouldn't recommend them for too rocky terrain for a heavier rider. I want to try them again but am a bit paranoid at this point. They are a top notch XC tire in most conditions but they didn't hold when pushed in rocky terrain with lots of potential for nips and bites.