Specialized Storm Control mud tyres review
Some of you may be waiting with baited breath to hear how I got on with my Storm Control tyres on last Wednesday’s night ride. I feel for you, especially since I’ve always been confused over the phrase ‘baited breath’. What does it mean?!
Yes I know what it’s generally understood to mean but I always thought baiting was the act of priming a trap? In which case, making a trap of your mouth seems, well, odd. Semantics aside though I can now put you out of your misery/curiosity over the performance of my tyres.
To the amusement of all present (Jem, DaveP, Nicola, Matt-not-me, Nick, Tony and myself) I managed to pick up a flint cut on my first outing. Riding along Ranmore Woods toward Denbies, splashing through muddy (oh how muddy) puddles and wet snow the amazing home-brew light that Dave has cobbled (ahem, crafted) started to pick up a fountain of white latex spraying from my front tyre.
It took a while to register what it was, by which time the front end of my bike was coated with the stuff. I had a bit of a squirter and despite my optimistic hopes that the hole would seal itself I ended up sticking in an inner tube to get me home. Talk about the law of Sod. First time out as well.
This will further add to Dave’s conviction that tubeless (2Bliss in Spec-speak) tyres are more trouble than they’re worth. To be fair, it was a sharp flint that caused the damage, Lee has so far not had any similar experiences on the same tyres and of course it’s pretty simple to repair them.
Aside from this worrying evidence of poor puncture protection the tyres performed pretty well. It was -1° and damp from a day’s snow and previous rain, with the trails being pretty wet. The tyres seemed to ride comfortably, they didn’t clag up which most of my tyres usually do in mud and they seemed to grip reasonably well given that I’m still being pretty circumspect. In thick mud they gave up that grip quite predictably too so I have a cautious thumbs up so far.
But these tyres are definitely on Strike One. Any more incidents and I’ll be throwing them on the On-one with inner tubes and going for the real, Mud X deal.
About the author
Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.
Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.
An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.
If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.
There are 8 comments on ‘Specialized Storm Control mud tyres review’
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Lee says:
Matt,
I spent the latter part of last week on the trails at Afan/Glyncorrwg and whilst the Storm Controls weren’t my number one choice for those tracks, I have to say I was very impressed (There was no way they were coming off!). OK, it had clearly rained a fair bit before our arrival and those trails aren’t ever really that muddy (parts of Penhydd aside).
Nevertheless, they stuck like glue on wet rocks and roots. A real confidence booster when you know you can take things at speed and know you aren’t going to wash out. I ran them probably at the softest you’d want to go and felt once or twice rocks ‘bottom out’ my tyre to the rim, but on a normal set up that would almost certainly have resulted in a pinch flat.
I’m really liking them, although ironically I still need to test them to the max in the mud!
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Posted on November 3, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Dominic says:
I’ve just put mud x on the rear and Swampthing on the front, still got tubes in but will be out for first ride on Thursday night so will see how they match up.
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Posted on November 4, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Jem says:
Stick with it Matt. Tubeless is the way forward, in my view they grip better (must be a weight thingy)
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Posted on November 5, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Muddymoles says:
Ride report: Wednesday 2 December – winter warmer
A muddy circular loop of Norbury Park, Ranmore, Denbies and Mickleham for the Moles after weeks of rainfall
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Posted on December 3, 2009 at 11:31 am
Related: Storm damage | Mutterings, Stuff & nonsense | Muddymoles: Mountain biking (MTB) in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley
Related: SRAM X0 catastrophic failure | Mutterings, Lifestyle | Muddymoles: Mountain biking (MTB) in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley
Related: Ride report: Wednesday 6 January - Snow | Rides | Muddymoles: Mountain biking (MTB) in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley
K says:
The larger 2.2 tires are actually lighter weight due to fewer side lugs if my memory serves me. Bought 2 pairs of these in 1991 when they first came out, good to see they still make em as I am due for a new set. Hands down the best slop tire there is, armor all them to shed mud even faster. And they perform well on all surfaces, but I would go with a dual purpose tire if most of your time is on asphalt.
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Posted on August 5, 2017 at 7:35 pm