smashndash

I know specialized immediately abandoned this tire after releasing it, but one thing led to another and I ended up buying a 28mm.

Installation:
- tight, but not hard with levers
- pumped up with no compressor
- held air pretty well with no sealant (pumped to 90psi)

It's a 28, but my rim is 23i hooked, so it measured ~31mm after a day.

But I'm a bit concerned. The tire is extraordinarily stiff - like a garden hose. Once mounted, even at 0psi, it took 25lbs of force on the wheel to fully bottom out the tire. At 40psi, the tire felt totally normal to ride.

I did some cornering drills, and the lack of (positive) feedback so far is concerning. Also, even though I was at 40psi, it worries me how narrow this tread is:


I wasn't even cornering that hard, and this tire, quite frankly, does not inspire much confidence compared to my Corsa Control. The compound on the rapidair feels way stickier to the touch but the tire feels icky to corner on.

Does anyone know if the tire eventually softens up? Does the handling eventually get better? Is it worth running a higher pressure just to reduce the contact patch size so I won't run onto the sidewall?

How many people are running this tire?

smashndash

A quick update. The 0.5oz of sealant I started with has gone completely dry in just a few days, and the tire lost 30psi in 24 hours. This is much worse than when it was new. I'm guessing that the ultra-rigid sidewall is cracking due to flex and creating pores. Seems that leaky sidewalls are a common complaint about these tires. Really weird, because it looked like it had a butyl liner on the inside. Plus, it's not even a cotton tire.

Not impressed so far.

oris

Are these the SWorks Turbo 2Bliss?

I had the opposite experience but do note that they did inflate to about 30mm for a 28c. Popped on with tire levers and seated easily with a track pump; on both hookless and hooked rims. Zipp 303s and Hunt Aerodynamicist 54's, for reference. I'm running them with 30ml of Orange Seal and they hold my preferred pressure for a solid week before dropping.

The 28c on the Zipp 303s are at 65 PSI front and 70 PSI rear. The 26c are on the Hunt's and are at 73 PSI front and 78 PSI rear.

I'm wondering if it's leaking through the rim tape. These are almost always the culprit if they fail to hold pressure after seating the bead and adding sealant.

smashndash

The S-Works Turbo 2Bliss is not the same as the S-Works Turbo Rapidair 2bliss. Masters of marketing, the people at specialized are.

Old:


new rapidair (mine):



Tape is unlikely to be the culprit. I'm a damn good taper (if do say so myself), and the tape is wall to wall. I confirmed the tape was undamaged when I removed the old tire too, which held air very well. I also am fairly sure that the valve isn't the issue for the same reason.

The tire was holding air fine when new, to the point where I wanted to try riding it without sealant. The air retention has gotten worse since.

How have you gotten on with your tire, besides the installation? Is it also quite stiff?

smashndash

OK quick update. I've put on probably a couple hundred miles on the rapidair. It's been demoted to rear tire because of how narrow the tread is. Since the reinstall, I added a buuunch of sealant and it's been holding air like a champ. Turns out a ton of sealant gets used up sealing the tire bead-rim bed interface. It makes these ~2mm thick strings that go around the circumference of the rim on either side.

I've replaced my front tire with a 26mm turbo pro (the 28 was HUGE) and that tire is much better in every way, besides not being tubeless. Maybe it's a tad slower but I'm fine with that. I've never had confidence like this in corners.