tyrion

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/co...s-ready/117719

Anyone tried this? I'm interesting in it's puncture protection, "Endurant Casing and BlackBelt" - whatever does that mean?

I would be using it 73% on paved roads and 27% on dirt and gravel.

NormanF

It has a kevlar/polyurethane type puncture protection casing. Would be good for running it off trail.

Should be sufficient but if its not enough, a high quality tire liner would give you a second layer of protection.

tyrion

Thanks. I think I'll give them a try.

BluesDawg

The sidewall casing is very tough and helps prevent pinch flats. You can run them pretty low and you'll need to for a soft ride. Better yet, run them tubeless. I run about 25F/35R on mine for mixed surfaces.

jbandt

I have about 1000 miles on my sawtooth's. Great tire! Mostly asphalt with a little dirt here and there. No flats yet and I still run tubes. They do feel better at lower pressures. 25f/35r feels good. I bumped them up a bit from that since I'm a heavy guy. 120 tpi is comfy and they feel fast-ish to me. Best all-around tire I've found so far.

sgtrobo

pretty impressive tire. For as big as they are, they are remarkably fast-rolling and puncture resistant. They go tubeless easy. Not ideal for gravel, but decent. Just don't try to rail any turns, as they semi-slick tread isn't really made for that

cellery

I think they are ideal for riding fast on gravel. Mainly I like that they are incredibly puncture resistant, setup tubeless easily, accept low 20s or high 50s pressure range and zigzags are cool anyway.

Cons - they are heavy. I do wish specialized would make maybe a lite version of the Sawtooth with say a hundred grams taken off the puncture belt and/or sidewall. I think then it would be maybe the best multi-surface tire around in that size range.

winston63 

I've been running them on my AWOL for the past 4 months. In my opinion they are surprisingly fast on pavement and great on gravel.

My only issue is that I've had bad luck with flats while riding on pavement. Maybe it's just coincidence, but they seem to be glass magnets and I've found small shards of glass are drawn in between the tread & which result in a puncture.

It could just be a run of bad luck, but it's got me paranoid enough that I'm taking them off for my upcoming tour & saving them for some gravel riding.

tyrion

Yeah I got some a couple weeks ago. I really like them. No flats yet but that kind of tread worries me. It sure looks like a glass magnet.

winston63 

You will probably be OK - it's not like there's widespread reports of issues with them, and it could just have been bad luck for me. But as I said upthread I'm taking them off for my next all pavement tour (in fact, I just took them off) because I'm now paranoid enough that I don't want to chance any more issues, particularly on tour.

But I really love how the tires ride, and I think they're terrific in gravel. I'll put 'em back on when I'm not riding so much pavement.

winston63 

Well, I'll just note that the Sawtooths sure run faster and simply feel better than the Schwalbe Marathons I put on! I'll stick with the Marathons for my tour, but man the Sawtooths really are a nice tire.

shoota 

Whew! If you had said 75% road and 25% gravel I would have had to recommend a different tire.

tyrion

Yep. 2% more road and I'd need a completely different tire.

theVelvetLie

These came on my Sequoia. I had a rash of flats after about 1,000 miles of commuting riding. I didn't spend much time, if any, on gravel, but I got a decent cut in the rear from a shard of glass that forced me to get new tires and set up tubeless. They're on the heavy side, but they are comfy.

coolflippers

I have ridden ~440.4 miles up ~20,050' and down ~19,986' since September 7th on a new Sequoia Elite, stock insofar as this thread is concerned, all in Sonoma county. I have had three flats in the front and one in the rear. I took the tires and tubes off my wheels today. The rear tire was holding air after an inner tube patch this week, and the inner wall of the tire had no indications by sight or touch of penetration. However, the front tire had not been holding air all week, and I had patched the front inner tube twice the week prior. The front tire had a small sharp object penetrating the inner wall, could hardly see it, though it was obvious to the touch. Then I determined that the loss of air over this week was due to another hole in the front inner tube, but I really had to blow up the tube to find it. The first two flats on the front inner tube were near the valve, one after the next, which leads me to believe that the third flat in the front inner tube (my fourth in under three weeks) was due to the object while the first two were mere pinch flats.

I got a good deal on the bike, but it's fair to point out that Specialized seems to make nearly every bicycle component, save for drivetrain. I think they're putting too much on their plate.

wsteve464

Set up the tires tubeless and forget about flats. I had the same problem when I started riding again, a flat every other ride, either road debris or goatheads (Southern Calif area) went tubeless flats are a thing of the past unless it is something major like a sidewall cut.