Rolling resistance, Weight, Predictable cornering grip, price

None at time of review.

I replaced a rear mounted 890g Kenda Telonix DTC 26 x 2.4 with the Mission Dual Compound 26x 2.1 120 TPI folding bead which weighed in at 540 g. So, I preface this review as being a comparison to the Telonix which has very heavy knobs in a crude pattern that emphasizes grip and high volume Cush over all other qualities. I mounted the Mission with a tube in case I wanted to change it and used 27 psi as pressure. I can tell by the tightness of the bead that this tire would mount tubeless very easily. Width of the Mission was quite skinny, like 2.0 rather than 2.1. My first impressions were that the tire looked underwhelming in comparison with the Telonix it replaced and the Macxis Advantage 2.4 in the front. The Mission has a round profile, which also gives off a less confident feeling, at least for me. Height profile was 10mm less than the Telonix, but I would describe the Mission as mid volume for a 2.1. I rode the tire in very loose, dust bowl, steep, rutted downhill, loose over hardpack, and long fire road climbing in SoCal desert conditions. Climbing - I felt that I gained at least one gear, I could ride one to two smaller gears in the back then normal, which essentially results in a 10% efficiency gain. The rear spun out in some very loose, very steep climbing, but I was able to clean these climbs anyway due to the increased speed I was carrying when the spin outs occurred. Long fire road climbing was much easier - chalk it up to the excellent rolling resistance and .75 pound weight benefit. The climbing improvement was expected, but the Mission exceeded the expectations. I was skeptical of the Mission's descending prowess as I was going from the extra beefy, massively knobbed Telonix. I noticed very little decrease in descending performance. Of course the Mission didn't grab in loose cornering as well as the Kenda, but I actually found that the Mission broke loose very predictably and I was able to recover from a 20-30 ft power slide under heavy braking in extreme loose. I typically slide the rear in steep switchback descents and the Mission cooperated perfectly. The Mission handled all I could throw at it including a do or die long downhill section that braking causes you to "avalanche" down the mountain. As a side benefit, road riding to the trail was much more efficient. Finally, I have to mention that I bought the tire off Pricepoint for 8 dollars - that's right 8 dollars!!! So, the tire is being given away because its not blingy enough and theoretically it sucks because its not $70 like Scwalbe, Maxxis, etc. Well it's fine with me - I will proudly display the obnoxious Vee Rubber sidewall tags. Value Rating is 50 stars. I expected crap and was surprised with excellent performance.

Similar Products Used:

Ardent, Nevegal, Telonix, Weirwolf, Fire XC pro, Saguaro, Gato, etc