Vee Rubber Tires

[kkjellquist]

Jenson has lots of Vee Rubber 29er tires for <$30.  Anyone know anything about them?  Generally I'm a you get what you pay for guy, but I also know how the business works.  This could be the same factory producing the same tire for 2x the price.

http://www.jensonusa.com/Bicycle-Tires?o=10883&o=&o=&c=&c=C0000H01&c=&c=&c=

[sfuller]

I haven't used any of their tires, but I can tell you that they had a booth with a number of their tires on display at QBP's Frostbike vendor show this year. They also had an inexpensive 4.0" tire that was somewhere between a Nate and a Husker Du in terms of block size and number.

[mbeardsl]

I have a set of their 29er tires, seem to be good quality but only ridden for about 20 miles as I was just testing them out.  I'd be happy to send them to you if you as I won't be using them and they were free.  I think they are the V8s or V10s, can't remember but they felt like Small Block 8s in terms of roll and grip.  The treads are designed by MB Hall of Famer Jim Wannamaker of Kenda fame, so that held some weight for me.

The 4" tire mentioned is actually produced as the Origin One Devist8er I believe.

I know they are much cheaper as Vee makes their own tire molds so their fixed costs are MUCH lower.  I have been working with them on a very custom tire (modified tread, size, tubeless, folding, etc) for the last 3-4 months but haven't seen the prototypes yet (should be this week), and they were the only company out of 25+ that would do small runs as the "big boys" had minimums in the 50k tire range and mold costs of $50k.  We'll be getting a run of 250-500 tires so their cost structure is just that much better, and the US office in ATL seems to be good. 

I'll know more on quality in the next 2 weeks once I have the prototypes but from what I've seen of the 29er selection they seem durable and well made.  I'd be interested to hear of others' impressions too as I've got some money riding on the new tires potentially.

[kkjellquist]

I have a set of their 29er tires, seem to be good quality but only ridden for about 20 miles as I was just testing them out.  I'd be happy to send them to you if you as I won't be using them and they were free. 

I'd be happy to give them a try and would do an honest gear review in return.  My email is not hidden.  Drop me a line.

[kkjellquist]

mbeardsl sent me a pair of Vee 8s which I received yesterday.  (Thanks!!)

Mounted them last night on my rigid SS 29er.  This bike, being rigid and SS, should give me a great feel for the traction and overall ride.  Just wanted to get something written before I ride them or forget;

These are VERY narrow 2.1 tires^.  With calipers they measured 1.9 on a WTB Speeddisc rim and 1.8(!) on a Salsa DelgadoCross rim.  The sidewalls seem solid and much sturdier than Vulpines in comparsion.  The tread is somewhere between a Crossmark and Small Block 8.  I have no doubt these will roll very well on pavement and gravel.  I'll just have to see what happens on the trail. 

http://veerubberusa.com/bicycle/Bicycle.php?name=VRB-332 (Vee &type=Power Series

^almost think they are mislabeled

[mbeardsl]

You may be right, the 1.95s would be at least believeable at 1.8-1.9. I thought they looked narrow but never measured as I had taken off a 2.2 Nevegal so figured the slimmer look was more tread than actually being that much narrower.  Looking forward to your thoughts on performance and durability.  Give them a weigh too if you have a scale available. I completely forgot before I sent them out (or was it stated ont he label?).

Here's a pic I found that I had taken to compare treads - Vee on left, SM8, Nevegal on right.  I think the pic is a bit decieving in tread depth.  I think the Vee was slightly shallower than the SM8 but still seemed to grip well.

[kkjellquist]

Rode about 90 minutes last night at our city trails after a rain shower.  Pedaled from my house to the trails, and as expected these tires rolled really well on pavement.  The variation in tread height is almost nil so the ride is very smooth.  I had them pumped to the minimum recommended of 40psi and they felt hard.  Hit 30 mph on a curved downhill and never thought about the tires which is a good sign.

The single track I rode was a full mix from totally dry, damp, and mud/water puddles.  My first test was getting out of the saddle on a SS with such a lightly treaded tire and they were actually pretty decent.  Unless it was 100% mud the tires locked right up and grabbed trail.  I was surprised.  On straight sections the tires rolled just as well as expected.  I did have the rear tire mounted in reverse to maximize the grip.

The biggest negative I found was any kind of cornering.  The tread is just not there to grab and hold at all.  With that said, I didn't expect these tires to corner well and I doubt that is the main goal of this design.  One just needs to remember what tires are underneath and ride accordingly.  Maybe less tire pressure would help, but I doubt it would change significantly.

Of course I can't speak to the durability or longevity yet.  I probably won't keep them on my single speed, but I am getting a Fargo soon and I'll almost certainly make these my main tire on that bike.

Pros:  Pavement, gravel, fast, surprising real wheel grip, price
Cons: Cornering grip, misleading 2.1 labels, availability,

Ideal rider: bikepacker w/ more gravel/pavement than singletrack, XC racer, mixed terrain commuter

[mbeardsl]

I had them pumped to the minimum recommended of 40psi and they felt hard. 

The single track I rode was a full mix from totally dry, damp, and mud/water puddles.  My first test was getting out of the saddle on a SS with such a lightly treaded tire and they were actually pretty decent.  Unless it was 100% mud the tires locked right up and grabbed trail.  I was surprised.  On straight sections the tires rolled just as well as expected.  I did have the rear tire mounted in reverse to maximize the grip.

The biggest negative I found was any kind of cornering.  The tread is just not there to grab and hold at all.  With that said, I didn't expect these tires to corner well and I doubt that is the main goal of this design.  One just needs to remember what tires are underneath and ride accordingly.  Maybe less tire pressure would help, but I doubt it would change significantly.

Thanks for your thoughts.  I'd agree that they are tires that serve a purpose - I'd likely replace my old SB8s with them for summer/spring riding just due to such a low price point.

I think I had mine at 32ish on the front which I think helped the cornering a bit but I am also pretty heavy (and perhaps not as fast) so I don't have too many slide outs in general.  Only ones this year were on the 36er in heavy pine straw.  Good idea re backwards mounting the rear.

You wouldn't think they'd be very good with such a shallow tread but my experience mimicked yours.  Very surprised I didn't spin out on the SS on heavy pine straw and wet roots.

It seems like they are still getting the word out right now so I'd expect to see them become more available as brand awareness grows.  Once I have our prototypes into production I will review those here for general construction/performance as the tread is much more aggressive.  They are 36" tires so it won't matter much to anyone but I think it would help shed some light on some of their other 26er/29er offerings.