First Ride

e*thirteen’s New S/S Tire

Who doesn’t love a good semi-slick? When executed properly, semi-slicks can give a rider that extra little edge when efficiency and speed matter most. We were really excited to get on these new tires but sadly some delays pushed back our delivery time. We were still able to get two solid rides in that have given us a pretty good feel of what we can expect from e*thirteen’s new LG1 S/S tire.

So far our short test time has been confined to very dry, rocky singletrack in Bend, Oregon but we look forward to some rain and varying trail conditions to gather more information for our full review in the coming months.

We received both the LG1 S/S DH and EN versions but opted to run the dual ply option for the first report. The single ply Enduro casing feels quite durable and we look forward to mounting that tire on another bike in the stable.

Our first ride included an extremely steep singletrack climb with some switchbacks and nearly vertical pitches along the way. Even with the dry soil, the tire maintained traction very well and kept power going down. The climb lacked any loose rocks or wet roots, which are two places semi-slicks tend to struggle.

The descent was equally steep on our first ride and navigated a freshly cut trail with some deep ruts and soft turns. The shoulder knobs did a great job of hooking up and surprisingly the tire’s braking performance was very capable on the steep and soft dirt.

Our second ride was on a slightly flatter and more mixed terrain trail. We pedaled up on a flowy hardpack singletrack with a loose top layer and enjoyed the low rolling resistance and nice pedaling characteristics. The descent was a fast and flowy trail with long sections of embedded rock, loose boulders and some sections of lava.

Overall the downhill is fast with some quick direction changes and chicane style turns. The quick transitions between turns allowed us to test how the tire feels on the shoulder knobs and how it transitions quickly from one side to the other. Even with the incredibly dry conditions, the tire fought for traction and impressed us in several key areas. The tire quickly moves from side to side and the accordion-siped side knobs did what they were there to do. Deformation was predictable and the knobs penetrate well, offering a ton of confidence when laying the bike over.

We haven’t had nearly enough time to get these tires out on different terrain or see how long they last, but if you’ve got some moisture in your future and you’re looking for a fast rolling semi-slick with some full height side knobs, the new e*thirteen LG1 S/S tires are definitely worth a look. So far we are very impressed and look forward to putting a lot more miles on these in the near future.

Stay tuned for a full review and check out bythehive.com for more info.

The Release

INTRODUCING YOUR NEW FAVORITE TIRE
e*thirteen’s semi-slick rolls fast, and corners even faster. Speed doesn’t always have to come at the cost of traction.

SPEED AND UNAPOLOGETIC TRACTION
Riders love the TSR and LG1 All-Terrain tires but there are days when they want a faster rolling tread that’s slightly more maneuverable when cornering. The S/S has them covered— speed and strong braking traction, without sacrificing that hard-cornering bite when they really need it.

KEY FEATURES

True-to-size 2.35” width
Fast-cornering, fast-rolling S/S tread pattern
Apex inserts on ALL LG1 MODELS for added casing support and cut protection
Race tires feature a layer of Aramid reinforcement bead-to-bead, Plus tires have it under the tread
Folding bead in all configurations
Single-ply LG1 EN for enduro, Single-ply TRS for trail, and Dual-ply LG1 DH for downhill

WEIGHTS

LG1 S/S EN RACE: 27.5” – 995g, 29” – 1025g
LG1 S/S EN PLUS: 27.5” – 980g, 29” – 1010g
LG1 S/S DH RACE: 27.5” – 1100g, 29” – 1190g
LG1 S/S DH PLUS: 27.5” – 1085g, 29” – 1135g
TRS S/S PLUS: 27.5” – 870g, 29” – 920g
TRS S/S RACE: 27.5” – 865g, 29” – 915g

Pricing: $69.95 (Race Configurations), $59.95 (Plus Configurations)
To learn more, vist bythehive.com