Good Times on Mexican Beaches – by Pistil Pete

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Ed ~ We ran a story about the Origin8 Supercell tires earlier this year, primarily, due to Pistil Pete bringing them to our attention. After our story published, we sent the tires down to Pete for some desert riding and a beach trip down in Mexico! Our story today comes as a two-part report from Pistil Pete. The first part is just after he received the tires and rode them in Arizona and the second report comes from Sinaloa Mexico.

Part One

Well dang! Thanks man for those tires. I rolled in from out in the far desert valleys where I’d been hiding out from the major effects of the 21st century and there they were. And stickers! Dang! I mounted’em up and immediately and noticed the quiet smooth rolling characteristics, (but also the weight). I’ve been riding the Maxxis Mammoth 120 tubeless and these, set up all quick like with tubes, is a noticeable difference. That said…the grip is seriously more effective than I was expecting. I’ve only ridden smoothish dirt paths and the river trail, with a quick blast through the river bottom so far, but they seem to have seriously more traction than the Maxxis tire. Maxxis makes a tough, light and durable casing and the Mammoth tread wears like iron but man…..it’s handling characteristics leave much to be desired, with a lack of steering, braking, and climbing traction.  So far these Sandstorms are an unexpected improvement in handling. Being the 30tpi carcass they’re bound to be tough as hell. I’m heading down to southern Sinaloa next week where these guys will get run through their paces on canyons, thorn-scrub forest, loose palm grove access roads, packed beach and the Mazatlan malecón… They sure look bitchin, like the tread on those Avon tires I ran on my Triumph Tiger back in the early 80s…

Part Two

So, a’ways back our brother Gomez, (one of the good ones) over there at Fatbike.com, offered to let me try out a pair of those Origin8 Sandstorm tires, that I’d been strain’ at on the interwebs. There was something about those tires that talked to me, like a memory of the old days rollin’ the west winds bike lane in HB and Newport, back before. Before what? Never mind that, those days are long gone…(fast forward back to the present) I was planning a trip down Sinaloa way, to a beach I know and love, where they don’t care about a bunch modern boosheet. As long as you keep your clothes on in town and don’t involve their children, you can do almost anything your heart desires. Yeah, Sinaloa is like that. A philosophy that covers a lotta ground. I just wanted to ride my fatty, enjoy Pacifico beer in a Ballena sized bottle with oysters and a huachinango plate a couple times a week. A simple mission, easily accomplished.

Cutting to the chase, we got there, set up camp in my bud’s coconut grove and I set about riding every day. The Sandstorm looks like a 1950s newsboy street tire, straight up. Diamond reverse tread with two circumferential rain sipes. It’s built on the same technology as well, this being the 27tpi version…..and Cripes! 1750 grams each! Yeah, it’s a heavy ol’ bruiser, though I read the 120tpi version is a pound less. The upside is there’s lots of rubber down the middle of the tread, that should wear like iron. A good choice for a long long ride, like if you were going to follow the beach from Louisiana to Cancun.

I threw a leg over, while still in Tucson and for all its weight it was a fast tire. Fast and sure-footed. I’ve only ridden a half dozen different fat tires and I’ll be honest, apart from the Nate which grips like Velcro every other tire I’ve tried was kind of disappointing in the corners. The Sandstorm left me smiling and charging the (sand over pavement) corners. When I got to the beach I left some air in the tire for the hardpack roads in the village even though we were camped about 10km out in the palms.I don’t bring a gauge, so all my pressure setups are by squeeze. Even with a fairly firm pressure, I was able to run the dry sands inland with zero problems.When hitting the main road, of course, the things rolled almost like any other mountain bike. Where I really thought the tires were at their best was at low tide. They flew with almost zero spray, allowing me to ride from our hard packed camp across the loose beach to the firm packed inter-surf zone. Even farther down the beach, all the way out there by the river mouth where cars fear to tread and even the little Asian style motorbikes never go, these tires allowed me to run the soft sand up on the bank. Was it easy? Of course not, but I rode miles through the loose with only the occasional stop for a poached coconut to refill the fluids lost through sweat.

Yeah, I’m kinda stoked on these tires. So much so that I’d REALLY like to try the folding version, maybe set up tubeless,’cuz no doubt, these things are kinda heavy. Still, I’ll run’em til uncle Gomez says he wants’em back cuz they are the rad shit (for the beach). In fact, as soon as Christmas/New Years is over, I’m headed back because a few beaches down in Jalisco are calling my name…

 

About Gomez 2576 Articles
Just an old cat that rides bikes, herds pixels, ropes gnomes and sometimes writes stories. I love a good story.

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