Review: Teravail's New Warwick Tire
Teravail have been expanding their tire line over the last couple of years, bringing new designs to complement those already in their repertoire. The brand, owned by Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) now has several aggressive trail tires in the fold and the Warwick, their latest offering, launches today.
The Warwick is designed to be what Teravail call an "aggressive trail tire" fitting the role of everything from trail riding all the way up to enduro racing. The tire is said to hold speed as a priority, without compromising on traction and cornering capability in loose, rocky, and steep terrain.
The Warwick is designed to be what Teravail call an "aggressive trail tire" fitting the role of everything from trail riding all the way up to enduro racing. The tire is said to hold speed as a priority, without compromising on traction and cornering capability in loose, rocky, and steep terrain.
Warwick Details
• Sizes: 27.5" x 2.5", 29" x 2.3", 2.5"
• Speed or Grip rubber compounds
• Light & Supple, Durable, Ultra-Durable casing options
• Weight: 1,360g (29x2.5" Durable, Grip)
• Tan and Black sidewall options
• Price: $85 USD (as tested)
• teravail.com
• Sizes: 27.5" x 2.5", 29" x 2.3", 2.5"
• Speed or Grip rubber compounds
• Light & Supple, Durable, Ultra-Durable casing options
• Weight: 1,360g (29x2.5" Durable, Grip)
• Tan and Black sidewall options
• Price: $85 USD (as tested)
• teravail.com
The Warwick has angular lugs with stepped front faces and a firmer rubber compound in the center to maximize rolling efficiency. On the side, there are tall, angular, and spaced-out lugs. There is an open transition area with softer rubber to provide grip in loose terrain, corners, and more technical sections of trail. The tread is somewhat aggressive for a pure XC tire, but it fits right into the aggressive XC category Teravail was aiming for.
CASING & COMPOUND OPTIONS
There are three different casings and two different compounds for riders to choose from. As far as casings go, "Light & Supple", "Durable", and "Ultra-Durable" are the options. The Light & Supple option is, you guessed it, the most lightweight of the mix, offering. Durable is 60 TPI and has a woven nylon composite reinforcement between the outer rubber and inner casing within the sidewalls to ward off tears and cuts, along with a fine nylon weave under the tread cap to further prevent punctures. The Ultra-Durable casing takes that and adds an additional half ply of 120 TPI on the sidewall, more puncture defense in the tread cap, and butyl inserts that strengthen the sidewalls of the tire.
"Speed" or "Grip" are the compounds available. For the Light & Supple casing, the faster Speed compound is the available option there with the others available in a variety of configurations in the more robust casings. There are black and tan sidewall options available as well. The Warwick is available in 27.5" and 29" with widths of 2.5" for the 27.5" and 2.3" or 2.5" for the 29". Weight for a 29" x 2.5" Durable casing with Grip compound was 1,360g according to my scale.
Similar yet quite different from the Assegai and Kessel
Ultra Durable is the thickest casing option.
SETUP
A Revel Rascal was the primary testing bike with a set of tires also going to another tester to put some extra miles on them. Both were installed on Industry Nine Enduro 305 wheels, which have a 30.5mm inner width. Installing the tires was challenging and resulted in a few choice words and a mangled tire lever due to a tight fit at the bead. The set of Ultra Durable casing tires were the hardest to install, although the Durable casing tires posed a challenge as well. One they were in place, setting them up tubeless was easy and I've been running 22 psi in the front and 25psi in the back. The tires measured true to size when inflated.
PERFORMANCE
I had been impressed by Teravail's Kessel and EhLine tires they previously released so I had high expectations going into riding the Warwick. Being a little off-put by the installation challenges, I was thankful to not experience a flat over a couple of months of riding. The Warwick echoed my positive sentiments from Teravail's other treads and performed exceptionally for myself and the other tester throughout the time ridden. All testing took place in Western North Carolina.
The tires offer a good amount of grip and plenty of traction in steep, loose, and technical terrain. Transitioning from the top to the side lugs is smooth and the tire performed predictably. I was able to clean sections of trail that do sometimes pose a challenge with ease and was especially impressed by the tire's grip when climbing up janky sections of rocks and roots.
Rolling speed for the tires I was on was good, but nothing to write home about. While the tread pattern has a very similar look to the Maxxis Assegai, the Warwick tends to roll substantially faster. There's plenty of traction to go around, especially in the corners and on off-camber terrain.
DURABILITY
As far as durability goes, I haven't had any flats and I have had no issues with knobs ripping off or any premature wear after a couple of months of riding.
Maxxis Assegai, Teravail Warwick, Teravail Kessel
HOW DO THEY COMPARE? TERAVAIL WARWICK vs MAXXIS ASSEGAI
Weight: The weight of the Durable Warwick is very close to to that of a DH-casing Assegai with a 3C MaxxGrip rubber compound - the Warwick weighs 20 grams more. However, keep in mind that Teravail also offers an Ultra Durable casing that's even heavier - these tires aren't for gram counters.
Price: The Assegai costs $90 where the Warwick, as tested, costs $85. The Ultra-Durable casing ups the price to the same level as the Assegai, but pricing for Teravail is in line with the Maxxis options.
Performance: The Warwick rolls a good bit faster and is more versatile than the Assegai for all-around trail riding, although it doesn't offer the same level of grip as Maxxis' stickiest rubber. The Assegai offers more traction at a cost of rolling speed and the Warwick offers a little less traction but rolls a little better.
Pros
+ Good traction, durable+ Predictable handling
+ Wide range of size, casing, and compound options
Cons
- On the heavier side of the scale- Difficult to mount
- Pricey, especially for a less well-known brand
Pinkbike's Take
 | Teravail's latest tire is an excellent choice for an all-around trail tire. It doesn't win the competition when it comes to price or weight, but it performs well and has proven to hold up when it comes to durability. There are a number of options for the tire when it comes to casing and tread compound, and I like that there's a 2.3" width available for aggressive XC applications. Setting it side by side with more well-known brands, riders may have a hard time justifying paying the same price, but I'd say the tire is on par with the best out there, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend riders give it a shot. |
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Maxxis used to be my go to tires but they have gone down hill alot. My Michelin Wild enduros had way better grip also than the assegai and dhr2/aggressor combo.
I think alot of people are running them because they are OEM on most bikes. Bering the most popular does not mean the best.
People need to start trying new things so Maxxis steps up and fixes the tires they have.
How are you liking the e13, are you using the Gen3 LG1´s?
Mo Po compound?
Grip on wet rocks and roots?
Thanks
As for Spe tires I have a Butcher t7 to try. Spent some time on Hillbilly Grid/Gripton but those are only working in really soft stuff, they are really vague on anything remotely hard and terrible on stones. Grip on wet stones and roots is only average too so I am not expecting much from the Butcher t7 compound for front use, probably gonna be a decent back tire.
I´m a DHR2 front and back guy, but MaxxGrip is only in EXO,DD or DH no EXO+ and 1200kg front tire is not really an option and the LG1 EN Mopo front and back look to be a good option if the grip/compound is good. And the price is much lower then Maxxis.
thanks again for your feedback.
I ride DHR2 front and back and was looking for the same type of feeling and the LG1 look to be just that and with a bit more volume wich is a bonos, not to mention the price.
BIKE24 doesn't have the ENDURO in stock, but its on my Wishlist.
cheers
"latest tread pattern is designed for everything from trail to enduro riding"
Another thing to add is that the sizing is very consistend / true to size and their sidewalls are grand. Customer service was pretty good too - no complaints.
Love their tyres.
The Dissectors on my Spur wore down way too quickly, so I'd like to try something new. I don't really want to give up any of their speed or grip, though.
I found the eliminator to work well on hard-er tracks, like trailcentres or just dry trails. Since most of my riding is Wet loam / roots / rocks, I prefer the more aggressive models, and Butcher 2.3R / 2.6F is a great combo as an aggressive all-rounder.
I have run both Spec and Max and the Spec's are good, but on our trails the Maxxis are better performing. Having said that, I would love it if the Specialized tires were better because they're cheaper.
More similar in both mission and design.
Also, if it’s a super burly tire casing, I want the editor riding them to be in a place that hates tires more than NC.
At what point are we just better off running completely airless tires? With an airless tire, you wouldn't need to worry pinch flats or inserts. The sidewalls could be paper thin, merely to prevent debris from getting inside the tire. Instead of various sizes all with different casing types and compounds, you'd have one size, one compound, but various "weight ranges" of tires. Even if the tire was damaged somehow, you'd be able to ride it out - just with a "dead spot".
Even a type of hybrid tire, that you could adjust air pressure inside the cavities of "springs" for the whole tire, but would support a rider even with a huge leak - would be an improvement over obscenely heavy tires with inserts.
However, I also don't think its very promising for MTBs. Even if you could get the weight down to an acceptable level, I'm having a hard time imagining how they'd keep the tire on the bead--unless they were so stiff that installation was basically impossible without destroying the rims. The moto ones only feel like 10-15 psi.
But. How much money do you lose if you get a flat on what would have been a world cup winning run? It's probably worth someone looking into...
Maxxis: "Sure but just change the answers a little so the teacher doesn't notice."
Announcing these for the North American market after the start of the cold and wet weather? That’s a miss.
I mean, i'm not going to buy these, I just don't like the Assegai comparison because everyone i know who has run that tire has gone a whole lot slower.