Maxxis Rekon 29 x 2.6" 120tpi Tires: Customer Review

Overview

Here in this review, one of our customers Matt Serra tells us about his Maxxis Rekon 29"x2.6" tires that he has mounted up on an Ibis Ripley V3 frame. The Rekon tires are fast rolling while still providing plenty of traction. They seem like a great tire in the 2.6" wide category. Check it out!

At the time Maxxis announced the Rekon 29 x 2.6" tire, I was riding an Ibis Mojo 3 with 27.5 x 2.8 Rekons front and rear, and I absolutely loved them. After 1,000 miles of predictable grip and handling, outstanding traction, and low weight / rolling resistance all without a single puncture, I had no desire to switch to another tire. Having a 29+ Trek Stache as my other bike, I really enjoyed the rollover of the 29 x 3.0" tires and noticed in some very rooty sections of trail, the Mojo would get hung up on the bigger roots while the Stache seemed to fly over them without hesitation.

I started to wonder what it would be like to have a bike that took the best properties of the Mojo and the Stache and blended them together. Of course, earlier this year Ibis announced the Ripley V3 which fits 29 x 2.6" tires, but I wasn't a fan of the Nobby Nics that came on that bike from the factory. When Maxxis announced the Rekon in 29 x 2.6", I got pretty excited. My first thought was that I could have a bike with similar geometry to the Mojo, but with the bigger, wider 29" wheels I enjoy, and with the Rekon tires I love. Needless to say, I ordered a Ripley and put my Mojo up for sale, and then placed an order for a pair of 29 x 2.6" 120tpi Rekons from Worldwide Cyclery.

Set Up

Thanks to the folks at Worldwide, my Maxxis Rekon tires showed up way before my bike did. But when my bike arrived, I removed the Nobby Nics and mounted the Rekons on the Ibis 942 35mm internal carbon wheelset in what was the easiest tire mounting setup I've ever experienced. Every other time I've mounted tires, especially on wider rims, I've had to use an air compressor to get them to seat. Once I had the tire evenly seated on the rim by hand, I hooked up my floor pump just to see what would happen, and sure enough, from the get-go, every pump went straight to inflating the tires and no air leaked at all. The tires seated immediately. I inflated them to 35psi and let them sit overnight so they could expand...to my surprise, they held 35psi overnight without a drop of sealant.

Performance and Final Thoughts

I've since ridden around 100 miles on these tires, and so far they're everything I hoped for. On the trails we ride here in Florida, there's a lot of pedaling involved...if you aren't pedaling hard, you aren't going fast, so I value efficiency. These tires are super light for what they are - they're advertised at 780g each, and the two I received weighed in at 776g and 786g. The low profile center tread rolls with great efficiency, but the pronounced, taller cornering knobs provide plenty of predictable grip in the turns. The trails I ride vary between loose sand and hard packed dirt, with plenty of sharp rocks and big nasty roots. These tires excel in all areas and never leave me wanting for more traction, all while keeping pace with some of the faster guys on XC rigs. For the riders that have more extended high speed, gnarlier descents, I would highly recommend this as a faster rolling rear tire, paired with something like a Minion DHF up front.

Considering I was one of the first people to receive these tires, I'd like to personally thank the folks at Worldwide Cyclery for getting these to me so quickly, all at a good price. You guys rock!