e*thirteen TRSr/TRS+ 29x2.35 review

Super sticky but draggy

Our rating

4.5

Published: January 17, 2017 at 8:00 am

Our review
Draggy and a little square but hugely confident and planted in nasty terrain Buy if, You want the ultimate hard ground gripper

Pros:

Soft compound clings to rocks and roots, supple yet well-damped casing

Cons:

Painfully slow rolling, not the best in mud, pricey

E*thirteen TRS tyres come in two flavours. The TRSr features by far the softest triple compound mix on test; while the TSR+ uses slightly harder rubber.

MTB winter tyre mega test

  • Weight: 964g
  • Width: 2.30in
  • Height: 2.15in

We opted for the TRSr on the front, with the faster rolling TRS+ on the rear. This combo was the second slowest in our roll-down tests. If we’d used the stickier TRSr front and rear, it would’ve been even slower. On the other hand, the TSRr’s super soft compound, combined with the massive width and beautifully damped carcass, provides incredibly surefooted traction on wet, rooty and rocky gnar that would put most downhill tyres to shame.

The casing feels stable and well-damped like a tyre several hundred grams heavier; combined with the high volume this encourages lower pressures too. Though designed to work with e*thirteen’s own wheels, we had no issues on our DT Swiss rims. The tread offers superb traction on practically every surface other than deep mud.

Even on 25mm rims they come up very square, making for a slightly grabby, speed-scrubbing feel when leant in really hard through flat corners. However, they posted the fastest time on our steepest, loosest test track.

Thanks to that carcass and heavily siped shoulders, even the cheaper, faster, harder wearing TRS+ provided remarkable off-camber traction when run up front, so it’s probably the smart-money compound for most conditions.

e*thirteen TRSr / TRS+ pricing and availability

  • TRSr: £68 / $72 / AU$116
  • TSR+: £57 / $59 / AU$100
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