Ultradynamico tire review

[Mike Evans]

I’ve been rocking Gravelkings (SK model) on my Gorilla Monsoon. I bought the bike off of ebay like that. I’ve been wanting to try new rubber and when I was traveling over the holidays, the LBS had a set of the new Ultradynamicos. I have to say they look cool!

So I put them on the bike, the smooth Cave on the rear, the knobby Rose on the front. Took them out for a long-ish ride last weekend. First thing I noticed was the buzziness of the front. You can really feel it when each knob hits to road. Looking at the tread, I was surprised there aren’t many knobs at all: only a few triangles in the center then nothing until you get into the side knobs. Not sure why they’d design them like that. Weight savings?

The Cave on the rear felt fine. I mean it’s an almost slick tire. Until I hit a steep 15% grade. I got out of the saddle and felt the little knobs squirm. I could also hear it. Not a big deal on the uphill, but you can feel the knobs flex in fast downhill corners, too. Turns out the Cave isn’t slick, but the tread is made of literally thousands of tiny knobs. They are a little taller than wide and they extend all the way to the edge of the tread. Also the casings subjectively don’t feel as supple as I expected. Sort of like the Gravelkings, but those have a puncture belt and the UD’s don’t. Seems like the casing by itself of the Ultra Race models is LESS supple than the Gravelkings.

On the gravel the tires felt fine. Some big puddles on the gravel and the rear clogged up immediately and starts sliding all over. The little knobs aren’t like file treads I’ve seen that have little diamonds. The Cave’s have tiny knobs that are the same width top to bottom, so the mud really gets stuck in there.

And the front tire also keeps a lot of mud in the center of the tread. Turns out the tiny recessed knobs are the same as on the rear and they keep in the mud. The Ultra guys say the little knobs are for when you wear out the big knobs, and then you get a road tire for the rest of the tire’s life. Maybe.

A fast stretch of pavement and the rear especially kept the mud inside the knobs and was sliding even on the dry pavement for a while. More gravel with nothing to report except that the tread cleans out faster on gravel than on pavement.

There you have it. No doubt the UD’s look cool, but they don’t perform as I hoped and expected. They’re fine on gravel, but not better than other tires. They don’t feel very supple and the treads don’t really work well. I’ll probably take them off and give them to a friend whose running some ultra-heavy mtb tires on his Gorilla Monsoon.

[Connor]

Nice to hear from someone who's actually ridden the tires. Most of the photos I've seen so far have been on internet show bikes.

[Brett Callahan]

This is the first actual use report I've seen, Mike. I had been really tempted by these. After your helpful review, I'll pass. 

Thanks! 

Brett

[satanas]

Very useful, thanks. Any comments on the SKs?

Later,
Stephen

[Mike Evans]

The Gravelking SKs came with the bike, but they retail for a lot less so I was expecting a better ride and more grip from the Ultras. In reality they really feel very similar. If anything, the larger and denser knobs of the SKs squirm a bit less than the Cave. And presumably there is more puncture protection on the Gravelkings.

[Daniel MacPherson]

Thanks for the review. I believe Russ at Pathless Pedaled mentioned something similar about the Rose being clunky on the road.

[Daniel Jackson]

I've a different take on these - the Rose offers traction equal to the best tires I've ridden with a casing essentially equivalent in feel to Compass/RH Standard. I've had them on my Black Mountain Road Plus for a few weeks, riding them through snow, mud, and on classic Vermont fine over hardpack dirt road and pavement. They handle a wide variety of unpaved surfaces with aplomb. 

Compared specifically to the SK Gravelkings, I disagree with Mike: they are a far more supple tire; likewise, they are far more fragile. In my experience SKs are some of the least supple of the gravel tires available, requiring very low pressures to offer the same road dampening as much higher quality rubber. A fine tire for sure, but SKs do not offer the ride quality of Panaracer's more expensive offerings. 

I have yet to ride the Ultradynamico Cava, though am awfully curious. 

Best,

Daniel 

[Mike Evans]

Thank you for the added perspective. I  think we don't necessarily disagree. I second your experience that the Ultra's are fine on gravel. On mud my rear Cava spun out long before the front Rose would lose traction. If your running Roses front and back, you won't have that problem. I can imagine that a matched set of Roses would do fine on mud and snow.

The real issue for me (and apparently others) is pavement where both tires disappoint. The Rose is clunky because it has so few knobs and they are spread out so far apart. And the Cava's micro-knobs squirm because they are too narrow and too tall. So maybe we'll have to consider these as dedicated gravel rather than the multipurpose tires we're all looking for.

[Gabe Ehlert]

My experience with the Rose is more in line with Daniel's. I find them to ride quite well on dirt roads and trails in the PNW. I felt they rode similarly to 2.1 Thunder Burts on dirt and gravel, just less volume. I liked how they hooked up in chunky gravel and loamy trails and roads, both going up and downhill. Yeah, they caked up a bit in sandy or clay mud, but any tire will. It shed that dirt pretty quickly though. I felt like they handled that type of dirt better than say the WTB Venture or even the Gravel Kink SK. 

I also found them good on pavement sections. Yeah, they buzz, but they felt supple and quick at about 30-35psi. They handled sharp paved corners without noticeable knob dive. I carried some overnight camping loads on the Rose too, mainly on dirt roads. Nothing happened.

Mine are set up tubeless on Brevet rims. No flats/punctures yet.

Overall, myself and my main riding partner are happy with them for a sub 2.1 size knobby tire.

I don't have any experience with the Cava. Personally, if I'm looking for a smaller small knob 47/48mm tire, I'll probably stick with the GK SK or the Teravail Rampart. I also like the WTB Resolute, but those are 42mm.

-Gabe

[Mike Evans]

How you see the Ultras probably depends on your expectations. Compared to a mtb tire, they are probably great for the riding most of us do. All that talk of supple mystery casings, names like Race and Brevet and the $85 price tag made me expect tires that would really blow me away. Instead I get to experience issues that just seem like bad design. Too few knobs in the center make the Roses feel klunky on pavement and those weird micro knobs on the Cava squirm and clog up with mud and don't shed it. Seems like they try to be different for the sake of different and not because their tread works better.

OTOH my friend who is riding them now loves them. But he was rocking OEM mtb tires before. No doubt the Ultras, especially the Roses, aren't bad tires but I also don't think they are top-notch.

[Connor]

I showed Mike's review to a friend who has been running the same Cava/Rose combo. He replied: "What he said." He also sent a photo with the comment: "You wouldn't expect a really supple tire to stand on its own like this. Pretty disappointing."

[Nate]

When the Ultradynamico thing was first announced, I thought it was a pretty good satire of our crowd. I could picture the cool guys sitting at the pub and joking: “Those 650B guys like to drink wine, so let’s name our tires Cava and Rose. And with all the Frenchie stuff, why not Race and Brevet for the casings? And since Rene Herse has been making tires for, like, 15 years, how about ‘25 years of tread awareness.’ They like scientific stuff, so let’s say that our tread is 30% grippier than a slick. Maybe they’ll fall for it.”

To be honest, I was surprised when the tires became a reality. It’s almost as if the bicyclepubes bike from NAHBS suddenly was offered for sale… complete with the centerpull brake to squeeze the horn. It was fun to see the real thing in Sacramento, but would I buy one? Perhaps not.