by Brian Mullin
WTB is on a roll this year and has brought out some new tires, including the big burly Breakout, the fast rolling everyday Trail Boss, a wider version of the Nine Line racer, and finally, the Gravel-Specific Nano. They just came out with the semi-fat Trail Blazer tire and its companion Scarper rim. They revamped their entire saddle lineup with new colors and widths, and have the new downhill specific High Trail saddle.
Trail Blazer
The Trail Blazer is a new tire meant to compete in the semi-fat 29+ type of world. Coming in at 2.8 inches wide and a 27.5 size, it's meant to fit within the confines of a normal 29er bike frame and fork. The tire measures about 1/2" shorter than a normal 29er setup, so depending on the width of your rear yoke of the triangle it should fit though it will drop the bottom bracket height of the bike. The Trail Blazer uses their TCS Light sidewall and Dual DNA compound, weighs 895 grams and will fit rims widths between 23mm to 45mm, and retails for a reasonable $67.95. I am looking forward to this tire and hope to squeeze it onto my Ibis Ripley 29er.
At the show, they had the Trail Blazer mounted on their aluminum wide Scraper rim, which comes in 27.5" and 29" sizes, and has a 45mm inner and 49mm outer width, and weighs 650g and 695g (27.5/29).
Trail Boss
Their new fast rolling Trail Boss tire gets a 2.4" width to go along with the original narrower 2.25" version, and they'll come in 27.5" and 29" sizes. It comes in TCS Light and TCS Tough sidewalls with Dual DNA compounds, and retails for $69.95-$79.95. The wider 2.4" has a bigger channel section between the shoulder and center knobs, which should help with traction and cornering, and aid in mud extraction.
Breakout
Their new excellent Breakout tire gets a narrower 2.3" width to go along with the original fat 2.5", and they'll only come in the 27.5" size currently, though a 29" size is on the horizon. It comes in TCS Light (2.3" only) and TCS Tough sidewalls and Dual DNA and Gravity DNA compounds and retails for $67.95-$76.95. I tested the 2.5" Breakout earlier this year, and found then to be aggressive, and provided good traction and braking, and rolled and accelerated quickly, and excelled when climbing all types of terrain.
Saddles
They revamped their entire saddle lineup, and have gone with all Black saddles with colored accents to designate which price point level, with the better saddles getting upgraded padding and rails. They use Gold accents for the Carbon level, Black for the Team, White for the Pro, Red for the Race and Silver for the Comp. The Rocket saddle now comes in 127mm, 142mm and 150mm widths, while the Volt gets 133mm, 142mm and 150mm. The multiple sizing for these models should help with better fit and comfort while riding.
The new downhill specific High Trail comes in three versions, the Carbon rails for $249.95, and the Titanium rails for $159.95 and the Cromoly rails for $119.95. The saddle features a unique and distinctive cut-out at the back of the saddle, allowing for additional rear tire clearance as a full suspension 27.5 bike cycles through its travel.The saddle not only has the cut-out section in the back, but the rails are bent outward slightly to let a fat tire squeeze between them.
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