Two BIG fresh black donuts last seen at The Bike Vault, namely a Specialized Purgatory Control 2Bliss 2.4 and Specialized The Captain Control 2Bliss 2.2. Finally time to get fresh grip on the Mojo HD. Thanks Pete and Gary, Woohoo!

I’ve really enjoyed the combination of the High Roller 2.5 on the front and the Crossmark 2.25 on the rear. The High Roller 2.5 ploughs along perfectly as a front tire, and the Crossmark 2.25 rolls well on the rear while still providing a good level of grip. They work great together and are a great match for the rocky Central Victorian terrain. Both are big tires so there’s no shortage of air cushion, and I’ve run both in the 20-30psi range with no problems at all. For a relatively heavy tire combination they’ve never felt heavy during a ride just bombproof, rock eating, fun loving donuts.

After a Summer of riding the Crossmark had worn to be renamed Skidmark – it definitely needed replacing. The High Roller had some life left in it but I thought might as well try a new combo of tires with the aim being to drop some weight and increase rear traction, without sacrificing rolling, volume and hopefully durability. Plus being the lazy SOB even though my uni’s have been tubeless for a couple of years I’d been waiting on replacing the tires to go tubeless on the Mojo HD.

I didn’t see any point going over the top on a weight saving mission that sacrificed Mojo HD style fun on the trail. Who wants to be under-tired,  ricocheting down a trail with tires too narrow, pumped up too hard, just hanging on? So that was the criteria for selecting the Specialized Purgatory Control 2Bliss 2.4 and Specialized The Captain Control 2Bliss 2.2. At the very least they’ll give me a reference point for the High Roller/Crossmark combo but TBH I’m expecting a lot more than that from them.

Being semi anal I thought it would be a good chance to document some weights:

New Crossmark 2.25: 840 grams

Worn Crossmark 2.25:  745 grams

New High Roller 2.5: 1180 grams

Worn High Roller 2.5: 857 grams

New Captain 2.2: 660 grams

New Purgatory 2.4: 704 grams

Tubes for the Crossmark/High Roller Combo: 2 x 220 grams

New Crossmark 2.25/High Roller 2.5 Combo: 2020 grams (plus 440 grams for tubes)

Worn Crossmark 2.25/High Roller 2.5 Combo: 1602 grams (plus 440 grams for tubes)

New Captain 2.2/Purgatory 2.4 Combo:  1364 grams (without sealant and rim strip)

Anal and obvious weight conclusion: The new Spesh 2Bliss combo saves a fair old chunk of rotating weight, ~500 grams less than the worn previous tires, ~1000 grams less than new previous combo. Also I was surprised how much weight was lost due to wear.

For the tubeless conversion I used a Stans NoTubes Standard Kit. There’s no point recounting the steps as I did exactly as shown in the excellent Tubeless Kit Installation video on notubes.com and it all went smoothly. (Later on in the day I realized installation instructions were also printed on the inside of the back card in the kit, but only visible when folded out, doh!)

Both tires inflated dry using only a floor pump with no problems. According to Stan that’s a good sign. After adding the sealant and doing the shake, rattle and roll there were no leaks bubbling through the detergent either. Cool.

By the time it was all said and done the weather had crapped out and it was late in the day. Even thought I was hanging out to see how the new donuts tasted I thought it would be a good move to let them sit overnight, see if they’re still inflated in the morning and go from there.

Both are big, tall tires. At a guess I’d say they’re taller than the previous tires, especially the Purgatory 2.4. Both tires are dual compound. Neither are overly soft though it’s easy to feel the difference in compounds tweaking the tread with your hands.

I’m really looking forward to getting out on the trails and seeing what they feel like. Will be fun to get to know a new set of donuts!