u/gravykarrasch

In late 2025, Vittoria introduced the XC Trail variants of its popular XC Race tires, bringing along a totally new construction for the XC Trail tires that is also shared with the knobbier Trail lineup. Per Vittoria the Trail casing "is a durable 60-TPI nylon casing built for exploration. It resists abrasion and punctures while maintaining your connection to the trail with a mid-tier suppleness." The 4Compound Formulation "strategically places 4 optimized compounds where they are needed for an unparalleled blend of speed, grip, and durability."

The 29 x 2.1 Peyote XC Trail tires I tested have a 1.7 mm sidewall thickness, so about twice the XC Race construction thickness and quite similar to the EXO+ casing from Maxxis in thickness. My set was an average of 780 grams and blew up to 52 mm wide and 49 mm tall on a 25 mm internal width Reserve carbon rim. In general, I have found it a good idea to give tires some break in miles before any racing, but even for testing…and this tends to take a bit longer when tires have a thick casing like these!

After lots of riding and testing with the Peyote XC Trails, I can see these as a totally viable choice when you are in rougher, more flat prone areas…even moreso if you are racing in a group where you can't see every sharp rock in the road! These are certainly not the fastest tire I have tested, but I think it's good to keep the beefy construction in mind here as sometimes you can't have it all! For a direct comparison, these are a similar speed everywhere to the Race King 29 x 2.0 Pure Grip and have a much thicker construction.

The Peyote XC Trails have quite a good ride feel everywhere and notably good handling on pavement when run at off road pressures. Given the thickness of these, many will find happiness with lower pressure everywhere than what your favorite calculator might suggest.

All testing my own via outdoor Chung Method/ VE.

Everyone wants to know…what pressure am I using? Obviously, larger tires will require lower pressure than smaller ones to get the best speed and handling in general…especially off road. The Wolf Tooth Advanced calculator is very good in my usage for gravel and mtb tires. The Rough Gravel setting seems to get quite close to best pressure for not only rolling efficiency (yes, even on gravel that’s not super rough) but also comfort and handling. I will start with that based on the measured tire size, go ride some, recheck pressure once the tire warms up, then reasess the setting based on how the tire is riding. If it feels obviously harsh, go down 1 psi…. If it feels squirmy or I am smacking the rim on hard hits, I will go up 1 psi, maybe 2 in that situation. Often I end up sticking quite close to what the calculator says initially but it isn't written in stone. Rolling efficiency is actually almost identical (reference some testing I posted spring 2025 for this graphically) across a bigger span of tire pressures off road than most realize, which means it is quite easy to get the pressure where the tire will be fastest…the rest is fine tuning to rider preference. Even though I’m testing, I am also enjoying being out there so take the extra steps to see how the tire performs best. Ultimately there is no magic “best” pressure… it is up to rider preference with no real speed penalty unless you really mess it up one way or another, and that is a big reason I am explaining this in such detail. It’s not to justify my results, it’s to encourage folks to keep an open mind about how they set their tires and get the best ride possible. All the Smooth Pavement testing I do is with the tires set to the PSI I would use for riding on average pavement, so in practice about 5-7 psi higher than I would use for off road riding.

Per Rene Herse, "All-road tires don’t get any better than this! We name our tires after the passes in the Cascade Mountains that inspire them: Snoqualmie Pass was the route of the Olympian Hiawatha express train to Seattle. Today, a trail heads up the pass, with spectacular views as you traverse the old railroad trestles. You’ll enjoy the speed and grip of the supple casing on the paved sections of the climb, and the large air volume will have you float over the rough gravel rather than grind through it."

RH optimizes their tires for real world performance, so many will be excited to see results here in the real world for what is their most supple construction option - the Extralight. I measured the sidewalls on these at 0.40 mm thick, which is easily the thinnest of any tire I have tested. They took and held air well…actually even better than the Standard casing Oracle Ridge I tested last spring. My set weighed an average of 338 grams and had a flat bead to bead width of 111 mm, airing up to right at 44 mm wide and 41 mm tall on a 25 mm internal width rim. Tubeless setup with Orange Seal Regular, as usual.

I have tested a few other tires in the 40-45 mm size range, which gives us some interesting comparisons on smooth pavement as well as easy gravel which many will consider the RH slicks for. These were pretty quick on pavement and Cat 1 Gravel, but a bit off the pace of the absolute fastest options on both surfaces. I think this size range of all road slicks is a good one, as it allows for comfort as well as performance. I had no issues with these RH slicks, and for anyone not into the minimalist sidewall construction of the Extralight, RH has beefier options with the same compound and tread.

After recently having the chance to analyze some well done timed lap style testing, I will stick to my guns that well done Chung Method/Virtual Elevation is easier, faster, and has better repeatability and accuracy. All outdoor results here are from my own VE testing.

Everyone wants to know…what pressure am I using? Obviously, larger tires will require lower pressure than smaller ones to get the best speed and handling in general…especially off road. The Wolf Tooth Advanced calculator is very good in my usage for gravel and mtb tires. The Rough Gravel setting seems to get quite close to best pressure for not only rolling efficiency (yes, even on gravel that’s not super rough) but also comfort and handling. I will start with that based on the measured tire size, go ride some, recheck pressure once the tire warms up, then reasess the setting based on how the tire is riding. If it feels obviously harsh, go down 1 psi…. If it feels squirmy or I am smacking the rim on hard hits, I will go up 1 psi, maybe 2 in that situation. Often I end up sticking quite close to what the calculator says initially but it isn't written in stone. Rolling efficiency is actually almost identical (reference some testing I posted spring 2025 for this graphically) across a bigger span of tire pressures off road than most realize, which means it is quite easy to get the pressure where the tire will be fastest…the rest is fine tuning to rider preference. Even though I’m testing, I am also enjoying being out there so take the extra steps to see how the tire performs best. Ultimately there is no magic “best” pressure… it is up to rider preference with no real speed penalty unless you really mess it up one way or another, and that is a big reason I am explaining this in such detail. It’s not to justify my results, it’s to encourage folks to keep an open mind about how they set their tires and get the best ride possible. All the Smooth Pavement testing I do is with the tires set to the PSI I would use for riding on average pavement, so in practice about 5-7 psi higher than I would use for off road riding.

Continental's Race King (Dubnital as of 2025) originated in prototoype form during 2007 as the 26 x 2.2" Race King World Cup, ridden to a UCI Wolrd Cup Overall Title by Irina Kalentieva, and released in 2008 to the public in Supersonic and World Cup editions with the Black Chili compound. It took until 2009 for the thicker Protection version to gain the high performing Black Chili compound.

2009 also brought a 29 inch Race King with Black Chili compound and eventually combined this with the Protection sidewall for a fast and durable 29 x 2.2 in 2012 while the 29 x 2.0 variant had to settle for the slower Pure Grip construction, leaving many riders wishing for a high performance Race King in a 29 x 2.0 size. Conti released the tire tested here at the 2026 Sea Otter Classic a couple weeks ago. For all intents and purposes, the 29 x 2.0 Continental Dubnital Race Rapid is THE tire so many have waited to see.

My set of 2.0 Dubs averaged 573 grams and aired up to 50 mm wide on 25 mm internal width Reserve carbon rims. They had a flat bead to bead width of 133 mm reflected in their height off the rim at 49 mm. I used Orange Seal Regular here for the tubeless setup again. Sidewalls are 0.98 mm thick, so very similar to the 2.2 and 2.4 Dubnitals I tested last year. These were very easy to inflate and I have really enjoyed them so far.

Speed wise, these are very fast… competitive with the Schwalbe RX PRO 700 x 50, one of my favorite tires I have tested. The 2.0 Dubnital is also remarkably fast on the smooth pavement test course. The tread has broad coverage to the outer edges, giving some promise of bonus sidewall protection. Yeah, there are faster tires in this size range but not very many! Impressive work from Conti here and big thanks to Quality Bicycle Products making sure I got some of these to test!

All outdoor results my own via Chung Method/VE testing. This is significantly more accurate than rolldown, timed tests, etc. Wattages at speed are calculated from CRR values so easily scale to whatever speed you want.

Note- Everyone wants to know…what pressure am I using? Obviously, larger tires will require lower pressure than smaller ones to get the best speed and handling in general…especially off road. The Wolf Tooth Advanced calculator is very good in my usage for gravel and mtb tires. The Rough Gravel setting seems to get quite close to best pressure for not only rolling efficiency (yes, even on gravel that’s not super rough) but also comfort and handling. I will start with that based on the measured tire size, go ride some, recheck pressure once the tire warms up, then reasess the setting based on how the tire is riding. If it feels obviously harsh, go down 1 psi…. If it feels squirmy or I am smacking the rim on hard hits, I will go up 1 psi, maybe 2 in that situation. Often I end up sticking quite close to what the calculator says initially but it isn't written in stone. Rolling efficiency is actually almost identical (reference some testing I posted spring 2025 for this graphically) across a bigger span of tire pressures off road than most realize, which means it is quite easy to get the pressure where the tire will be fastest…the rest is fine tuning to rider preference. Even though I’m testing, I am also enjoying being out there so take the extra steps to see how the tire performs best. Ultimately there is no magic “best” pressure… it is up to rider preference with no real speed penalty unless you really mess it up one way or another, and that is a big reason I am explaining this in such detail. It’s not to justify my results, it’s to encourage folks to keep an open mind about how they set their tires and get the best ride possible. All the Smooth Pavement testing I do is with the tires set to the PSI I would use for riding on average pavement, so in practice about 5-7 psi higher than I would use for off road riding.

2007 race king World Cup photo credit to Luke Webber (cycling news)