This review comes to us courtesy of Big Head Todd – he’s local to Gainesville, Florida, friend of the Gravel Cyclist crew, and promoter of the best cyclocross race in Florida; Swamp Cross!
Over to BHT…
Lots of product reviews focus on the newest or lightest or priciest. And folks seem to eat that stuff up as they run to their local shop or computer to order it up. But what to do if you’re on a budget and running a relatively old school setup? What if you haven’t drank the tubeless punch and don’t know anyone named Stan? The WTB Nano Comp 700 x 40 just might be an option to consider.
Here in NorFla, we don’t have much actual gravel but we have plenty of sugar sand – the key to getting through soft dry sand is power and tire width. Presuming you can do something about your watts/kg, the selection of tires is as important as your nutritional uptake. Since our reviewer has only one rig to serve both CX and gravel needs, tire selection is also limited – 40’s are the maximum that will (barely) squeeze into his 2006 Fuji CrossPro.
These tires are definitely designed for going forward as there is not excessive side profile and the raised center results in a fast rolling experience on hardpack and pavement. We tested the pair on both a short (42 miles) fast GCX night ride with numerous hard attacks as well as the recent Strada Bellamy Sportif (128 miles).
First off, the tire pressure felt comfortable dropped from our usual 50psi when running 35s down to a very plush feeling 40psi. The forward profile was both fast and handled dry sand well. Still, these are not CX tires in terms of profile or weight.
The Comp model has a “durable” casing, wire bead, and weighs in at a robust 550 grams. But at $31.95 this is both a good all-around tire for the budget conscious old school rider and a solid training tire for the more advanced racer. The Race version with lightweight casing and Aramid bead weighs 470 grams and retails for $49.95.
| WTB Nano Comp Tyre – 700c x 40mm |
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| Click the image to BUY from Amazon. |
Ok… I’ll be that guy: has anyone tried using these tubeless?
If I had a set, I’d try to convert them…
I’ve been running the race version, not the actual TCS version, tubeless with Stan’s or Orange Seal. The tires have been mounted up to two different rims, H+Son Archetypes and Stan’s Valor. I have not had any problem and have been running them at 30-33psi.
I’ve run them tubeless. It took a couple of rides for them to seal completely (they would bleed down overnight, but hold enough for a ride), but after that they have been great. Even ran them at 70psi once (pump gauge had a meltdown) with no problems. I usually run them 38/40 psi. They work great. I have the cheapest model.
Our associate K-Dogg needs to read this – Giant Smokey, you said the magic words for him… cheapest 🙂
I have been using the TCS model on Velocity A23s. The tubless setup was one of the easiest I have ever performed. A standard floor pump was all I needed to get them to seat. I installed them the night before the TdG and they performed very well on this year’s course. The added volume over the 35s I had been using was very welcome, especially for an event that isn’t entirely CX friendly. FYI, I am using CaffeLatex and haven’t had a flat or burp although I haven’t pushed the lower bounds of tire pressure.
For those unaware, TDG = Tour de Gainesville. An event that doesn’t really happen… sort of like Fight Club. Remember the first rule…
My bike came w/ 33s and I have been inching up to 38 stopping at increment. 40 is my next step and pretty necessary on Tallahassee’s southside Forestroads and the sandy-ish plantation (gravel) roads.
Tubeless would be awesome.
I just installed the 40c tubeless on my Sun Ringle Rim. While the tubeless is hard to seat, the tire performed great on a test ride which included gravel and a little trace ridge trail in pisgah.
I use Sleek furniture polish to help seat a tire when it won’t pop onto the rim – with the valve core removed.
Pisgah has some killer riding!!!
Just wanted to add my .02c on these. I am running the race version on a set of Stan’s Grail wheels. One tire was a piece of cake and have had no issues at all. The other seats up easy, but has lots of leakage out the side. The Stan’s only lasted in there for 3 weeks before it was going flat way too fast. I have added more fluid hoping that it will finally seal everything up and last for a full ride again.