Review: Ultradynamico 650B x 47.99 Rose and Cava Race Tires
After running middle of the road tires like the WTB Byways and Panaracer Gravelking SK I finally decided to splurge on some top end rubber. Especially the Gravelkings are fine tires, but they've got a puncture-resistant belt and so I wondered what it would be like to ride on tires without any protection. I don't get lots of flats so why not?
Along came Ultradynamico creating a lot of buzz with their new tire offerings. Their tires are made by Panaracers, and they say their tires don't have any sidewall protection and that you need to be certified to ride them. It's probably a joke but a tire like the Gravelking but with a more supple casing and no protection layer seemed like something I wanted to try.
Ultradynamico recommend the Mullet Protocol with their slick Cava on the rear and the semi-knobby Rose on the front. I opted for the Race casing. If I'm going to splurge why not go all the way? And the price is the same for their Race and Brevet models. In fact, the only real difference seem to be the tread colors. (Checking their web site it seems they've discontinued the Brevet models now.)
The Cava looks like a slick but it's actually got very small microknobs. It's an interesting tread pattern that is much taller than the diamond-shaped file patterns on many gravel and cross tires. Ultradynamico says that the tread "massages granular terrain for perceivably 20-30% more traction than a slick."
My sample weighed 480 g. That's a full 30 g more than their claimed spec. Ultradynamico's web site lists 450 g.
The Rose is a knobby with unusual triangular knobs. There is the same microknob pattern as on the Cava in the center. Ultradynamico's web site states that once the big knobs wear out you'll end up basically with another Cava. You'll probably still have some side knobs, since they won't wear out as quickly, but that wouldn't be a bad thing.
Our Rose weighs 483 g. The Ultradynamico web site doesn't list a spec for the Rose's weight. It's interesting that the slick Cava and the knobby Rose weigh essentially the same. You'd expect the slick to be lighter, but there's a lot of rubber in those micro-knobs on the Rose.
Both tires set up tubeless with a little more effort than the WTB Byways, similar to my Gravelkings before. A little extra air from my compressor, and they popped in place.
On the road... Boy there's a lot to talk about with these tires! We always experiment with tires pressures when we ride new tires. On the first few rides, we let air out and then add some until we've found that goldilocks pressure that works best for the terrain we're riding. Soft enough to provide excellent traction and hard enough so the tires don't start folding over in fast corners. With the Ultradynamicos I settled on a pressure somewhere between 25 and 32 psi depending on the terrain. The higher end was for pavement, the lower for gravel with wet muddy spots.
On pavement the front Rose knobby feels very knobby. You can really feel it when each knob hits the road. You can see that in the tread: there is very little to support the weight of the bike. Only a few triangles then nothing until you get into the side knobs. Not sure why they'd design the tires that way. Weight savings? When the tire rotates, it falls off each knob and into the void in between. Then it climbs onto the next knob and so on. It's very buzzy.
On gravel the Rose feels fine, but so did the almost slick WTB Byway. When it gets muddy, the Rose's microknobs (in between the main knobby tread) clog up with mud and don't shed it. You can see that in the photo above. So you're sliding a lot more than you'd like if conditions get slippery.
The Cava on the rear rolls fine on pavement which is what you'd expect: it's basically a slick tire. Until I hit a steep 15% grade. I get out of the saddle and feel the little knobs squirm. I can also hear it. Not a big deal on the uphill, but you can feel the knobs flex in fast downhill corners too.
The Cava's 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. Hitting a few puddles on gravel the Cava (on the rear) started sliding all over. The little knobs aren’t like file treads you'll find on other cross and gravel tires. Those are more like little diamonds. The Cava’s tiny knobs are the same width top to bottom so the mud really gets stuck in there. Even riding on pavement for a mile (that's when the photo above was taken) doesn't clean out the tread. The mud stays in there for a while and the tire keeps sliding when you lean it into corners. On gravel the tread seems to self clean a little better.
So much about the tread profile. What about the casings? Ultradynamico talks on their web site about "Luxurious high TPI mystery casing sourced from a Moroccan street bazaar." Subjectively they don’t feel as supple as I expected. I can't detect any difference to my old the Gravelkings. And those had a puncture belt and the Ultradynamicos don’t. That would mean the casing of the Ultradynamico Race models by itself seems less supple than the Gravelkings. When I posted an earlier version of this review on the 650B list, another reader sent the photo above (used with permission) with the comment "You wouldn't expect a supple tire to stand up on its own like that." I'm not sure what I expected but for roughly twice the price of a Gravelking I was ready to be blown away. From that perspective the Ultradynamicos don't deliver.
Weight: 480 g (Cava) 483 g (Rose)
Actual size: 47.8 mm (Cava) 47.6 mm (Rose) (on WTB KOM rim 23 mm internal)
Bead: folding
Tubeless compatible: Yes
Tubeless compatible: Yes
Verdict: Ultradynamico has some unusual tire designs. The Rose's triangular knobs and the Cava's micro-knobs look cool, but on the road and trail the Ultradynamicos don't live up to my high expectations. The unusual tread profiles squirm and clog up with mud. The "mystery casings" aren't as supple as I expected. I expected a better tire than my old Panaracer Gravelkings but the Ultradynamico feels like a lesser model functionally. Buy it if you're into the cool looks but not for performance.
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