Geax Saguaro Tyre

Geax is a bit of a dark horse in the Australian MTB scene; as the MTB brand of tyre giant Vittoria they’ve been around the traps for many years and know their way around rubber, yet we still don’t see them as much as perhaps they deserve. The Saguaro is designed as a fast and versatile trail tyre that bridges the gap between XC fast and gravity tough; pretty much the middle ground into which most MTB riders fall.

We’ve been putting the 29x2.2 TNT (Geax-speak for tubeless ready) version through its paces on a wide variety of trails to see just how well it lives up to the marketing spiel, but even before we put rubber to dirt we were impressed with their outstanding manufacturing quality. As it happened, the test samples came in 30g lighter than the claimed 780g weight and they also measured true to size; they came in at 56mm across both the casing and the tread at 30psi on a 22mm internal width rim. That means they’re closer to fat bike boots than pizza cutters, and the $89 price tag makes them competitive with a lot of other tubeless ready rubber. Once fitted, both tyres aired up easily and have held pressure very well. We do have to say that both tyres were an extremely tight fit on our test rims, and it was with some sadness that we needed to break out our tyre levers for the first time in two years—it’s funny the things you pride yourself on.

The mid-height and mid-spaced tread blocks of the Saguaro are at first glance not unlike quite a few other all-rounder tyres on the market; on closer inspection, however, there are some subtle differences. The edge blocks are ‘C’ shaped and are designed to open out to provide more traction under cornering loads, but probably the most noticeable design feature is the continuous bead of rubber connecting the offset centre blocks. This makes for an essentially uninterrupted strip of rubber contacting the trail when you’re riding in a straight line, and as a result the Saguaro is a very fast roller indeed.

The tread is directional; one labelled as ‘speed’ and the other as ‘traction’. Given how blisteringly fast it was, we chose the latter for the vast majority of the test period. The trade-off for speed is usually a loss of climbing and braking traction; in this case the folks at Geax haven’t been able to come up with a magic formula to buck that trend. That’s not to say that it’s particularly bad, but simply that it’s about on par with other tyres with similar rolling speed. On flowing trails with gentler grades it’s still got enough traction to slow you down when you need and get you happily up a long and grinding ascent, but the steeper the trails get, the more you notice it slipping instead of gripping. The continuous bead appears to prevent the centre paddles from biting into the surface as deeply as they could; it’d be interesting to see what the Saguaro would perform like without the central rib.

The Saguaro’s profile is slightly squared off, so whilst it transitions from centre to edge very smoothly there’s still more bite than you might expect when you reach the edge of the tread, and it carries speed well in corners. On the right trail surface it’ll rail turns like a much more aggressive tyre; whilst far from being a dedicated ‘gravity’ tyre, it’s also a long way from being an XC semi-slick.

We didn’t get to spend as long as we’d like on the Saguaros, but we do get the feeling that if you ride in rocky terrain the small and relatively delicate shoulder tread will wear more quickly than a chunkier (and hence heavier) alternative. Tread wear in other parts of the tyre seems quite good, and the casing and sidewalls have shrugged off rocks and sticks with nary a mark on them. The casing is also stiff enough to provide plenty of support to the sidewalls at lower pressures, and we reckon 25psi is a pretty good starting point if you’re running them tubeless.

The interesting thing about the Saguaro is that its performance seemed to vary significantly depending on the trail surface itself. On anything that was fully or partially consolidated, from hardpack, to rock slabs, to loam and even damp sand it acquitted itself very well. In these conditions it manages to find more traction that you’d expect, and we’d have no reservations about using it as a general trail tyre, both front and rear. On loose over hard, or sand, or even dry and dusty terrain it was a somewhat different story. Whenever we encountered any of these we found the results much less predictable, and it was not overly difficult to reach the limits of traction, especially when either climbing or descending. No tyre we’ve ever tested is fantastic at everything, but the pros and cons of a tyre are rarely as delineated as we found with the Saguaro; in our testing it simply didn’t like loose surfaces of any kind.

So in the end, we’re left a little in two minds about the Saguaro. On the right trails and with the right riding style there’s a lot to like about it; it’s can be speedy, grippy, tough and light all at the same time. On the wrong surface it’s underwhelming, slightly unpredictable and will wear faster than your wallet will like. So the next time you head out for a ride take a close look at your trails; if they’re firm rather than loose and you want a tyre that ticks all the boxes, then the Saguaro is a definite contender.

GKA Sports (03) 9308 8000 / www.gkasports.com.au