Well, I have to say that it’s not the first ride, but I do have only a handful of rides on my Duro Miner 29er tires so far. The first thing that I noticed with the Miner tire was the tread pattern. As I looked at it, it looked to be a lower rolling resistance tread, but it also looked to have some bite to it. Next, it was time to install the tires on my Sun/Ringle Charger wheels. I have encountered this before, but not often…the tires installed with no tools, just my hands. To remove the tire, I did need a tire lever (one) to start the bead off the rim, but then it pulled right off. The Sun rim certainly helps there too.

Duro Miner 29er Tire

The Duro Miner tire can be set up tubeless. Not all rims are Stan’s No Tubes friendly, but the Sun rims I have are actually designed for Stan’s tubeless system. So setting up the Duro Miner tires as Stan’s No Tubes tubeless was a breeze. (By the way, the key for setting up Stan’s tubeless is follow the directions. Make sure your wheels are set up correctly and make sure your tires can be set up tubeless. If you don’t set up the tubeless system correctly and you don’t install the tires correctly, it doesn’t matter what your tires or rims are…you will have problems.)

Now it’s time for a test ride…or rides. Riding in the northeast in February is often hard to find terrain that isn’t frozen and as hard as a rock, or ice, or snow too deep to ride. But fortunately, mother nature has cooperated a little bit. I found myself riding on thin packed snow and frozen but soft-frozen ground. The Miner tread design did not fail me. The Miner tire is a smooth rolling tire that held the ground quite well for the winter conditions. Even when cornering, the front held it’s ground. As I rode more and more, I found myself riding a bit more aggressive to see how the tires would hold. And for the conditions, they both held on the to ground quite well.

Stay tuned for more on the Duro Miner 29er tire as spring approaches and the weather continues to improve.