Tires You Should Know About: IRC Boken

The IRC Tires Boken 700 X 40mm

Another episode of "Tires You Should Know About" is on tap for today and this time I am highlighting a little known Japanese brand called IRC Tire. The company has been around a long time and older MTB'ers might remember their sponsoring of several famous MTB riders and teams back in the 1990's. IRC was also an early adopter of the 29 inch MTB tire size and was integral in helping that wheel size get off the ground in the early 2000's. 

But then the company disappeared from the North American market for several years, only coming back in the twenty-teens again with little to no fanfare. I was contacted by the company in 2019 to do a gravel tire review of their Boken series. 

I have conducted 'roll-down' tests of different tires for years now, and while I won't ever claim that my tests are all that technical or precise, I do get repeatable results from tires I try out. So, I think as a measure of rolling resistance in the 'real world' the results can be used a guideline of sorts. A reference, if you will, and I'd be willing to bet that what I find is going to be repeatable with other riders as well, given that the set-ups are at least similar.

I state all that because I am making the claim that these are the fastest rolling tires I have ever tested. Not by a little bit either. It isn't even a close battle. Now I've swapped courses since 2019, so I should remount those tires and give them a go on my current test track which has pavement and gravel test sections. 

But whatever- These are fast. They wear fast too, but if you are racing on gravel, you'd be hard pressed to find a better tire. Those knobs help a lot with stability, and cornering, and the over-all profile of these lends the tire a better ride on loose gravel than other, more rounded profile tires in the 40mm width. 

I'd pair these with something in the 23mm inner rim width on a light, carbon wheel set and I think that would make for a very fast, very nicely damped ride for most gravel courses. Of course, we're not going to expect these to survive a rock infested course with tire-eating, sharp stones. So, use yer noggin' here. Horses for courses, and all that.

I see these online now for 60 a pop. Not bad for a lightweight, high quality racing tire. Dead easy to set up and they do tubeless really well. Check them out if you are so inclined. Again- these are racing oriented. They will wear quickly and are not your "daily-driver", puncture protected, last forever tires. Just so we're clear on that.

Keep in mind that the Standard Disclaimer applies to these tires. I'll come back soon with another tire you should know about.