Note: WTB sent over one set each of the Vulpine S, Vulpine, and Resolute tires for testing and review to Guitar Ted Productions at no cost. I was not paid nor bribed for this review and I will always strive to give my honest thoughts and opinions throughout.
In this post I will give my first impressions of the WTB Vulpine 700 X 45mm, Vulpine S 700 x 45mm, and the Resolute 700 X 50mm tires. The previous post to this one has all the tech specs and first impressions out of the box. Please see that post for those details.
700 X 50mm Resolute:
First up I have the Resolute. While this tire isn't really a 50mm tire, at least the set I have is not, it doesn't mean that it is not an interesting tire and it is different than the older 42mm version. There is more air volume here, and I was able to leverage that to my advantage by dropping air pressures from my typical, close to 40psi down into the lower 30's psi. This gave the tire a nice, stable feel in loose gravel and the damped feel I expect from a Resolute was there as well.
When a tire tread design is expanded over a larger casing, this often times means that everything gets 'enlarged'. The knobs, the spaces between knobs, and, of course, the casing, all are bigger on this Resolute than they are on the narrower version of this tire. This does a few things to the wider Reso.
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| Everything is bigger - The knobs, the spaces between the knobs, and the casing. |
First of all, this slows down the tire a bit on hard surfaces like pavement or very hard dirt. But like the narrower Resolute, this tire comes alive on gravel or rougher surfaces where the rolling resistance seems less than it should be. On my roll-down track, the tire did not fare well on the pavement sector but it did a lot better on the gravel sector where I would deem it as "average" for most gravel tires I have tried on my test.
The Resolute does a great job over loose gravel in the 42mm size and this characteristic is amplified with the wider version. I'd take this tire to places I haven't been before because of its versatility and performance over varied terrain. However; I'd choose something like the Vulpine, or the Vulpine S if I were going to see a lot of hard surface gravel, dirt, or especially sections of pavement.
So Far... Yeah, so it hasn't come out as wide as I'd been led to believe, but this review isn't over yet. I'll remeasure later and see if I am gaining on that. Until then, I will say I like the wider Reso a lot. It does all the things I have liked about the Resolute tires that came before it, and those are good things.
700 X 45mm Vulpine
The Vulpine is a tire that doesn't look as smooth riding as it is, and it doesn't seem as grippy as it is either. This version is wider, has more air volume, and again - the knobs are larger. The 40mm tire, as well as the original 36mm Vulpine, were super-supple feeling and the ride quality was great, they just begged to be a bigger tire, in my opinion. But when I rode the 45mm Vulpine, it was a different beast.
This tire does have a great grip level in turns, and I would credit the tread design and the softer durometer rubber that the Dual DNA compound has on the shoulders of the tire. It's not an 'extreme lean' tire, but it does have a bit of a "save your bacon" characteristic if things get a bit out of line while you are riding. Especially on a harder surface.
The Vulpine 45mm was also acting very familiar to the 42mm Reso on my roll-down test because it was only 'average' on the paved sector but did a little better than you might expect on the gravel sector of the test. Nothing to write home about here. The ride quality was only average as well. Now, I will say that I believe that not only do these casings stretch, but they "break in" as well, and once you get enough rides in they start to act 'better'.
So Far... "Better" as in ride quality and rolling resistance. I have the least amount of riding on this tire so I will have to come back to this in my next update, but I don't see anything glaringly negative with the Vulpine 45mm. I expect that this tire will start acting much more like what I found with the Vulpine S.
Vulpine S 700 X 45mm:
Ah! Now we get to the tire I am most impressed with out of the bunch. The Vulpine S was a surprise when I was presented with this review opportunity, but not surprisingly it follows a current trend in "gravel race" oriented tires which have a smoother center tread area flanked by some sort of minimalist tread blocks.
I found that the tires were fast, I originally went up to around 38psi on pressure, which was great on pavement, but on gravel the tire wanted to hunt for a line and it was a bit of a chore to get down the road. However; I tried a lowered pressure, closer to 30psi, and the tires came alive. The ride was calmer on gravel, almost totally so, and the damped nature of the casing shown through where before it was just like any other tire.
Now was that all air pressure, or was it the casing breaking in? I have a hunch it was a bit of both things. I don't believe it was all air pressure, because I only went down around 5 psi, but something got better, and it would make sense that part of the reason why is the casing breaking in. It would also go along with the stretching factor I was told about initially as well.
On smoother gravel, this tire is amazing. Fast, supple, and just a lot of fun to ride. But even when the gravel gets a little chunky and loose this tire handles it well and the combination of the right air pressure, (whatever that ends up being for you) and the way the 120TPI casing works is a great thing. I fully expect to find a similar thing with the Vulpine 45mm tires, but perhaps at the cost of a little lower rolling resistance.
So Far... The Vulpine S is that racing, go-fast tire that WTB was missing in its range and it is a welcomed addition. When things are smooth, dry, or paved, this tire shines. But even a bit of looser crushed rock is okay if you use air pressure to adjust for that.
I find it interesting that WTB saw fit to release a 45mm variant of this new tire. It speaks to WTB's awareness of what is happening in gravel events. Not that long ago this tire would have been released as a 38mm, maybe a 40. But with racers realizing the benefits of wider tires and with manufacturers being able to deliver with product that not only is wider, but remains light and is durable? That's amazing to my mind.
Of course, we'll see how the Vulpine S holds up, but so far? This tire is rising to the top of my "best gravel tires" list very quickly.
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