First, the tire mounted perfectly to my Stan's Flow rim with only a floor pump, which was a great start. When I got the tire out on the road for quick spin, I could feel the knobs vibrating the entire bike, all the way up to the grips. The knobs aren't that big, but they are spaced pretty far apart, I suppose to shed mud or something, but since we don't have ridable mud here, that's no real use to me.
Here's my testing method: I take a new tire to one particularly technical trail here in Austin, where, if ridden well, the tires alone will get you up the technical climb. I very quickly can tell if a tire is worth it's weight based on this climb, and I have disqualified many a tire on this very trail, very quickly.
I'll cut to the chase. 2.0 for this tire is way too small for me and the way I ride, but this was as experiment. The michelin grabbed well on the square edged rocks, but when it came to any angled edges, the wild grip'r was anything but. Even staying seated for those climbs didn't give me the kind of grip I was used to. Instead, I got the sideways slide, which the Nevagal, which I refer to as my tire experiment control, never does. Sliding sideways like that is enough to rule this tire out for normal Austin usage.
So in short, between being undersized and not grabbing to the angled limestone ledges, it's no use to me. At least it was cheap.
Anyone want a once used Wild Grip'r?
(Review by Woody)
Photo from Michelin.com