Having been raced to both UCI XCO & XCC World Championship wins, now Vittoria is making public the new Peyote & Mezcal mountain bike tires that their factory team have been racing for the past 2 seasons. New treads, widths, casing, and race-winning rubber.
Vittoria Peyote & Mezcal updated XC mountain bike tires
Backed up by both short and long format cross-country World’s titles, Vittoria explains there new XC Race mountain bike tire development as the direct response to the greater demands put on tires by ever-faster, ever-more-technical cross-country courses. “Producing tires that are not only tougher but also faster is a tall order“. But that was the goal of this all-new Peyote and the updated Mezcal.
All-new Peyote
Vittoria created the new Peyote to race fast-rolling ‘hardpack to fine loose’ trail conditions. Calling it a tire built for the cross-country racers looking for the’ seeking the ‘ultimate edge’ over their competition. This is a meant to be one of the fastest tires you can slap onto an XC bike. Vittoria says their own telemetry testing data backs up the Peyote as ‘fastest in its class’, claiming the new tire to be up to 4% faster than their biggest competitor.
“When designing the Peyote, simply going fast wasn’t the goal. Instead, we viewed success as the reduction of time from point-A to point-B, taking speed, grip, control, dependability, and rider fatigue into account,” said Ken Avery, SVP Product Development.
Pick from classic 29er x 2.25″ widths for faster, less techy racing. Or go for the new bigger volume 2.4″ width that has become the norm as XC racing has become more technical.
Fast-rolling XC tread design
The all-new Vittoria Peyote tread design slots in between the gravel Terreno and cross-country Mezcal. It offers fast rolling with its continuous central tread band, but plenty of high-speed grip due to the thin lines of these low-profile V-shaped chevrons. The Peyote’s classic elongated Vittoria V layout promises to “dig through loose terrain to find traction while evacuating debris laterally”.
Alternating transition knobs and thin transition ridge lines are designed to provide predictable and reactive control while leaning into corner. Then, two rows of alternating shoulder lugs provide more supportive grip the deeper you lean, with longitudinal sipes cut into each for more edges to grip “directly opposing the path of cornering forces” at every lean angle.
A bigger Mezcal XC Race, too
To pair with the all-new Peyote, Vittoria gives their “World Championship-proven Mezcal” a big new 2.4″ option too. It gets the same supple casing as before.
But now you can mix and match 29″ x 2.25″ or 2.4″ versions of both the Peyote & Mezcal to fine-tune your balance of speed and grip depending on XC course conditions.
New Vittoria Race Formulation XC Tech
The all-new Peyote and Mezcal XC Race both are made with the same top-spec XC Race Formulation construction that their factory riders race on the UCI pro circuit.
That Race Formulation rubber mixes in Graphene and Silica to deliver enhanced wet conditions grip, from what are otherwise low-profile XC race treads you’d expect to be limited to dry conditions. That supple grippy rubber combines with a relatively thin 60tpi casing and the lower pressures from wider tire volume to deform over obstances for improved grip. Vittoria explains that this combined construction has proven to noticeably decrease racers’ fatigue while at the same time imrpoving the reliability of the new tires during intense racing.
“The new casing, new compound, and new size addition of Mezcal shows a 3% improvement in rolling performance on its own, while the new Peyote Tread shows 6% improvement in total when combined with this new casing and compound. When applied to a real-world scenario, this means that a Peyote rider in a typical XC race scenario will gain ~0.75 km/hr. of average speed over the course of the race. These benefits are in addition to an 11% increase in grip (especially in wet), and durability of the new casing without impacting dependability.“
New Vittoria Peyote & Mezcal XC – Pricing, options & availability
The all-new Peyote and updated Mezcal cross-country tires are both offered in 2.25″ and 2.4″ sizes. And they both come in black or brown wall options with this top-spec XC Race 60tpi TLR casing with Race Formulation rubber for $99.99 per tire.
Weight claims run from as low last 680g per 2.25 Mezcal or 710g per 2.25 Peyote. Black sidewall tires are generally 10g heavier than brown. And 2.4s are 10-20g heaver than the 2.25″ tires.
All of the new 29×2.4″ Vittoria Peyote & Mezcal tires are available now. But you’ll likely have to wait until August for 2.25 Mezcals, or even next season for 2.25″ Peyotes.
