A few weeks back I received a little care package from Duo that had some fresh tires, grips, and one of those fancy Defgrip seats in it. I figured that I’d give the tires a review because I’ve been getting a lot of comments on them lately from people.
Alright, so first thoughts on the tires. I was real psyched on the whole red wall situation. I had been really digging the red walls so when I opened the box to see that I think I did a champ stance of some sort. I also noticed they were wire bead. This wasn’t a huge issue since I’m not too worried about the few ounces a kevlar bead saves, but I did realize my tire levers were no longer in existence. Trusty flat head screw drivers do the trick with plenty of years of experience using those as tire levers. These tires are available in the kevlar bead (all black tire only though) for those of you who prefer that style of bead.
So I’m running a 20×2.20 in the front and a 20×1.95 in the rear. This is my usual tire size as well since I don’t need to be running a monster truck tire in the back. I previously had Odyssey Aitken tires in the front and back so the tread was a little less aggressive and more geared towards street and park riding, which you can see below. Don’t get me wrong though, these have held up on dirt as well and I’m sure later this spring I’ll be riding trails more as well.
Riding the tires have been good. I’ve been riding mostly park and a little street lately and I haven’t had much of an issue with my tires spinning or slipping out. I’ve also only had one flat, but that was due to a spoke that poked through my rim strip.
The tires haven’t wore much at all either which has been real cool. I recall having a Fit F.A.F tire that I burned up pretty quickly and was bummed about, so when a tire lasts it’s always a good thing.
The downside to having the red walls is that the scuff marks and wax from ledges shows up on the tires. I saw Corey Martinez tweeted a picture recently of his bike and he had the same thing going on as well. It doesn’t appear that it has worn too hard on the side of the tires from grinding and what not. So that’s definitely a bonus.
Overall, the tires have been real good and seem to be holding up and lasting. The grip, and everything is good as well. I’ve been psyched on them and they look good too.
So here’s the specs…
Available in 20×2.20″ (20.7 oz. wire bead / 19.1 oz. kevlar) and 20×1.95 (19.3 oz. wire bead / 17.2 oz. kevlar)
110psi
Available in Folding (all black only) and wire bead. (all 3 colors)
Available in all black, tan wall and red wall.
$24.99 for the wire bead ( Dan’s Comp )
$39.99 for the kevlar bead ( Dan’s Comp )
Here’s a quick shot of the Duo x Defgrip seat.
Then the Van Homan grips. They are super soft, and have been wearing pretty well. I’ve noticed my left grip tends to always go faster than my right so I’ll probably rotate them pretty soon. The color kind of goes with the tires so that’s rad as well!
So check out http://www.DuoBrand.com for more.
If you’re a shop looking to carry Duo, check http://www.greenhousebmx.com
I also figured I had a new edit that I filmed in about 45 minutes one morning that I’ve been sitting on and not really doing anything with it, so that’s in here too since I had the tires on and everything…
