File Treads and Market Forces

I've gotten a lot of questions this season about riding file treads for 'cross. First off, this is the first season I've actually ridden a file tread, my tried and true tire was a Challenge Grifo Medium on an FMB casing, before that and while still very mountain bike centric in my thinking, it was the Dugast Rhino, you can never have enough tread, right? Something just never sat right with me riding off road without knobs on my tires.

I, like a lot of the people who are asking me this season what I think of file treads, was the person last season asking what people's thoughts were who rode them. So, I figured I would just share what I've learned.

Ok, second admission, the only file tread I've ridden is the FMB Sprint and I don't consider this a true file tread. There are several "true" file treads out there, the Dugast Pipistrello and even the Challenge Grifo XS with it's minimalist side knobs to name a few.

The key differentiator between the Sprint and the true file treads is the addition of sturdy side knobs to provide better traction when cornering, especially at the much higher speeds of the drier or even slightly tacky courses we've been experiencing over the past couple of seasons. I actually went all in this season, at least initially, and only ordering a set of Sprints for my choice of all-around race tire.


I can say for certain they are faster and using the same side know pattern as the SSCs the Sprints hook up just as well as my Grifos in the corners. Even after 10 races on them, I'm still finding their limits when cornering. If you haven't ridden a file tread or have been wary of the lack of tread, check these tires out. I have ridden them in every race this year except the BCA mudfest and the following day at Winchester where both days warranted at least the Grifos. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this tread pattern is practical in a clincher version as they do require lower pressure (26-28psi for me at 170lbs) to really work well so you'll have to stomach the price tag for the tubs.

What made me think of this post? Well, for years Dugast has set the bar for 'cross tires with their supple cotton casings. Where they've fallen behind is tread selection. While you could spend the extra money and have some Michelin Mud 2s or Jet treads mounted to Dugast casings, they were just weren't advancing their tread designs. Then along comes FMB. If you're not familiar, FMB is another small French cycling tire company specializing in handbuilt cotton and silk tubulars. Andre Dugast actually sold the business a few years back and the tires are now produced by the new owner in the Netherlands, albeit with the same high quality of the original A. Dugasts. Today most top Euro PROs are still riding Dugast tires, primarily out of tradition (and being that they are free) but FMB is slowly making it's way to the top, in my opinion, and unseating Dugast as the best handbuilt tubular 'cross tires available. If nothing else, the introduction of FMB to the market has forced Dugast to take a hard look at tread design for tubulars which has long lagged behind the clincher market. I think the days of relying on name recognition alone are gone.

What did FMB do? First off, made popular treads from other manufacturers, i.e. the Challenge Grifo tread, a standard offering. Second, again in my opinion, made a superior casing. Not necessarily in performance but in durability. When you pay $125-$140 for a tire, you want it to last more than a season. Rarely did I ever get that out of a Dugast. Aside from hammering a sidewall into pavement and tearing it, the casings on the FMBs from last season are holding up nicely. I think that's also in part to the fact that FMB pre-seals their casings unlike Dugast in which you need to Aquaseal them yourself and reapply through the season if racing in wet condition a lot. The FMBs also seem less prone to rot than the Dugast, a by product of the construction and sealing process of FMB casings. Maybe I just never used enough Aquaseal.

Now, back to my original, original reason for this rant about tires no one else rides. Dugast has introduced a new file tread similar to the FMB Sprint, the Pipisquallo. Pulling the side knobs from their tried and true Rhino and matting them with the Pipistrello tread. I thought this was interesting given that FMB has offered the Sprint for several years now and Dugast is still figuring it out after a failed version of the Pipistrello with minimal side knobs. As much as I would love to spend $270 to ride them and compare to the Sprints, I probably won't, simply because I'm satisfied with the FMBs and may be hard for me to revert back to Dugast.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/reviews/dugast-pipisquallo-tubular-cyclo-cross-tire