# New Maxxis Padrone TR 170 tubeless tires



## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

Has anybody tried and can offer some feedback on Maxxi's new version of their Padrone tire? The new version is supposedly improved with:

- Higher TPI casing (120->170)
- More protection around the sidewalls (Silkshield vs. Silkworm)
- Lower weight
- 25c version (though the old version now is also available in 25c)

I loved the original tire but moved onto other tires since they only had a 23c version until very recently.

Thanks.


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## Dave in Driggs (Aug 16, 2004)

I thought I would reply to this thread and bump it up in hopes that someone has some feedback on the new Padrone TR 170 TPI tires. Anybody?


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

Almost. I've got three in my possession now, just waiting for my current set of IRC Roadlites to give up the ghost in maybe another 200 miles (1-2 weeks) .


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

the original 120 TPI padrone was designed to be used without sealant. The airtight casing was likely designed not to be compatible with sealant (deterioriate with the ammonia in Stan's)

the 170, because it's "downgraded" to "Tubeless Ready", they don't have to worry about the air tight casing, which drops weight and produces a better ride.


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

tednugent said:


> the original 120 TPI padrone was designed to be used without sealant. The airtight casing was likely designed not to be compatible with sealant (deterioriate with the ammonia in Stan's)


I used sealant (Hutchy Protect'Air) with the original Padrones and had no issues. I think the sealant was just optional since the casing was air tight without it, Shimano's alloy tubeless wheels are the only thing that I know of that didn't play well with some sealants containing ammonia.


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## igor99 (May 31, 2011)

I've got about 1000 miles on some. So far so good. I've got them on some Stan's Alpha 400s.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

cooskull said:


> I used sealant (Hutchy Protect'Air) with the original Padrones and had no issues. I think the sealant was just optional since the casing was air tight without it, Shimano's alloy tubeless wheels are the only thing that I know of that didn't play well with some sealants containing ammonia.


back in the day, Maxxis did have a statment on the tires saying the workmanship warranty was voided if you used sealant.

Also back in the day, there were UST tires in the MTB world that were not sealant compatible, with Stan's being the primary sealant (when the Padrones were released, that was still the case), until those companies made "Sealant Compatible Technology" tires.

by getting rid of the airtight casing, you solve 2 issues plaguing road tubeless:
1) Weight
2) harsher ride.


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

I mounted my 25c Maxxis Padrones 170 TRs and took a 65 mile ride this weekend. Initial impressions:

- Tires were easy to mount even on my Pacenti SL23 V1 rims. First tubeless tires I've mounted on these rims that I didn't need tire levers, strong alcohol and an extensive 4-letter word vocabulary. Tire inflation was easily accomplished with just a floor pump.
- The 25c labeling is a joke and is a big disappointment. These tires only measured about 24.5mm wide mounted and inflated. That is at least a full 2mm less than my usual 25c IRC Roadlites. The shape and size compare with 23c Schwalbe Ones I once ran. Now I know why the 25c version is only ~10g more than the 23c version- it's really just a marketing gimmick.
- The sidewalls are VERY thin. Not saying this is necessarily a negative if the puncture resistance doesn't suffer, time will tell. Still, the center tread thickness seemed pretty beefy which is good.
- Ride seemed fast (I know this is at best extremely subjective) but the comfort level was noticeably harsher than my previous Roadlites, no doubt due to the thinner tire width. Cornering traction seemed to be very excellent. 

I'll do another update when I wear these out.


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## robt57 (Jul 23, 2011)

cooskull said:


> but the comfort level was noticeably harsher than my previous Roadlites, no doubt due to the thinner tire width.
> 
> I'll do another update when I wear these out.



What is your weight and what tire pressures did you start with? And will you diddle the pressures to see how the tire might react as far as perceived speed and ride quality??

Thanks


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

robt57 said:


> What is your weight and what tire pressures did you start with? And will you diddle the pressures to see how the tire might react as far as perceived speed and ride quality??
> 
> Thanks


I weigh 205# and the pressure I used was 80f/95r since this was optimal for my previous IRC Roadlite tires. Sure I'll play with the pressure as I ride them more, but I can't see getting away with easing the pressure too much for ride comfort since the Padrone 170s are a substantially smaller tire. I was hoping the higher thread count casing would somewhat offset the narrowness, but my perception was that it didn't.


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## robt57 (Jul 23, 2011)

cooskull said:


> I weigh 205# and the pressure I used was 80f/95r since this was optimal for my previous IRC Roadlite tires. Sure I'll play with the pressure as I ride them more, but I can't see getting away with easing the pressure too much for ride comfort since the Padrone 170s are a substantially smaller tire. I was hoping the higher thread count casing would somewhat offset the narrowness, but my perception was that it didn't.


Have they fattened up even a little 24+ hours sitting aired up? I just had got the Fusion III 23mm. I am 10lb more than you and run 85/95 lb. Even after 2-3 weeks now they are 22.7mm on my old 7801-SL DA wheels. I wonder if my SL23 Pacenti will let them spread more. They replaced Atom Tubeless which also @ 23mm tires sat out on the DA wheels a bit wider than the Fusion III. Atoms rode more supple, but the 23 Fusion II ride still at least as good as my 25mm Conti GP4K chili with latex tubes FWIW.

Your ride quality comment got me curious, thanks for chiming back in.


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

robt57 said:


> Have they fattened up even a little 24+ hours sitting aired up? I just had got the Fusion III 23mm. I am 10lb more than you and run 85/95 lb. Even after 2-3 weeks now they are 22.7mm on my old 7801-SL DA wheels. I wonder if my SL23 Pacenti will let them spread more. They replaced Atom Tubeless which also @ 23mm tires sat out on the DA wheels a bit wider than the Fusion III. Atoms rode more supple, but the 23 Fusion II ride still at least as good as my 25mm Conti GP4K chili with latex tubes FWIW.
> 
> Your ride quality comment got me curious, thanks for chiming back in.


To be honest, I don't have a micrometer to do such accurate measurements. I first measured them this morning after my 65 mile ride yesterday so they were somewhat broken in. Actually measuring them again after another short 25 mile ride today, I'd say they are maybe a hair over 24mm wide and that's it. 

I will say these tires have a strange profile on the Pacenti SL23 rims. The tires are rather tall fully inflated, probably as tall as my previous IRC Roadlites, just not very wide. They do have a very aero profile, even more so since the tire is almost exactly as wide as the rim. But alas, I'm a distance rather than a speed guy so comfort is king for me.


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## ghettocop (Apr 19, 2014)

Great review, thanks. I have run the gamut on road tubeless and have been pretty badly disappointed with most offerings except for the Bontrager R3's-R2's. Great performing tires, good ride quality, easy to set up, but pretty tight. The R3's while lighter, and more supple, wear out extremely fast as a rear tire, so I run R2 rear, R3 front. Have had bad luck with Schwalbe One's, Hutchinson Fusions, and Hutchinson Sectors. All three of the latter's developed deep ride ending cuts in the center of the tread after less than 100 miles. The Schwalbes felt pretty good so I tried them a couple of times, but the cuts appeared without fail on every tire. I am sticking with the Bontrager for now cause I am happy with them, but am always interested in other offerings. Thanks for the review. For reference, the above listed tires have been run on A-23's, Belgiums, and Belgium plus.


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

*Update on my Padrone 170 experience*

My rear tire finally gave up the ghost so I though I'd post a long term review in addition to what I posted earlier.

Pros: 
-The durability of this tire was outstanding. I thought the feather weight would come at the expense of durability, but it didn't. My rear tire lasted a hair shy of 2000 miles with cords just beginning to show. For reference I used to get about 1800-2000 miles out of GP4000S when I ran them and 1200-1600 miles with Schwalbe One tubeless 25cs. But considering I ran these tires in the heart of winter (much sand on the road) and had a few emergency stops/skids thrown in, I think normal summer mileage would have been maybe another %10-20 more.
- Puncture resistance was very good. Over the life of the tire I had one sealed puncture which I didn't even notice except for some Orange Seal sprayed on the back of my bike. The tire itself had very few small nicks in it despite the copious presence of sand and gravel on the winter roads.

Cons:
- Ride comfort was more harsh than just about any other tubeless tire I've tried. I would chalk this up to the tire's puny width and volume.
- Handling/cornering confidence was lacking. Extra subliminal caution on my part for sandy road conditions likely played a part but somehow it seemed the cornering mojo just wasn't there with these tires. Again I think the skinny width played a big part of this.

Verdict:
Maxxis could have had one outstanding all-around tire under their belts- a tubeless tire that is very fast, durable, well manufactured and reasonably priced considering $/mile, but they totally dropped the ball with the whole sizing thing. The 25c tire was essentially a 23c tire and I can imagine the 23c is probably more likely comparable to a 22c. If they quit trying to cater to the weight weenies and made this tire true to size, this would be hands down my "goto" tire. This tire might still be a worthy consideration for those who normally ride a 23c tire, but for me anyways the search continues....


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## changingleaf (Aug 20, 2009)

I agree that the Padrone TR is undersize. The 25mm is good as a 23. I find they wear well and are a little loser than Hutchinson and Schwalbe tubeless tires so they mount easier.


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

*28C actual mounted width?*

Has anybody tried the 28C version that they could report the actual measured with, preferably on a wide 18-20mm inner width rim? I found the 25C to be sized very small, but was wondering if the 28C might measure closer to what other manufacturers consider 25C to "normally" be.

TIA


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## 92gli (Aug 27, 2009)

cooskull said:


> Has anybody tried the 28C version that they could report the actual measured with, preferably on a wide 18-20mm inner width rim? I found the 25C to be sized very small, but was wondering if the 28C might measure closer to what other manufacturers consider 25C to "normally" be.
> 
> TIA


Curious too. My 25c bontrager R3s are almost toast and I was thinking of going up to 28, but have a feeling they'll be about the same.


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

92gli said:


> Curious too. My 25c bontrager R3s are almost toast and I was thinking of going up to 28, but have a feeling they'll be about the same.


I have bought some 28Cs and am about a week from putting them on. Measuring the width of the tires uninflated they are almost exactly the same as some 25C IRC tubeless tires I've had, which on my Kinlin XR31T rims inflated out to be ~27mm wide. As such I would expect the Padrone 28Cs to be comparable to 25C tires which run on the large side (ie. IRCs and Conti 4000s).

As a side note, I've gotten literally twice the mileage from my original flavor Maxxis Padrone 25Cs as I have from IRC RBCC 25Cs which I find stunning.


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## cooskull (Nov 30, 2013)

For the record...

New Maxxis Padrone TR 28c tires measure out to be about 27.5mm wide on Kinlin XR31T rims @ 70PSI. However these tires are VERY tall with a measured height of about 24mm from the rim, so vertical clearance maybe an issue for many bikes. My new Maxxis Padrone (non TR) 25c is only 19mm tall on the same rims.


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## Stumpy2011 (Aug 1, 2011)

IMO, 
The Padrone 170 TR are the best tubeless tires I ever rode. (Can't say anything about the 120 TPI tubeless, which may be a complete different tire)
I had the Hutchinson (don't remember exact model, probably fusion 3) and Schwalbe one prior to those.
The Padrone are easy to mount , provides lot of confidence and a very smooth ride.
I did about 800 miles on those and they look like new.. never an issue or a flat.
Mine are the 25mm, I run it at about 90 psi, w/Stan's sealant on Stan's Alpha 400 wheels - my weight 185 lbs.
Also installed on My wife's bike - same results.
Highly Recommended !


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## pressed001 (Dec 18, 2015)

While reading this thread I was often wondering how wide the tires were measuring in reference to the users internal wheel width. Only cooskull informed on this inadvertently. 

I have some Re-Fuse's, very many, and measured them today on my 19mm internal width wheels. The 23's measured at about 22 and the 25's came in at about 23. Shame, really. That's why I have read this thread and am researching what tire to buy next.

The 25's did however measure a perfect 25 on my 21mm internal width rims. I will go forward thinking that the Padrones will be similar and will purchase both the 25's and 28's. If the 28's are too wide on my 21mm rim, they can then go onto the 19mm rims.

Thanks for all the helpful information guys. I really find the re-fuses to be best price/km but they only offer them in 32 and 40mm Tubeless version, so I hope the Padrone silkshield will hold up as well as the re-fuse silkworm always did. Been riding the re-fuses for over 3 years now with zero flats.


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