Review: Specialized Clutch SX 2.3"

The Clutch SX was designed for; "railing high speed turns and plowing over the harshest terrain, with a low knob pattern that provides the best mix of speed, traction, and control in intermediate conditions". Sounds like the perfect DH tire, right? Thing is, this really is a mediocre performing tire.

So I had a chance to test this tire for an entire year, in several different bikeparks, and even on more than a few rocky AM all-day trips as well. I had the Clutch installed on the front, as well as the rear. Lets start with the front;

As a front tire, this tire is a descent performing tire in dry and wet conditions, tracks well in rocky situations. But my complaint has to be that the off-camber grip is somewhat missing. I had my biggest off-camber crash with this tire installed, and Im quite confident that the tire was mostly to blame, it just began to wash away during a high speed descend through this off-camber section. (my friends stayed on the line). Berms and roots are handled just fine.

The best performance I got out of this tire was as a rear tire. It was doing its job just fine, tracking the ground as I wanted it to do, and it is even shedding the mud pretty good as well. But just don't expect mistake swallowing performance. The tire was also quite prone to snakebites, as soon as I got a little bit experimental with lower tire pressures.

There is nothing wrong with a mediocre performing tire, but I think most would agree that choosing an outstanding performing tire, would be the better choice.

Size: 2.3"
Tested on: Front and Rear
Claimed weight: approx 1000 gram
Actual weight: Stay tuned
Score: 3/6

Rear tire installation, this is where you suck the best performance out of the Clutch SX

(click to enlarge)

Testing was done on the front as well, some of the testing was painful.

(click to enlarge)