The new Specialized Eliminator is a tyre that, according to the manufacturer, is the ultimate downhill expert. No, what's more, the tyre really should be able to do everything. Finally, the tyre that has become a rubber wool milk sow?
That sounds pretty full-bodied, after all, Specialized has the Butcher, the FREERIDE editorial team's favourite tyre on the shelf, which - at least in the downhill version - already delivers absolute top performance downhill. So Specialized can already do the downhill part.
But soft rubber compounds and multi-layer carcasses, which provide grip and puncture protection on a downhill tyre, work against low rolling resistance for longer tours or high mileage. They also weigh down the tyre. Touring bikers usually look for tyres with more moderate treads and, above all, the lowest possible weight.
In the meantime, the standards are shifting: trail bikes, i.e. the former sport all-mountains, have to be able to do more and more downhill and are slowly mutating into cropped mini enduro bikes, with the current enduro bikes you can already win downhill World Cups and the freerider is apparently only needed for big mountain adventures such as the Rampage out of the cellar. Different tyre requirements apply to all bikes with an electric motor anyway...
The Specialized Eliminator caters precisely to this ever-growing target group, which also manages metres in altitude using muscle power, but clearly focuses on the dopamine wave that then sweeps through the brain in the ideally speedy descent. The tyre developers at Specialized have tweaked the three most important parameters: tread, carcass and rubber compound.
Uniformly arranged centre lugs on the Eliminator are intended to ensure propulsion and high braking force transmission even on loose surfaces, while the high side lugs bite into the ground in bends. In between are the so-called transition lugs, which, according to the manufacturer, ensure a smooth change in lean angle but also a good-natured limit range.
There is a choice of two wheel sizes (27.5 and 29 inches), two tyre widths and two carcasses - but not (yet) in every combination. The Grid carcass is the starting point. Here, an additional rubber layer (rubber apex) reinforces the sidewall and thus provides better protection against cuts. The new construction variant with the designation BLCK DMND is intended to provide even more stable sidewalls; in addition to the apex layer, the carcass is doubled here. The advantages are greater puncture protection and stability in bends. The tread remains single-ply and therefore flexible in order to adapt to uneven ground.
The newly brewed rubber compound called Gripton is designed to combine high traction, low rolling resistance and good damping properties. Logical, for an all-rounder. The tyre is available immediately, foldable in all variants and ready for tubeless mounting, i.e. tubeless ready (2bliss Ready).
Specialised Eliminator: Sizes, prices and weights
Conclusion: The Specialized Eliminator is not going to be the real all-rounder among tyres. The minimum weight of 830 grams in the narrowest version alone speaks against this. But in the enduro racing circus, for example, or in the class of robust touring tyres that provide reasonable puncture protection and acceptable rolling behaviour during a crossing of the Alps to ensure freedom from stress, do not weaken with the extra grip even in wet or loose ground and are not overly expensive, we could probably hear the name Specialized more often in the future.
Sebastian Brust
Editor
