$45 Mountain Bike Tires? Delium Rugged Tire Review

If you are looking for some of the best affordable mountain bike tires on the market, these Delium Tires could be for you. We first spotted the Delium Tires crew at Sea Otter last year, with a small, tucked away booth that housed some impressive looking tread patterns. We were instantly impressed by the patterns and offerings of their tire range. Then we learned their prices and we got even more excited. Delium Tires are hoping to shake up the mountain bike tire market by offering some premium performance contenders at half the price of their competition. We were stoked to get their Rugged All-Round tire out onto the trails and see what can be achieved with a $45 tire.

THE DIRT
Getting Delium’s Rugged All-Round to seat onto the rim proved to be a little inconsistent and trickier than some. One of our three sets had a tendency to collapse and fold, losing its shape in the process. We did get them to seat eventually with a good blast of air and some coaxing, but it was certainly not the most straightforward tire to do so. Once aired up, they held pressure and sealant just fine, so it’s safe to say their tubeless-ready carcass does a good job at sealing in the air.

Hitting the trail, we were quite impressed by the rolling speed on offer from the aggressively treaded tire. This was most likely a combination of a slightly harder rubber compound and thinner casing being a little more supple than the outgoing stickies, as well as the slightly higher pressures we were running to ensure the casing had enough support under hard compressions. Although they only weigh 990g, with a casing that is lighter and a touch less protective than we’d typically fit to test rigs like the Yeti 160E, we didn’t get a flat despite our best efforts in terrain that’s claimed many wheel and tire victims in our past.

Cornering grip was excellent across a wide range of lean angles, thanks to those intermediate lugs ensuring there’s always a good number of knobs digging in. The hard rubber base and relatively big shoulder knobs meant that you could push the tire hard into anything with support without the knobs folding and feeling vague. In the same vein, there was seldom a time when the tire would “snap” out of traction, with a relatively predictable breakaway over most surfaces that encouraged the limits to be tickled regularly.

Our only real criticism of the Rugged All-Round model tested was the braking bite, which lacked a little on harder packed terrain. In the softer, loamier soils of the PNW other testers didn’t suffer from the same issues, with the relatively tall knobs digging in and generating the required bite just fine. We would have loved to put a set of the Rugged Reinforced tires to the test, to see if the softer rubber compounds and slightly lower pressures we would be running would give us the hook up on the loose and rocky terrain that we were missing.

Thanks to the relatively hard rubber compounds in use through the center tread, and slightly less berm ripping occurring during the test period thanks to the winter conditions, the Delium tires have shown great longevity. They have endured nearly 120 miles with only slightly rounded edges to show for it, adding further to that great value proposition. At $45 a tire, we would be stoked to recommend these to a friend, so long as they’re not seeking the absolute grippiest or heaviest hitting rubber. We’ll be looking forward to putting the Rugged Reinforced tires to the test in the future to see if they answer our braking traction prayers.

For the full review, visit the website here:
https://theloamwolf.com/2022/02/04/review-delium-rugged-all-round-tires/

Get your Loam Wolf gear here:
https://store.theloamwolf.com
------------------------------------
FOLLOW US
Website: https://www.theloamwolf.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theloamwolf/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theloamwolf