WTB Trail Boss/Vigilante [Rider Review]

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WTB has been around since 1982, so it's safe to say they know a thing or two about making bike components. Their Vigilante and Trail Boss tire combo is hands down their most popular tire combo. Our friend, Liam, is trying them out. See what they think!

Overview

Reason for purchase:
Although my last set of tires (eThirteen Gen2 A/T TRS+) had plenty of life left in them, I found them somewhat lacking in terms of overall grip. I decided to go with the WTB Vigilante 2.5 high grip compound, for the front, and Trail Boss 2.4 fast rolling compound in the rear, both in the 29" tough casing versions. The large, well spaced, tread block design of the Vigilante has a reputation for great all around grip, favoring consistency as the tire is leaned over at the expense of maximum grip at full tilt. The Trail Boss being an obviously more trail focused tire, with smaller, more tightly spaced knobs, promising better rolling resistance, is more suited to a quick rolling rear tire.

Installation, weights and measures:
Prior to installing the tires I checked their actual weights against their specs. The Vigilante came in right at it's advertised weight at 1250 grams. Trail Boss came in at 1180 grams, vs it's 1225 gram advertised weight.

Both tires were mounted onto a set of WTB ASYM i29 with WTB rim tape, and eThirteen Plasma sealant. Both tires were difficult to get onto the rims, and while the Vigilante was difficult to mount, and the Trail Boss was extremely difficult to get on the rim. The Trail Boss was so tight it had me checking the sidewall size designation to see if it wasn't a mislabeled 27.5 tire. For anyone planning on using these tires, I'd suggest mounting them, and then injecting sealant through the valve stem. Pouring the sealant in, and then wrestling the tire onto the rim just makes a mess. Because the tires were so tight on the rims, getting them properly seated required removing the valve cores, and using a Prestaflator connected to a full size air compressor, in order to get enough air volume to force them to seat. There is no way these would seat with just a floor pump, or mini compressor. A high volume chamber floor pump may get them to seat, but I wouldn't bet on it. Once seated I gave both wheels a few spins and bounces to get the sealant distributed and the tire casing sealed up. This is when I noticed some minor sealant bleed on the sidewalls of the tires. I didn't expect this from "Tough" casing tires, but the bleeding did subside after a few hours as the sealant had a chance to fill up the tiny pin holes in the casing, allowing the tires to hold pressure.

After getting both tires mounted and inflated I noticed that the Vigilante seemed quite a bit bigger than the Trail Boss. There was noticeably more of a size difference than their 2.5, and 2.4 designations would imply. The Vigilante 2.5 measured just a bit over 2.5" at the widest part of the tread, while the Trail Boss measured closer to 2.3" at its' widest point. The Vigilante was also a half inch larger in diameter, and it's casing looked much larger overall, almost like a plus size tire. The Trail Boss looks anemic in comparison, and seems more like a 2.25" tire than the 2.4" that it is sold as. Between the lower than advertised weight, width, and appearance, it kinda makes me wonder if there wasn't a mistake with casing sizing in the manufacturing process. Both tires did have a nice rounded tread profile on the i29 rims.

On the Trail:
In terms of riding performance, these tires absolutely perform as advertised. They have heaps of grip and thanks to their heavy casings, there isn't a hint of squirm as they monster truck through rough trail conditions. They pick up and maintain speed really well, also thanks to their heavy casings and fast rolling tread. The increased grip, speed, and ability to track straight through rough terrain was vast improvement over my previous tires, and gave an entirely different ride experience. The grip on these tires is very consistent as they are leaned over. There is no vague, or drifty zone between the center knobs and the side knobs.

Final Thoughts

Although these tires rolled fairly well, their weight keeps them from being and option for long climbs unless the rider is quite fit. I'd recommend them to anyone who frequently does shuttle rides, and suggest the lighter casing versions to anyone who pedals to the top. Additionally, I wouldn't recommend these to anyone who wants to be able to insert an emergency tube. The difficulty in getting these mounted, and unmounted almost makes that an impossible task on a trail side. For the OCD types, I'd also pass along a word of warning about the considerable size difference in the 2.5 Vigilante and 2.4 Trail Boss, and maybe recommend a fast rolling Vigilante in back if you have to have your front and rear tire casings closer in size.