Vittoria

Air-Liner Light XC Tire Insert

Went back to Cush Core

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

So I really liked the idea of these extremely light inserts that I could ride on with a flat. My assumption was that I could ride even lower PSI compared to Cush Core XC inserts and get even better protection. The reality is that the protection is worse and I had to run higher PSI. For context, I'm running Conti Cross Kings 2.2. These are my favorite tires and I consider them some of the best XC tires out there. Your mileage may vary with these inserts depending on which tires you're pairing them with. I rode these inserts for about 2 months and maybe 300-400 miles. So I found right off the bat that these things crippled the grip on my tires. It almost didn't matter what PSI I used, the inserts seemed to affect the way the tires would flex, limiting them with gaining max traction. This seemed to the be case climbing and descending. While it may seem nice that these inserts take up so much room in your tires, this is maybe its biggest downside. This causes your tire to flex a lot less, creating a smaller traction surface (see previos complaint) as well as making it a lot easier for your tires to burp while cornering. I've never burped a tire before, but I would consistently burp with these inserts and as such, was forced to run a very high PSI to compensate. My last complaint would be that these inserts cause your sealant to work a lot less efficiently. Because the inserts take up most of the space inside your tire, sealent takes a lot longer to pour out punctures as it first needs to find its way around the insert before making contact with the puncture. Their only saving grace was that I flatted (only because I suspect my sealant wasn't able to seal in time because of the inserts) and I was able to ride out on my flat tire, albeit slowly, about 2 miles. So these inserts will allow you to ride on all the flats they create! I've switched back to Cush Core and I'm realizing how nice I had it and didn't even know it. I'll be looking to sell these Air-Liner Light XC inserts on FB Marketplace.