Specialized Butcher Tire Review

Specialized have been making bikes for decades now. They have slowly begun to produce their own parts and accessories for bicycles as well. With the demands of the UCI World Cup Circuit and having a strong team of riders to help them Specialized began developing Downhill oriented tires. 2010 saw the release of the Specialized Butcher Tire. 

Features

• Casing: 60 TPI, dual ply
• Compound: Base 70a / Top 42a
• Bead: Wire
• Pinch Protection: Butyl inserts at bead
• 26" x 2.3; psi 25-50; approx. weight 1250g
• 26" x 2.5; psi 25-50; approx. weight 1260g

Q & A With Specialized

What type of terrain is the Butcher tire designed for?  Intermediate/Mixed conditions.
How long was the Butcher under development and what if any pro riders had input on its design?  Time of Butcher took about 7 months.  Monster Energy Team, including Sam Hill, feedback was instrumental in the creation of the Butcher.  As well as Riders/Racers from across the globe and in our own office here in Morgan Hill.

What were some of the major concerns when creating this tire? (Weight, traction, pinch flat, etc.)  Of course we wanted to create a DH tire as light as we could without sacrificing other important traits.  Pinch flats are addressed with our butyl insert on DH models.  This stiffens up this area and when railing and cornering down hills, it keeps structure to the sidewalls preventing pinch flats.  For traction, we went with a soft 42a durometer for the complete knob tread.  We mated this to a harder 70a compound completely underneath.  So not dual compound, but dual layer compound.  This gives the soft tread knobs the perfect amount of support to stick when you need the traction.  This is found on our DH line, from the HillBilly, Butcher and Storm DH.
 
Is it likely we will see this tire offered with different compounds in the future?  We continue to strive, innovate and raise the bar on our products.  So if our studies and testing find an option that will enhance the performance for this type of rider, then we will develop it.
 
What about UST compatibility?  We do not make a UST version of the Butcher.
 
How has this tire preformed on the race circuit so far?  The results and feedback of many riders in this discipline have been very good!  Our sponsored Monster Energy Team communicated to us that they are pleased with their offerings and we are giving them the tools they need to win.  Testament to that is Sam Hill’s victory at Worlds.  There are many other teams and pro riders, (in our office too) who consistently podium and rave about the performance of not only the Butcher, but our complete line of DH models.

We weighed the tires and they varied by as high as 90 grams. This is pretty normal keep in mind it is steel wrapped in rubber. So if you are real concerned about weight just weigh them before buying. The tires mounted easily. They are very big their 2.3 is about as wide as most companies 2.5 so keep that in mind. 

Overall The Butchers rolled very well. We are closing in on about seven months of riding on them. We have yet to pinch flat them so they have very good pinch flat protection. I have run pressure as low as 21 PSI on very rocky terrain with the Butchers. Where we ride is almost all rock. Luckily the tires stuck onto rock faces very well and held a line over the most off camber boulders and baby heads the trails had to offer.

We took a few road trips both north and south to find soft dirt and did we ever. In soil the tires dug in and drifted in a very predictable manner. They held a line and would slowly begin to slide. They worked well in both sand and clay based soils. 

As a downhill tire The Specialized Butcher may be hard to beat. It handles most surfaces very well. We have not ridden them in the wet but it only rains here about twenty days out of the year. These tires we would highly recommend and a few of our testers have picked up sets at the local dealer. Overall we are thrilled on the way these tire performed for us.