If you don’t know who VeeTyreCo are, then go check them out! They do some pretty cool tyres at a lower price than other big brands like Maxxis and Continental. Plus I’ve found that their customer support is amazing – they’re super responsive on Twitter and were really helpful over the phone, helping me pick the best tyres for my riding style and terrain.
I ended up with the Gravity version of the Flow Rumba and the Crown Gem – here’s how I got on with these tyres:
Vee Tyre Flow Rumba
My experience with the Flow Rumba did not get off to a good start. Unfortunately, the tire had a faulty bead which meant that it kept blowing off the rim and even when I changed over to a tube the same thing happened.
I sent the guys at Vee a quick tweet about this happening and I got a phone call within a couple of minutes and it turns out that the guys at Vee are utter legends and they replaced the tire without any issues and with next day delivery so I could get out and shred for the weekend.
The new tire set up tubeless easily enough and hasn’t thrown up any issues since, which was very reassuring after the difficulty I had with the first one.
As it’s a gravity version it is pretty heavy, but it’s super bomb proof which suits my riding just fine – when I dropped the pressure down to a ridiculous 18psi I had a fair few dinks that I could feel on the rim. However, I haven’t found any evidence of damage to the rim or the tire which was pretty unbelievable!
It has grip by the bucket load, which I don’t think I fully appreciated until I rode some natural, loamy, rocky singletrack in the wet. That’s where this tire really comes into its own.
With these tyres you really have to re-learn the pressures that you’re used to running. I dropped the pressure way below what I normally run – sub 20psi on occasion and it’s brilliant. Like unbelievably brilliant! I had so much grip that I was getting PRs in the wet on sections I regularly ride in the dry.
It flings properly wet mud like a monkey flings shit (in fact I really regretted not having a mud guard on) and offers a huge amount of traction. I was super impressed with how well it handled wet rocks – better even than the Maxxis Shorty.
This is definitely a hardcore tire for aggressive riders and you really do feel it dragging on longer XC rides. I haven’t had any PR’s on climbs since using these tyres, but it’s more than made up for it on the downs! I found that pairing this tire up with the Crown Gem was a really nice combo for aggressive riding in loose conditions and it was more than enough for trail centres but way too much for XC.
If you liked the sound of this then check out my VeeTyre Crown Gem review.
