Have faith in Lauf

I've traded my Bluto for the Lauf Carbonara. I had a blast in Iceland with the Lauf on the Otso bikes they had for rent, and the 4" studded Cake Eater tires were remarkably fast and capable on the terrain we rode on.

the look is so cool omg
Unfortunately, I will not be able to do a direct Bluto to Lauf comparison. However, from memory, I'll say that the Lauf loses less energy than the Bluto when locked out. It has noticeably less travel (60mm vs 100mm), but the lighter weight makes it easier to climb technical terrain, and by shifting more of the suspension responsibility to the tires, it makes for a more even experience on a "hardtail."

I'm excited to try the Lauf out with a few configurations:


  • 29x2.8 Terrene McFly
  • 26x4.8 Maxxis Minion
  • 26x4.0 Jumbo Jim
The Minions are massive and huge and absurd, and they provide nearly enough suspension just from the tire. It'll be interesting to see how they work on trails with the Lauf. The climbing ability of the Maxxis tires is obscene, but the Bluto was just too much weight on the bike to climb well. Saving 1.5lb might make it easier to take advantage of the climbing traction, and the suspension will make descents more fun.

The McFly's are fantastic. I've only tried them fully rigid thus far, and for under 10 miles, but they're very quick on pavement and hardpack dirt. I'm interested to see how they perform on more technical trails. The light weight, large volume, and Lauf combination make me think I'll be moving very quick on the flats, climbing nimbly on the ascents, and ... well, we'll see how the descents work out.


I anticipate that the Jumbo Jims will be similar to the experience I had in Iceland. 4" is a good bit of tire, but not so monstrous as 4.8", and these will shave nearly 3lbs off the bike compared to my 4.8" tires. I anticipate they'll be slightly less capable in sandy and snowy conditions, but they'll make up for it when I'm not in those conditions.

Fun fact: Lauf isn't pronounced like "Lowf." In Icelandic, the 'au' vowel is pronounced like the letter a, so Lauf is pronounced "lay-f." The first title of this post was "The Lauf is in the house," but this encourages the incorrect pronunciation with the rhyme scheme. I liked the rhyme, so I had to change it out.

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