There’s an ancient adage that leads fearless travelers in their search for gear. For any piece of gear you can only choose 2 of the following three:
Light
Durable
Cheap
There are companies that make fantastic cheap light gear that lasts a few rides, companies that make durable cheap gear that makes you wish you could pedal with your arms too, and those classic companies that make second mortgage gear that you can barely tell you’re riding but somehow lasts years and years.
Rene herse breaks this mold. On the surface they appear to be a third option company, the pick two of durable and light tires that cost 1/3 the price of my bike for a pair. And one day I decided to bite the bullet and try them out, picking up a pair of Juniper Ridge tires for $220.
I expected my life to be changed. And for the first 30 miles, it was. The tires are supple, quick, and fun. But after my second ride I noticed the lugs were beginning to peel off, and the compound cracking on both the front and rear. This is fine I thought, for $220 I’m sure they will stand behind a brand new tire.
WRONG
Rene herse responded with a sassy email saying this was obviously an issue with storage conditions, not their tires. My response asking how I, as the final consumer who has owned these tires for a week, could possibly know how the tires were stored before I purchased them was ignored. Their product failed, and left me out of $220 and respect for their company.
I emailed panaracer a picture of the tires and they confirmed they would cover this material defect under their warranty if it was one of their tires. I immediately bought and installed a pair of gravelking X1’s that are faster, quieter and equally grippy in the soft stuff. And only cost $70 shipped for the PAIR.
So anybody reading this, whether you work at rene herse (your customer service is terrible) or are thinking of purchasing a pair of their tires think again.
Rene herse is a pick one company, they make light gear that is neither cheap nor durable and I strongly advise everyone to avoid their products.
by Enough-Ad6819
15 Comments
Back in like 2020, Rene Herse tires were the shit. Now? Not so much. I actually just did a big write up about how awful they are.
They are not good tires anymore. The market has caught up, and their are better options at better prices.
That looks bad. I just went and checked mine. I have several sets, some that are like 5 years old, and none of them show these flaws. Just standard garage storage. Hell, I have some vintage 1980’s tires that barely look worse than this.
Seems like a bad batch and should certainly be warrantied. Did you buy direct, or from a retailer? Have you brought it up with the retailer who “stored” them?
Those X1s are incredible. It’s truly an upgrade.
RH is a cult imho. So many reports of awful customer service and plenty of poor tire fitment.
I’d compare them to Paul components but it seems Paul actually makes good products, just at idiotic prices.
You bought these tires directly from Rene Herse not from another online retainer? Edited to add: for what it’s worth I actually just read on bicycle rolling resistance that these tires are a different construction than all their other classic semi-slicks, Snoqualmie Pass ect.
Yeah. Many hyped products that are just – okay. As you’ve experienced not even – okay. I ran RH slicks a few times and really nothing amazing. Most punctures of any tyre I’ve had.
I loved my Umtanum Ridge (knobby) tires with endurance casing. Not light or cheap, but durable and awesome. Now I’ve just installed Switchback Hill (slick) extralight casing tires. Not cheap, but light, and awesome so far. Durability tbd, but at least there are no knobs to fall off. 🙂
Chargeback?
I avoid their products on principle even without prior experience simply on account of their hideously idiotic naming scheme. Someone just namedrops “I run Rene Herse Blarbwabble Ridge” and somehow you’re supposed to remember what tread and width they are. No god damn rhyme or reason to their naming. Ridges, Hills, Passes, Grades, Mountains, Climbs, none of the names seem specific to the slicks or the knobbies or the narrows or the wides, and then one tire that’s just fucking called Steilacoom. Fuck you, Rene Herse. I REFUSE to memorize your bullshit names.
With that said as far as wallet-emptying priced boutique tires go I’ve always wanted to try Challenge.
It’s all right. I too fell for the hype. The tires constantly leaked air when set up tubeless, no matter what seal I put in. Thought it was user error so I brought it to my LBC. Surprise they couldn’t get it to not leak air either Ended up switching to tubes. While the tires were supple. They barely lasted a couple hundred miles I will never buy RH again.
To add to the thrash of rene herse i want to bring some positivity to shoutout an amazingly wonderful brand experience I had recently with PNW, bought a used frame with one of their droppers that was missing part of the seat clamp.
Shot them an email asking if they would be willing to sell the part on its own, and they responded within 12 hours with the tracking number of the package they sent me for FREE with two clamps and a bunch of stickers.
Those folks ROCK and that’s exactly how you build brand loyalty, will always buy their products solely after that experience. Only sharing this so others can support the companies that support riders
Rene Herse is dog shit and the people who actually believe they’re “the best” or good value are smoking all the copium.
I’ve been running Rene Herse tires since they were Compass…I’ve purchased something like 10 sets of their tires. Slicks only, never knobbies. In 2023 I bought a set of standard casing tires and one of them was seeping wildly from 3-4 inches of sidewall. I emailed them photos, they said some of their production runs do that sometimes and sent me a new tire. It was a fairly standard customer service transaction…I was satisfied.
Doesn’t Panaracer make the Rene Herse tires? X1+ are my go to tires.
I understand that Panaracer makes tires under contract for RH, and a bunch of other boutique/specialty brands too…
RH is very forward about the relative durability of their UL casings. I’ve had good luck running them with tubes.