In The Know Cycling

Most cycling enthusiasts and amateur road racers want to be confident about their gear before pushing it and themselves to the limit. If gear fails or you misjudge its capabilities, things can end badly.

While I’d read BRR’s lab test report about the ENVE SES Race Day tire’s comparatively good rolling resistance, puncture resistance, and grip performance and received comprehensive answers from ENVE to my many questions about the tires, I was still uncertain how they’d perform out on the road.

After all, the ENVE SES Race Day tires are thin and light, don’t have a puncture belt, and are designed for racing.

As I don’t race, I knew my typical tire testing approach wouldn’t challenge the performance level and limits of the 29 mm-wide model ENVE sent me. But I also felt more responsible than ever for the safety and race performance of my fellow tester Miles, a top-5 US Cat 1 50+ road racer. I’d encouraged him to test the Race Day in the Stage 1 time trial of the Green Mountain Stage Race (GMSR), the pre-eminent Northeastern US stage races he targets every year.

He and I were very confident riding the Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR and Vittoria Corsa Pro, the two everyday training and road racing tires with a puncture belt that we recommend to enthusiasts in our review of the Best Tubeless Bike Tires.

NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

The ENVE SES Race Day surprised me right out of the box. It was distinctly different from the everyday training and racing tires I’ve tested — notably lighter and feeling more like flexible plastic tubing than rubber. On my scale, the tire measured 210 grams, 55 and 60 grams lighter than the 28mm Conti and Vittoria tires, respectively.

ENVE assured me there was nothing overly exotic about the materials in the Race Day. Instead, the tire has a nylon casing and nano particle-infused rubber compound similar to the “graphene” and other compounds used in top TT tires. They claimed the casing’s construction is what makes the tire different.

Despite being thinner and lacking a puncture belt, BRR’s lab tests show that the Race Day puncture resistance is on par with that of the puncture belt-equipped Conti, and its wet-weather grip is superior.

The Race Day also outperformed the TT tire models from Conti, Schwalbe, and Vittoria on those measures.

In my workshop, the Race Day went on over the wheel rims without difficulty but wouldn’t sit on the rim shelf or in the center channel without gaps between the tire and rim. No matter how I coaxed it, the tires wouldn’t inflate with a track pump or compressor with the valve core removed. I needed an inner tube to shape the tires and seat the beads. Then I freed up one bead, removed the tube, inflated and reseated the tires with a shot of air from my compressor, and put in sealant.

The tires sealed well, better than what I’ve experienced with tires that have a cotton casing. They also held air between rides well, dropping about 5-8 psi overnight during Miles’ time with them. That’s typical of what we find with most tubeless tires.

Removing the tires was easy — a 10-second task with a single tire iron. After about 350 miles of use, plenty of sealant remained in the tires. I reinstalled the Race Days, something you might do before each race if you don’t have dedicated race wheels to leave the tires on, without needing an inner tube as I had initially, though I still had to use my compressor.

PERFORMANCE CONTRADICTS EXPECTATIONS

On the road, the ENVE SES Race Day’s performance surprised us, contradicting our initial expectations.

As I wrote earlier, the tires’ nylon casing felt more like plastic than rubber when I unboxed them and struggled to get them seated.

But, they are very supple on the road, rolling over road cracks and pebbles as comfortably as the thicker, more pliable, and easy-to-install GP 5K S TR.

Miles thought the Race Day had lost pressure a couple of times in the middle of a race, only to realize that it was just their suppleness and comfort coming through.

Another contradiction — they sound slow but ride surprisingly fast.

I stopped about 100 yards into my very first ride on the tires. The noises coming from my wheels made me wonder if the rotors were rubbing on the caliper pads or if I had coated the tires with sand on the way out of my driveway.

I know a noisy drivetrain means lost watts, and I feared that noisy tires might equate to high rolling resistance.

Fear not. Both the rotors and tires were uninhibited.

Race Day tires are just noisy, likely because they have less rubber in their thinner casing, which would dampen the sound. In the case of this tire, that reduced damping likely also reduces the hysteresis, or the amount of energy lost in the tire as you roll down the road, and reduces its rolling resistance.

Whatever the explanation, the result is a very fast tire. Drum test rolling resistance numbers don’t do justice to the Race Day’s superiority. While familiar with BRR testing but unfamiliar with the reported delta between the 29mm Race Day and 28mm GP 5K S TR, Miles felt these ENVE tires rode 3-5 watts faster than Contis in his races.

For us aero geeks, I measured the Race Day 29mm tire at about 31 mm wide on rims with 23mm internal width and 31.5mm on rims with 25mm internals. On wheels with 32mm or wider external rim widths, the rim width will exceed the tire width, enabling optimal aero performance with these tires. If your wheels measure closer to 21mm internal and 28mm external, you’ll be more aero with the 27mm Race Day model.

Miles’s biggest worry was flatting on such relatively thin tires. Yet, they proved surprisingly puncture-resistant across sections that would challenge even tires with a puncture belt.

Stage 1 of the 2024 GMSR was a time trial, and the first and only day he planned to race on the ENVE SES Race Day 29. The road surface had its share of cracks (it’s in Vermont, after all), and due to some flooding earlier in the week, the course was rerouted to include 0.4 miles of dirt and gravel at the end of it, though riders weren’t given enough advance notice to change their tire choice.

While his handling over this section wasn’t great when he stood up to sprint for the line, Miles rode over, hopped around, and floated above the gravel and road cracks without puncturing.

CONFIDENCE COMES FROM RESULTS

Miles won that time trial in his age group, the first time he’d ever done that. He was impressed with the ENVE SES Race Day’s straight-line speed and how well they endured the rough roads. With that confidence, he decided to use the tires in the circuit race on Stage 2.

He went on to win that stage, the Stage 3 road race, and the Stage 4 crit, each on the Race Day tires. In its long history, no one had won all four stages of the GMSR race in any category or age group.

As each next stage demanded more cornering, including a little rain in Stage 2 and the repetitive turns in the Stage 4 crit, the Race Day’s handling and grip were up to the task, on par with the GP 5K S TR he’d raced throughout the season.

True, Miles had an awesome season leading up to the GMSR at US Road Nats, the TOAD, and some off-road races, including the Breck Epic. He was also inspired by pre-riding and watching some TdF stages on a family riding vacation in France. By the time of the GMSR, he had his bikes, gear, and kit dialed in.

Yet, he felt that the speed and confidence from the Race Day tires, the only significant change to his setup, improved his results.

YOUR RESULTS WILL VARY

Ideally, the ENVE SES Race Day is best suited for paved roads in time trials or mass start races. But, as Miles’s experience showed, they are surprisingly fast and tough tires in various road race situations, contrary to what we initially thought about how they felt in hand, how they sounded, and how thin and light they were.

After about 350 miles on the tires, mostly in races and in the test rides we did before them, the Race Day showed some wear. ENVE testers have gotten as much as 750 miles on a pair over clean roads but also admit to flatting on others on the first ride. Riders heavier than Miles and me (150-155lbs/68-70kg) will likely wear the tires faster.

To state the obvious, these are not everyday tires and will last half as long, at best, as training and racing tires like the Conti GP 5K S TR. While they are priced similarly at around US$100, £90, or €109 per tire, Race Day’s wear rate will cost you 200-400 $, £, or € more per season, depending on how often you toe the line.

But for road racing, in our experience, the Race Day offers a clear speed advantage over the Conti Grand Prix 5000 S TR with no performance downside. It also disproved our concerns about flatting thin TT tires without puncture belts in amateur road races.

Considering the cost of your race bike, kit, entry fees, and travel expenses, the added speed and confidence the ENVE SES Race Day can deliver may more than justify the added cost of using them over a racing season.

You can order them from BTD (BikeTiresDirect), Performance Bike, and Sigma Sports.

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