Specialized simplified its XC tire range for 2025 by dropping the Renegade and Fast Trak S-Works casings and introducing two new options — Flex Lite and Grid Lite — across a pair of updated treads. The Air Trak sits at the speediest end of that spectrum as the brand's lightest and lowest profile option to date, with a minimal center channel that prioritizes rolling speed above all else and mini blocks in the transition and shoulder areas to keep you from washing out as soon as you lean the bike over. If your rides trend toward dry, hardpack singletrack and race courses where every watt matters, this is the tread pattern in the XC range that leans furthest toward pure speed.

The tread is inherited and improved from the outgoing Renegade, and it uses a dual GRIPTON T5/T7 compound that pairs lower rolling resistance in the center with more grip in the corners. The harder T5 rubber sits under the compact center cluster where you spend most of your time, while the softer T7 compound wraps the shoulder knobs so they hook up when you commit to a corner. It's not an extremely fast-rolling compound on paper, but the same T5/T7 blend on the outgoing Renegade was one of the better performers in wet grip testing.

The Flex Lite casing drops from the previous 120 TPI construction to 60 TPI, which sounds like a downgrade until you consider that lower-TPI casings with thicker rubber often hold air better and offer more protection for the same number of layers. That said, independent lab testing shows the sidewalls score low in puncture tests, so these will be vulnerable to cuts on rocky terrain — the sealing performance itself looked fine in testing. If you race on courses that mix hardpack with genuinely rocky sections, the Grid Lite version of this same tread is the casing that trades a few grams for more protection.... Read More