I have been riding the Hutchinson Fusion 5 Storm All Weather tire on my Felt z4 for a few hundred miles now and wanted to give my take on the tire as an all around road tire suitable for all conditions. Full disclosure, I was sent the tire from Hutchinson to give my unbiased opinion. I have the tire paired with a set of Reynolds AR41 carbon wheels with disc brakes. This is also my first time running road tubeless (more on this later). After having been persuaded over the last couple years, I’m gravitated toward a slightly wider tire for comfort, flat protection, grip and durability. I’m riding the 700 x 28mm Clincher tire.
The Hutchinson Storm rubber compound is exclusive to Hutchinson. It’s aimed to offer rolling performance, grip, and now wear too slowly. As you can see by some of the pictures, even after a few hundred miles the center rubber strip from the manufacture process still show up. So far, I’m very happy with the wear and grip and durability of the tires. They are fairly consistent with most higher end tires I’ve used in the past.
According to Hutchinson website the tires are reinforced with Kevlar Pro Tech and 127 TPI and weigh 325g. As with most, I’ve been an avid user of the Continental GatorSkin’s for years. The Fusion 5 are a good comparison while I have not run them Tubeless for obvious reasons, they perform very similar as far as rolling resistance.
The Hutchinson Fusion tires paired well with the Reynolds carbon wheels. I never had a problems seating the foldable bead, and had more problems running tubeless with the valves than the tires. Even when the tire was flat after sitting for a week or so, the bead was attached and no weeping around the bead or sidewalls.
Max PSI is 100 for the tires, and where I like to ride them as close to that as I feel safe. Even at 100 PSI they feel very comfortable and fast rolling. During the couple wet rides I had, they performed great, and very similar to other high end tires. Grip the road well, with just a little slickness on painted surfaces and man hold covers. From a stop to start in wet weather I had to take a little power off the tire to start to prevent slipping, but this is pretty standard with most tires in the rain I have ridden.
I have yet to flat with the tire, so I am happy with the construction. Running tubless, I was a little disappointed with the amount of air loss in just a few days of not being on the bike. I did submerse the tire multiple times and every time it was leaking around the valve not the bead. I am well pleased with the Hutchinson Fusion. I plan to leave them on this bike for the year and ride them into the cold of winter to see how they perform when the rubber hardens up. For the price, they are a great value and I would recommend them to a friend looking for a good all around comfortable tire.
Check out the Hutchinson Fusion All Weather Tires on Hutchinsontires.com:
https://www.hutchinsontires.com/us/road/tire/fusion-5-all-season-11storm-1-standard