I’ve used both vittoria airliner and the tannus insert.
The Vittoria was more of a pool noodle style and took up a good deal of volume inside the tire. It gave a very muted/damped feel to the back of the bike. I never really liked how you had to zip tie it together. After a few weeks you can feel it moving around inside the inflated tire.
The tannus is more wing shaped and is supposed to give more sidewall support. It’s kind of wedged between the beads and sidewalls of tires. The shape is very different.
I don’t notice the tannus when riding at all. My tires aren’t folding on hard corners and no noticeable feeling of rim strikes when riding.
Late to the party here and located in New Brunswick not Nova Scotia, but love talking tires nonetheless.
I’ve run a few different setups over the years and have determined I prefer nobbier and grippier tires over fast rolling lightweight casings. I’ve run specialized fast tracks (hated them, sliced through them on every ride I went on), Conti x Kings (actually liked them until I tried something beefier, the black chili compound was tough and durable), Maxxis ardents (decent tires but always seemed to leave me wanting more) and then finally moved onto a Maxxis dhf/aggressor combo. Absolutely love the dhf/aggressor combo, but it was my first venture into a more aggressive setup and I was left curious as to how much benefit I would have gained from an assegai/dhr combo compared to the weight gain of it. The way I see it, a little bit of grip is worth a few grams.
All that being said I was talked into trying a set of specialized butchers with the trail t9 compound. 29x2.6 up front and 29x2.3 out back. I’ve been told they compare somewhere between a dhf and a dhr as far as grip is concerned. The 2.3 has the same size knobs but spaced tighter together as the 2.6 so it should roll marginally better. I’m excited to test this setup once the snow is gone, as the value of these tires can’t go unnoticed.
Should note that I mainly ride in Rockwood park which is known for its roots and rocks (aptly named) but venture to Sugarloaf downhill park but also to the local smooth flow trails, so a wide variety of terrain.
