I know I know, what tyres and 650b in the same thread……

Choosing for my new build project between these two as I’ve used the 26″ versions and know they work well for the riding I do. I’ll be running tubeless on light bicycle rims

Continental trail king protection black chili 2.2
Or
Specialised butcher control 2.3

Which would you choose?

I have the trail kings front and rear and they’re reasonably good. Think they’re a bit skittish on damp/wet roots but then most tyres are anyway 😯 I’ll probably try a magic Mary upfront over the autumn/winter months once it gets a bit wetter.

Ride with what you know works???????

If mud, Butchers. If not mud, Trailkings or possibly Butchers anyway.

Running a maxxis minion up front and a ardent on the rear ,seem great in everything iv thrown at them up to now.. 🙂

HR2 front Ardent rear for me

Hans Dampf up front if I know there won’t be any mud

I know both of those work on the terrain I ride hence the short list. Just wondered if anyone had stron opinions between these two. Thanks for the wet roots comment on trail kings which may be worth considering as I’m going to cyb later in the year…..

i went with Trail king 2.2 black chilli rear and Ardent 2.4 front. Can’t get Baron’s in 650b yet so these are fine until then. Black chilli is decent on wet roots i think, but it really is the toughest thing to grip on

Other considerations are weight and shape of the tyre when it’s on a 30mm rim. Butcher is quite rounded so may benefit from this??

I have a Magic Mary SG VertStar 3 in 650b, brand new and unused. £40 posted if anyone is interested.

Chris

chrisdbarker@gmail.com

There’s not a lot better than Trail King on wet roots, you just need to have the pressure low enough. Butcher front, TK rear is a good bet. I’m about to take my Magic Mary SG off the front and put a Trail King there too (already have one on the back) to see if makes it a bit more flickable in corners and less of a straight lining monster truck (less gyroscopic resistance to turning and a rounder profile for a quicker turn-in).

HR 2 up front and an ardent on the back has been more than adequate unless it’s really boggy.

Magic Mary upfront is fantastic, for me beats any current Maxxis tyre. Benn running Rock Razor on rear again great tyre very quick but have swapped to Hans Dampf on rear for Autumn. I felt the change the Rock Razor is an ace roller.

chiefgrooveguru – Member

There’s not a lot better than Trail King on wet roots,

Baron’s quite a bit better- similiar rubber but better spacing for this sort of thing. (Der Baron is comically good at slippery stuff, with minor tradeoffs of mindboggling dragginess and immense weight)

Main problem I had with the trail kings was how cloggy they are, they work really well when the rubber’s not encased in clag.

After 3 years of Schwalbe I’ve now moved to Michelins, the stupidly named “wild rock’r 2”. GumX compound on the back, MagicX on the front. Have never ridden a grippier front tyre in all conditions. Having them front and rear was a bit draggy initially but the levels of grip are phenomenal. I pedalled more and got stronger, now I don’t find them draggy.

+1 for the michelins…iv just fitted Michelin Wild Grip’R2 Advanced TS on the front of my 650b HT and very happy with it grips very well. Not been in much mud yet. But I’m sure that will come soon.

Magic Mary is a ridiculously grippy tyre, even in the intermediate trailstar format, until it starts to break down.

The biggest issue I have with Schwalbe tyres is the astronomical wear rate. The HD I have on the back of the bike is literally wrecked, countless knobs torn off it, the majority of side knobs have torn at the base, so just flap around, and the centres have all but gone completely. Sum total of 8 weeks riding (without a mega amount of use either).

The Magic Mary on the front, looks great still but nearly every side knob has split at the base, and provides little, or no support any more (but great for getting it sideways!).

They are also very heavy, even in non Super Gravity form, the normal ‘protection’ 2.35″ 650b Magic Mary’s I have are 950+g each.

Once this lot is done with, I think I’ll go back to Maxxis.

Thanks for thoughts. Are the trail kings protection 2.2 tubeless ready as unlike on the mountain king description it doesn’t state TL ready…?

Yes the protection tyres are tubeless ready as I’ve just switched to tubeless with mine. Why I didn’t do it years ago I’ll never know!