I’m looking at doing a scottish DH roadtrip in August, taking in Ae forest, fort Bill and Innerleithen. After selling my DH bike last year I’m now on a coil shocked Alpine 160 and want to make it is DH capable as possible. With fort Bill being pretty rough I was thinking a larger volume tyre would give a little more cushioning and better grip to help make up for the lack of travel. Weight wont really be an issue, so any other disadvantages? I’m currently on 2.3 specialized clutch, 2.5 High rollers or Intense intruder if muddy.

Not as long as it’s got clearance for them

2.5″ HRs, supertacky on the front fine for all those places, even in the mud. I’d only bother putting muds on for a wet race.

I usually use maxxis 2.5’s, but I’m considering something bigger ie 2.7 for extra cushioning and grip at fort William. At 14.5 stone I’m heavier than average.

slower and less manouverable (I prefer a 2.35 60a rear with a 2.5 3C upfront at every Scotish DH track Scotland for those reasons)

TBH 160mm is shit loads of travel, when Ft Bill DH track was built it was rougher than it is now and DH bikes had a whopping 100-150mm travel

160mm is shit loads of travel

+1

I have a 2.7 in the garage, I’ve never bothered to put it on for Ft. Bill – nothing there’s steep enough to want the extra grip.

Yeh they roll real slow if 3c/ST at 2.7’s but is huge volume, also I think they don’t work too well with smaller rears imho, creates a bit of a imbalance. But then I like the same size, just different compounds F/R.

Must admit I haven’t ridden there since 2004, I thought it was pretty rough in places back then. I’m not getting much time to ride these days, so any possible advantage will be exploited.

Wire bead DH tyres tend to be 100% uncompliant they are designed to work with 200mm travel so all they have to do is grip and go where you point them. It can be tricky to set them up with a shorter travel rig they’re either pinging off everything or blowing through travel

My choice would be some 2.5 60a or 3C folding Minions or if you want some serious volume have a look at the 2.4/2.6 Ardents on bike-discount.de

Weight

Any disadvantages to large volume DH tyres?

they can take ages to inflate, especially if you’ve only got a shock-pump…

DH tyres tend to be 100% uncompliant

Erm, what?

If you mean that they have stiff sidewalls then that’s to make sure they don’t puncture or get completely ruined by rock gardens and the like. Not because they only work with “200mm travel”

slower and less manouverable

This. I don’t go bigger than 2.35 Schwalbe / 2.5 Maxxis

I just wanged some 2.5 Continental Der Barons on my Mega in prep for my upcoming Euro roadtrip.

They come up very big and are probably more like 2.7 Maxxis…

It kind of looks like a John Deere now, but it has the clearance so should be sweet I figure.

I swapped out from some Dual ply 2.35 High Rollers which had been to Morzine for two years!…

I’d stick with 2.5s~ if you want more traction, go tubeless and say goodbye to pinch flats.

If you’re headed up to Fort Bill, you’d be silly not to squeeze in Glencoe as well~ the 2 tracks there are great fun.

What rims are they to go on?
Fat tyres on narrowish rims aren’t good

+1 for gw

Back in day i remember wrestling a 2.8comp 32 on line down over the bridge just after the deer fence with it trying to drift off the edge Worked out it was a combination of heavy tire and crap tread making life hard. Fitted 2.5 comp 16/s ,made itnso much easier and realised big tires for dh was much like race pyjamas and roost guards – mostly for those that wanted to pretend it was a motorbike.

Marin b17 ftw 🙂

Ah.. when falling rate suspension, practically undamped coil shocks with pointless piggybacks and RST Hi5s were the cutting edge of design, eh? 😉

speaking of ~Marin, does Dave Hemming still work/ride for them?

Dunno, but I saw a B-17 with some Stratos MX-6s on it at the weekend – sweet ride 8)

2.4 advantages at Inners and Ae recently whilst weighing a fair bit more than 14.5 stone.
no problems no punctures and i was on a h/tail.

i am a DH god……….. 😆

MX6s were amazing, you could set them up with a bias depending on whether there were more L/H or R?H corners on the track.
a thru axle with no pre-load adjustment was a godsend in the off-camber too, not to mention the stroke of genius that being able to service them with chain lube was. 😉

trail rat, pretty sure a michi comp 16 comes up bigger than a maxxis 2.5. In my experience larger volume tyres for DH are decidedly unfashionable. I’m currently using superstar DH rims, so nice and wide.

I’ve been riding at Inners for years, usually with a specialized 2.3 or a maxxis 2.5, but never ridden Ae DH track. All I can remember from when I rode fort bill was my brakes sucked, I wasn’t worrying about rolling resistance.

I hadn’t considered Glencoe, but I will have a look into that.

Speak for your self i had a fox rc on the back and monster ts on the front Cant fight the falling rate comment though was horrific

My mate hit him self in the eye with the top caps of my old hi5s when he slammed front down hard after a drop

Mx6 with their wonderfully snappy brake mounts too – we strengthened my mates with a couple of jubalee clips – the designer of mx6s musta been smoking too much pot during his final engineering exams