I had a pair of Specialized Ground Control tyres 29 x 2.3 width that had worn out. The £20 Continental Mountain King tyres I’ve replaced them with don’t have as much grip. Unsuitable and dangerous on anything wet.
I’ve been struggling to find Ground Control tyres of 29 x 2.3 that are around £20 so I’m looking for an equivalent when it comes to grip. Is there anything that anyone can suggest please?

The £20 mountain kings are only £20 for a reason. You want the £40 ones if you plan on having grip.

You won’t find something that is cheaper but as good…

They do a 2.1 ground control sport (£20) but it isn’t anything like the control ones you had. It would have cost £60 to change them like for like, if you have spent £40 on crap tyres and then spend another £40 on another pair of crap tyres you are £20 down on just buying decent ones to start with.

Is there no tyres that are good value ? Is there anything even at £30 per tyre that’s as good as Ground Control ?

I’d say £30 for a tyre that stops you smashing your face into the ground good value

Is there no tyres that are good value ?

There are plenty. They don’t cost £20 though.

Edit: beaten to it by Wiggles! 🙂

OP: when I worked in a shop our biggest mark-ups were cheap inner tubes and cheap tyres. Expensive tyres have very little mark-up, but they are markedly better. I don’t buy cheap tyres for my bike or my car for the singular reason that they are my contact with mother earth while operating said vehicle. I value and respect that, and will pay for that contact to be a good one.

Is there anything even at £30 per tyre that’s as good as Ground Control ?

Not in my experience.

This makes very grim reading. The problem is that the tyres don’t last 5 minutes and paying anything like £40 per tyre just feels like exceptionally poor value. Just like most other bike components, they just don’t last long.

I paid £40 for a car tyre recently, not only did they fit it for me, but it is specced to last 25,000 miles!

On-One Smorgasbord?
Cheap but not certain how good..

Chunky monkey on the front and Smorgasbord on the rear, would be my call for budget tyres with good grip.

Like these ??

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYOOSM29X225/on-one-smorgasbord-29×225-tyre

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYOOCM29X24/on-one-chunky-monkey-29×24-tyre

I’m after a tyre that’s not so grippy that it makes Tarmac sections really hard work, just something that’s medium grip like the Ground Control were and not outright dangerous on wet like the cheap mountain king tyres are. Are these a good solution for that ?

Strange that Specialized have discontinued the GC in 2.3 (according to their website). I’ve been running one as a rear tyre for a fair while and have been quite impressed with it.

£40 seems to be the going rate for a decent tyre. By decent I mean made of a compound that will grip well in typical wet UK conditions. I’ve always run Specialized because they come in at £30-35.

At £40 i wouldnt trust a car tyre to grip either. Does it say ‘ditch finder’ on the sidewall?

Shop around and you can usually get well under £rrp

Wiggle have Ardents @£31, Hans dampf and nobby nic @£32, and the grippier mountain kings @£23 if you can wait for them to come back in stock.

So you want fast rolling, grippy, cheap tyres?

Best of luck. I appreciate this doesn’t help, but a little adjustment of expectation may be required.

Pick two from the above.

I’ve got one in the shed, email me if you’re interested

Go into your local non chain Spesh dealer and ask for a deal ? Rrp is £30 for most of the Spesh tyres and it can’t hurt to ask for a small discount for a pair

This makes very grim reading.

Does it? Decent bike tyres are produced on a far smaller scale when compared to ‘quality’ bike tyres. That value of scale comes into play, as does the material used. If you want tyres with a decent tread, but made of lino – go for it. Buy a £20 tyre. Like most things, cheap means that somewhere in the production line corners have been cut.

The problem is that the tyres don’t last 5 minutes and paying anything like £40 per tyre just feels like exceptionally poor value. Just like most other bike components, they just don’t last long.

Seriously? Or is there an element of user error here?

I paid £40 for a car tyre recently, not only did they fit it for me, but it is specced to last 25,000 miles!

Congratulations. I hear good things about the Dai Yung Ditchfinder3 crossply.

🙄

Oh yeah – if you want the On-Ones I’d buy quickly before Planet X fold completely.

Do you shop at Tesco? Club card vouchers are double value at Evans.

El Pimpster is correct.

Had to happen eventually, I suppose.

My GCs in the same size are just about worn out, as it happens. The 29er grid casing is currently out of stock everywhere as far as I can see, but new ones will be arriving in Jan according to Specialized, so I guess that would be 2.3 seen as the last grid ones were.

I just bought a purgatory 29er 2.3 grid from leisure lakes to tide me over for the front, and I’ll persevere with a baldy GC on the back.

Is it any good the Purgatory Grid ? How are you finding it compared to the GC’s ?

Found the purgatory 29er 2.3 grid here for just £20! Discounted from £35! Is this the same tyre ?

http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/Specialized/Purgatory-Grid-MTB-Tyre/5JWN?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=base&co=GBR&cu=GBP&gclid=CjwKEAjwwOvABRC08aedoZ_lnTMSJACs_cbuQnN5HroiE833aL37zS9QDpdws7oBCZnDIELLVdHGDxoCjL_w_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

It claims to be fast rolling, grippy and cheap.
Got to be better than the cheap Continental Kings ?

Anything is better than non black chilli Contis. BC ones are excellent, though.

For something that can do road and moderate off-road, at a reasonable price, look at Land Cruiser and Marathon Cross. Another one is Smart Sam.

Yes that’s the one – great price.

It’s definitely a good tyre, but I’m not the biggest fan as it’s sort of a half-way house IMHO. Not grippy enough to make a real difference on difficult stuff, and slower rolling than the GCs for general riding. Think it is very close to the same weight as a GC grid, though.

Others see it in completely opposite terms – the perfect goldilocks tyre for trail riding. Know folk who run them year round in the Peak.

I don’t know how you’ve been riding, but I’ve put approx 4000km onto a Bontrager XR2 team issue front tyre, without it being dead. The rears don’t last as long, of course, but that’s to be expected. If I’m not skidding round each corner like one of the cool kids, rears last at least 1500km’s, for most people that’s probably 4 months riding at least!

There are lots of tarmac sections on my rides. I’ve been told by someone that tarmac wears out knobbly’s quicker than off-road trail. Is this true?

All I’m after is the equivalent of the Spec Ground Control 29 x 2.3’s. I was quite happy with those (apart from the low milage which they wore out at – I think I’d only done less than 2500k.) I don’t remember sliding about and having near-misses all the time like I am with these cheap Mountain King’s.
I don’t need anything better than the GC’s, but they don’t sell them anymore. Anyone know what is closest ? Am I better off contacting specialized and asking them ?

If you are running knobbly tyres at pressures way below their suggested maximum, they will almost certainly wear quicker on tarmac than off-road.

They’re run at 30 psi. So do they wear quick on tarmac instead of off road in terms of the actual time spent on tarmac, or in terms of mileage on tarmac ? If it’s the latter then thats even worse because of the higher average speed on tarmac sections.

That will explain the low mileages I’m getting out of them. There is so much tarmac on my rides.

El Pimpster is correct.

Had to happen eventually, I suppose.

😆

The purgatory 29er 2.3 grid tyres are still not in stock. Anyone know what the closest thing to a GC 29 x 2.3 is at the moment ?

29 X 2.3 Purgatory tyres are available with Specialized . The Purgutory Grid is not in stock but it doesn’t sound like you really need the Grid which has a thicker sidewall which adds weight and sidewall sttrength . Unless you have had problems with cuts to the sidewalls of your tyres then the Purgatory Control tyre will be better for you .

Or if you want to run tubeless? I find the Grid version of Specialized tyres to be the only ones that perform well tubeless – even if marked 2bliss…

Always a good deal somewhere.

I like Smorgs, and the grippier Bontrager and Specialized stuff.

If you can’t get a good deal locally, try ze Germans.

rears last at least 1500km’s, for most people that’s probably 4 months 1 years riding at least!

FTFY

I think I’d only done less than 2500k

Most folk wouldn’t consider that low mileage for a MTB tyre.
By and large, the trade off for having a rubber compound soft enough to grip off road is that it wears out.

Most folk wouldn’t consider that low mileage for a MTB tyre

2500km not low ?
I’m used to car tyres doing 15,000 miles plus!

29 X 2.3 Purgatory tyres are available with Specialized . The Purgutory Grid is not in stock but it doesn’t sound like you really need the Grid which has a thicker sidewall which adds weight and sidewall sttrength . Unless you have had problems with cuts to the sidewalls of your tyres then the Purgatory Control tyre will be better for you

I’ve seen these for £20 online (reduced, normal price is £30) if these are like the Ground Control 29x 2.3’s then I’ll by okay with them

I’ve ordered 2x Purgatory Control 29x 2.3’s for £40. They’re cheap, and they claim to be fast rolling and grippy. I hope they perform just as good as the Ground Control 29 x 2.3’s, which I was quite happy with until they wore out.

2500km not low ?
I’m used to car tyres doing 15,000 miles plus!

Doesn’t take that long to do 2500k on a mountain bike. Even when only riding intermittently like me. I’m hardly on it every day. 2 times a week, 40k per ride, is the norm.