Looking for a fastish, lightish pair of 29er trail tyres, will be used tubeless in wide rims, struggling to look past a new nobby nic on the front and a racing ralph on the rear (both snakeskin), anyone given this a go?

2.25 Racing ralph, 2.35 racing ralph, much of a size difference?

Used the old Nic on a 27.5 bike last year and thought it was crap, used a new Nic on my 26 HT recently and really liked it!?

Ralph on the back will be fine until it gets muddy, that’s the combo I used too.

I’m interested in a combo like this too. One of the things I like the idea of with wide rims us the possibility of more grip from lighter tyres.

I’m currently running 29er Sordh Purgatory/Butcher 2.3 which are fine but not the lightest. Not sure I would fit anything much bigger in my frame.

Interested to hear what others see running.

I bought NNs for my 26″ last year. The worst tyres I’ve ever used, and I’ve been through plenty. They punctured on any and everything unless they were pumped up so hard that they provided no grip at all. And then they punctured. I will give them to you if you want, they are that bad.

There is a bewildering array of tread patterns, sidewall construction and rubber compounds on offer from all the manufacturers. Plus the new NN is somewhat different to the older one, so it’s hard to know if you are comparing like with like on these discussions.

Personally I find that the rubber compound makes more difference than the tread pattern within reason. So, trailstar on the front and pacestar on the back tends to work for me and a trailstar NN can provide more grip than a pacestar HD if it’s not too muddy.

It’s also worth noting that the weight of a RR and a NN are pretty much the same if you compare like with like.

I like a pacestar NN on the back in the winter and a pacestar RR in the summer (both 2.25 with snakeskin sidewalls). For the front I tend to stick with a trailstar HD year round, but may consider a tralstar NN if we ever get a summer. Back last year when we actually got a decent summer I went down to a 2.1 RR on the back without the snakeskin protection, which was fun but rather puncture prone.

Racing Ralphs are surprisingly grippy for such a fast tyre but I found the knobs just tore on them. I didn’t even get 10 rides out of them before half the centre knobs were in tatters.

What about Ardent Race or Ikon for the rear and HRII for the front?

The NN-RR combo is one of my favourites for all round not to muddy riding. Only with the evo compound mind, the performance tyres are much less grippy.

I really like Ikons at the moment but your version of capable and mine might be different.

you have to be prepared to get your drift on with the ikons…

Will the wide rims make much of a difference grip-wise to a NN/RR combo?

Running Hutchinson Toro front and the new Hutchinson Python2 on the rear.
Super cheap from Acycles.

Racing Ralphs on my bike, 27.5s

Very fast in the dry for me, decent enough grip on the dry

Centre knobs do wear down pretty quick, especially on my rear

Once it’s wet, think twice about going fast.
They’ll still go quick, but they clog up instantly on my local trails, and have very little grip I’ve found

I run a ron up front and a ralph up back, the rons not quite as knobby as the nick, and lighter, but more grippy than the ralph.

Also as above, the evo versions are well worth the extra cost.

I’d recommend the spesh ground control grid as a rear. Fast tough and grippy.

Maybe good as a front too, but I haven’t tried it there – stuck with butcher control on my ht.

Bonty XR4 team issue .
I run a pair , and have run a pair of RR in 29 x 2.35 tlr.
Not alot in it , both set up tubeless , both needed repairs as flints cut tyres between the treads.

30mm wide ID Roval carbon rims 2015 popped them on the Bronson, ran Rock razors on the rear since early last year soon as it dried enough, with WTB vigilantes front but if doing lakes or Ard Rock recently Mavic crossmax charge on the front more grip than a HR2 personally.

Also with the increased profile there is a noticeable grip increase the bike just feels more positive