Looking at some new tyres for General trail centre riding and Mainly Darwen Moor/Rivington and woodland stuff. So Loose stone, and a bit boggy/muddy ground.

Currently have Maxxis Advantage on at the moment and the Grip is acceptable in the wet and really good in the dry. But they roll like shite.

Have tried Conty Rubber Queens but not black chilli and found them quite good just huge in 2.2. Would a combination of Black Chilli 2.2 front and regular out back be fine. Or another conty tyre out back. Don’t mind a little bit of slide from the rear but want good grip on the front.

High Roller II up front??

It’s working for me.

Work well on a Hardtail with a Advantage 2.1 rear?

I’ve been well chuffed with the Bontrager XR4’s I put on mine earlier in the year as they’ve given me back a huge amount of confidence in all kinds of conditions. Genuinely can’t fault them!

Strange that. I find that Advantages roll just fine, even in larger sizes.

Maybe its just me but i found the Highrollers better rolling and rubber queen.

Headpotdog funny you should mention xr4’s just brought a trek that came with xr3’s and dispite looking very shallow proving to be very good.

Seems to me like a lot of people get drawn into thinking the only decent options come from Maxxis, Schwalbe or Continental. Bontrager are overlooked and under rated in my opinion.

Those Bonty xr4’s look ideal from the reviews. 2.2 front and rear? Only ever tried Maxxis highrollers – quite good, crap in mud Maxxis advantage – amazing in the dry, shite when wet. Schwalbe rapid rob – utter shite I binned it at Gisburn in the DRY on the snake. Took air out and it still washed out.

I’ve been quite impressed with Geax Saguaros as a ‘do it all’ tyre.

Anyone tried Spesh purgatory controls? Mate swears by them. And he’s a lot quicker than I’ll ever be.

Bonty’s size up large! I got 2.35’s initially and they’d hardly fit in my Reba’s despite running 2.35’s from other manufacturers before.

Ended up getting 2.2’s and they’s been lovely 🙂

Geax Saguaros, great tyre, hard as a hard thing to fit in a TNT version, still running in mendip schlock quite well though

Specialized Ground Control – i’ve tried combos, favourite being Maxxis Advantage up front and crossmark rear but always feels best when i go back to Ground Control 2.3 front and 2.1 rear

Conti mountain king 2,4 protection,black chilli and only 680 grams : )

Just gone tubeless with Maxxis LUST tyres. High Roller front and Ardent rear, both 2.35. Smashing PRs.
Tried crossmark on the back, but suffered on the downhills, High Roller on the back but got left behind on climbs. Tried Minion DHF on the front for a bit, and the grip was peerless, but HRs have plenty of grip for my needs.

specialized purgatory – done

So it’s a choice between the purgatory and the xr4 I think.

I’ve had both, run tubeless on Flows. XR4s were very good but the Prugatorys feel better IMO. You won’t be disappointed with either so get what’s on offer somewhere…

They’ll be tubed for now till I can afford new wheels. Tyres, forks, brakes, wheels and then upgrade the groupset to slx in that order. And then enjoy the summer on the bike then go for a bargain full suss the btwin 9.1 or 9.2 but I’ve heard its going 650b for 2014

You don’t have to use the same tyre front and rear. Most rolling resistance comes from the rear tyre, so try something grippy up front and something a bit faster rolling on the rear. I like Minion DHF 2.5 front and Ardent 2.25 rear, but the principle generally works and conveniently while losing the front tends to hurt, a bit of slither at the back isn’t really a big deal.

Fwiw, I’ve used the latest XR4 and thought it was a decent front option, though I still prefer the EXO Minion for sidewall protection if nothing else, but I thought it was still relatively slow rolling out back. I used to run a Racing Ralph out back all year round in the Peak where there’s relatively little proper mud and it was very quick and mostly grippy enough, but also slightly fragile and not super grippy on rocks.

I guess it all depends on how much slither you’re happy to put up with in a speed v grip sort of sliding scale of destruction. Anyway…

I’ve run Spesh Captains, Purgatorys, High Rollers, Mud X, Nevengals, Racing Ralph’s and a few I’ve forgotten!

By far the best all rounder I’ve had is Michelin, currently running the Wild Grip’r version, grippy in the wet and by far the best rolling, only thing I’ve had roll better is the Ralph’s…..

I <3 my 2.25 Advantages and think they roll quite nicely. Previously had Rocket Rons and they were v. fast, but pretty weak sidewalls and prone to punctures – they came on the bike and I wore them out completely over summer, but won’t be buying again!

@Kedmun – i agree entirely on the Schwalbe tyres. I have ripped side walls in Racing Raplhs and Nobby nics (both front and rear) with snake bite protection and without.

My girlfiend who weighs around 55kg manage to pinch flat a Fat Albert (twice in one ride).

They do roll fast but once the sidewall is gone there is very little chance of sealant stopping the leak.

I wouldnt touch them again. Ever.

A wire Conti Explorer 2.1 up front and a Trailraker on the back is my favourite combo.

(but seriously, if Advantages are slow for you, your probably better off swapping to something faster on the back as a slippy but fast compromise – I use the much-maligned Crossmark, but perhaps something like Saguro, Captain, Aspen)

I run a pair of 2.3 Black Chilli Baron’s on the full-suss and a set of On-One Smorgaboards on the 29er rigid

I’m incredibly fickle when running tyres and the fact that we have some seasons wetter than others doesn’t help matters any. To cap it all, I’ve three bikes, (xc hardtail, xc full suss and AM/Enduro/whatever) so its all subjective really.

That said, I’ve had great success running Specialized Storm (f) and Captain (r) on my xc bikes. The Storms really are incredibly grippy up front all year round, they feel like I can lean on them without any reservations.

My xc hardtail is currently running a Minion (f) and an Ardent (r), which roll incredibly well at the expense of traction – especially in the wetter months, but I’ve a High Roller on standby duty.

My AM bike is running Conti Rubber Queens in Black Chili compound. They’re a brilliant summer tyre, they roll very well and have a lot of grip but the slippery, chalky mud down my way is probably too much for them until Spring, so chances are I’ll swap them for something mud-friendlier.

Yes, you can run a Black Chili up front and a boggo Conti at the back.

Storms if it’s muddy / mixed, they’re not the biggest for thumping through rocks though. I’ve just started running a Spesh Butcher on the front and it’s blimming ace, much grippier that the purgatory. Oh, and a good tyre is generally a round one, preferably with air in 😀