I recently bought a pair of Maxxis Swampthing tyres for when its really wet around the Surrey Hills. However, the first time I used them I found them really, really hard going – although pretty grippy.

I know any winter tyre is gonna have a higher rolling resistance but this was a lot worse than expected!

It may have just been due to a few weeks off the bike and recovering from a bug but what does anyone else rate them as being particularly good / bad?…..

Cheers

They are very draggy. I use one on the front and a mud x on the back, I wouldnt run two myself, be like riding through treacle.

as above ^^ i found a little more tyre pressure than i usually run helped

i just taken them off my dh bike. they are great. even in summer. i just put on my bike park tyres as its time soon 😉 yay!!!

I wouldn’t use them unless it was for gravity assisted stuff, and even then only on the back. Some people love them, but I hate the rounded profile on the front, and find it too unpredictable.

Love mine, took me a while though, but definitely don’t put one on the back, I nearly died going up a hill with front and rear.

But up front it has got me out of some slippy situations.

Best tyres I ever had. But yes, they are pretty slow, but they make up for it by defying the laws of physics!

Best tyres I ever had. But yes, they are pretty slow, but they make up for it by defying the laws of physics!

THey do that.

Thick mud, front end starts to wash out and then WHAM grip grip grip, outstanding.

I honestly don’t find them slow. I ran them ST’s UST and don’t find them any slower than similar Minions or HR’s. They’re different in the corners, I find they slide quite a lot but it all feels quite predictable. For Scotish mud and roots over my winter visit I found them superb.

A fantastic tyre that actually surprised me as to how good it was on a number of different surfaces. They are a little slow but nothing a bit of extra fitness doesn’t cure 😉

Swampthing 2.35 on the front and mud-x on the back for XC around the local park which gets very muddy, they are great. I don’t find them too draggy unless cycling on wet grass.

I was expecting them to be slower tbh… They’re not fast but they’re not awful either. That said I tend to use a supertacky 2.35 on the front and a 2.0 Mud X on the back which helps. Heavy, though.

I have one on the front and I think it’s awesome, it actually rolls better than it looks like it’s going to imo

Just run an advantage on the back as that follows along

Will be back to a HR up front for the summer though

even DH you can notice they are slower but always better a bit slower than backwards!

As an XC tyre it’s a phase most have tried

I ride Surrey hills all winter with swampthings front and rear. Not the supertackys though.

I assume that as with most Maxxis tyres they come in lots of different varieties. I have dual ply super tacky swamp things. They are so slow that you could not contemplate using them as a general tyre even in the winter. They just don’t roll at all and life draining trying to ride them uphill. Only ever put them on for uplift days and racing where they are great of course.
Harder and lighter versions might be OK but mine are like riding around on plasticine.

im sure my son will be along soon to answer this question : 😉

I only use them for DH instead of cut down wet screams, because I am lazy.

I wouldn’t dream of using them for trial riding.

I did have one on the front but have gone back to Mud X both ends because the Swampy was overkill for my local trails.

Have you tried normal mud tyres (ie. Mud X or Medusas) surreymike?

I run them in the winter mud for trail riding (Wet Screams for DH) in 2.35 single ply guise. A 60a out back and a super tacky up front. An excellent tire that rolls well enough with plenty of grip in the muck. They’re also cheap.

I used them all winter and they are great in mud and very good on the sand we have round here hear Guildford. However, I was out with them a couple of weeks ago when it was getting drier and they seemed really hard work and draggy. I will swap them for my ‘rest of the year’ tyres soon.

My fave front tyre with Mud X on the back for winter,mud and muck.Tried a nobby nic the other day.it lasted one ride,slippery on tricky bits not worth coming off for so swapped back to Swampthing.

don’t like swampy’s at all. really slow and a round profile ,so no edges for cornering. ive only used them for downhilling though, but would’nt even consider using them for xc.

Excellent winter tyre and surprisingly good on rocks and roots. I have seen a lot about them dragging but really, if you want drag then try 42a super tacky high rollers. These tyres feel quick enough to me. Quite pricey though.

high rollers are much faster than swampthings and have plenty of grip in all conditions for xc/trail

Faster, sure, but plenty of grip in all conditions? Don’t agree with that, they’re great allround tyres but in proper bad conditions they don’t grip even before they clog, and once they’re clogged they’re more like skis than tyres (like most tyres). Which is good fun, mind, but it’s not grip.

Swampies are great winter tyres. I use them in single ply 2.35 60a ghetto tubeless mode for a few months around the wettest, snowiest time. They are great in mud (obviously) but I find them best for snow and also wet roots in our local forest where I do 90pc of my riding. As for being draggy, man up. They’re not that bad but come spring time you’ll be awesomely fit/fast and less likely to have had a visit to A&E.

@northwind
i agree that they clog faster but i dont agree that they dont grip before they clog .i use mud tyres for downhilling but not x.c.

when i comes to needing extra grip safety net….man up 😆

They prevent you slipping out on a bend by preventing you from ever going fast enough to do so in the first place.

Thanks for the replies all. Sounds like it might be worth trying with a Mud X on the back to speed things up a bit next winter. Hopefully its starting to dry up a bit now so wont be an issue for a while.

And man up as well. Agree there – keep telling myself its making me fitter as I slog up hill! 😀

Cheers