Which ones? Ideally good rolling. What size? 1.8 – 2.35? What can I get away with but still get good grip.

I’m a bit of a numpty on tyres. Can’t be arsed changing them all the time. Usually ride the same ones all year on my HT. However on steep muddy stuff I struggled (Could be something to do with the amount of braking 😀 )

So what to give confidence that will roll reasonably well, as I will keep them on for the winter.

I would say ride with whats on your bike and learn to adapt/slide and go with the flow! or the Continental rubber queens in 2.2 black chilli are sweet all year round tyres. Me personally love those sketchy moments when it seems as though its all going wrong! Also just use the brakes less!

Bonty Mud X all the way

Come up here ruscle – and ride the track on my bike and tell me how it’s done! 😀

2 main choices

Bontrager Mud x: excellent tyre
Panaracer Trailraker

If you is fit 😉 you could get away with the thinner ones, but personally would choose the 2.0 Mud x on the back.

For the front, I’d use a tyre like a nevegal or a minion (2.35 folding, as the other variants are very heavy)

You’ll get a load of votes for this, but bontrager mud x 2.0’s are very good everywhere but dusty trails. Not expensive either. Think I took mine off twice this year (and they went back on pretty quickly with the summer we’ve had!) roll pretty well for a proper knobbly as well.

I found the Conti rubber queens fill up with mud; just started using the Conti Baron 2.3 black chilli and it’s been excellent so far.

Mud Xs for general filth but if it’s a full on gloop fest then the Black Shark 1.5s will keep going thru just about anything.

No amount of skill can compensate for an inappropriate tyre’s inability to grip on wet climbs.

I’ve used Medusas for the last couple of winters and rate them highly. They, like all mud specific tyres, don’t roll very well, but they grip when others start spinning out.

Just bought some Bonties.

Got Trailrakers on the SS – they are good.

Specialized Storm Controls are meant to be good too.

Bontrager Mud X is my, all year round, tyre.

Good in errr, the Mud.

Good enough in the dry.

What Solo said ^^^

Mud x in the wetter months for sure, but too draggy on dry muddy chalky flint trails round my way. Always found tomac nevegals pretty good all round, although there’s a lot of nevegal hatters on this forum.

I’m running Specialized Storm Controls 2.0’s at the moment and i’m pretty impressed with them, pretty cheap too.

I used to use the bonty mud x and didn’t find them very good and their slow, my friend used the specialised storms and they seemed very good and were not slow also price is very good. Diane – my skill set mainly consists of hold on and hope for the best!

Mud X gets my vote but their only downside is that I have had two go with slices on the sidewalls. May be just unlucky but the sidewalls do appear to be a little on the fragile side. That said, I have them on my heckler and take them out whenever it looks muddy – they grip really well and can be pushed harder than you think round the bends…..

Mud X gets my vote but their only downside is that I have had two go with slices on the sidewalls. May be just unlucky but the sidewalls do appear to be a little on the fragile side.

I’ve found that to be a feature of Bonty tyres, unfortunately – they do seem to wear relatively quickly. On the whole I’ve found it still worth sticking with them, though

Mud X gets my vote but their only downside is that I have had two go with slices on the sidewalls.

Big fan of Bonty Mud X for pretty much all seasons but the sidewalls are fragile….on the rear I had the inner tube burst through the sidewall on one of my Mud X tyres.

However I did notice on some newer ones I bought that the sidewalls have been strengthened…you’ll see a slight pattern to the sidewalls unlike the older version. I’ve still got some of the older version so I’m using the strengthened sidewall version on the back and the older version on the front.

AndyRT – Member
2 main choices
Bontrager Mud x: excellent tyre
Panaracer Trailraker

Totally agree these are two of the best mud tyres (Spesh Storm control is seemingly a copy of the Mud-X, but can be found cheaper!). Mud-X is now my standard Autumn-winter-Spring tyre and can be run in the summer too, though I prefer something wider and faster rolling for the sunshine.
The Panaracer is a great mud tyre but fails miserably on this point..

Diane – Member
Ideally good rolling.

The Trailrakers are anything BUT “good rolling”… they are great in the mud but are so draggy everywhere else, so much so I reckon any advantage they give in the mud is counteracted by the dragginess, so I’ve given up on em!

As you’ll have read, Bontys and Trailrakers get lots of good press. I tend to err towards grip at the expense of weight and have been using Swampthings for the last two years. They have been criticised on here for high rolling resistance but they seem to be much better in that regard than my summer High Rollers. I like the fact that they grip tolerably well on roots too.

Agree with Z1ppy.

Trailrakers are very, very good in the mud, but they are your stereotypical velcro tyre.

Reading the sidewall comments for the Mud X.

I would just balance these experiences with the fact that for what a Mud X is, its quite a light tyre at sub 600g.

As I do not usually frequent flint fests, I do nicely on the Mud X.

If you are riding a lot of rock gardens, etc.
Then sidewall strength / toughness will obviously become more of a consideration.

🙂

I buy what is on offer.. and I buy a lot of it when on special offer..

I have about 4 full sets of WTB 2.3 Stout and 2.3 Prowler SS folding, 4 full sets of Specialized Eskar 2.3 folding, and maybe 6 full sets of folding Tioga XC 1.95.

I know not. But I like my tyres. I think Specialized, Tioga, and WTB are good tyres.

Panaracer Trailraker or Maxxis Medusa.

I buy what is on offer.. and I buy a lot of it when on special offer..

’nuff said. 😉

I don’t like Mud Xs very much, I can see the appeal if most of your riding is really plowing through bad mud but not for me. Really found the 2.0 poor on the front in anything but slop, I went back to regular everyday tyres and was glad for it. 1.8 was good on the back though.

But then, round here my approach to extended bad mud is just not to ride it… I’d sooner not help trash the trails, so I look for other options. Not everyone has that luxury.

So I’d say, some sort of grippy knobbly- Highrollers, Nevegals with some of the knobs cut off…

What Pimpmaster said, only I’ve not used trailrakers but have used the rather excellent all round mud tyres that are Spesh Storm (S-works) in the older dual compound version. As far as I can work out the newer (2011 onward) storm is now only single compound

“However I did notice on some newer ones I bought that the sidewalls have been strengthened…you’ll see a slight pattern to the sidewalls unlike the older version”
You’re older versions aren’t 1.8″ are they?
I know it used to be that the 1.8″ was available in standard and an extra puncture resistant version and the 2.0″ only available in puncture resistant? I’ve not had a problem with my 2.0″ versions, they’ve been ridden in peak rocky terrain, though I realise thats not like riding on flint

“Spesh Storm control is seemingly a copy of the Mud-X, but can be found cheaper!”
Please where?, I can find MudX’s advertised from £20, but storms (control or s-works) for £25-30?

Trailrakers are de rigeur round here in the winter, as it’s mostly slop. Mud X’s roll better, are better cornering (thanks to more of a rounded profile) and are a close second for grip.
Bonty’s are tubeless ready so are a bit more of a faff to seat on the rim.
Personally I prefer the Trailrakers for where I ride.

I used Swampthings last winter and was very impressed. Good grip especially on wet roots but a PITA to get on and off especially in the cold.

Found trailrakers really hard work, so ditched them and for something different, have the Michelin Muds, which are tubeless, starting their third winter now and are great on the singlespeed in the chilterns and clay also. Not really had any real issues with them and very predictable and sensible rolling too.

2.35″ Swampthings for me when the going gets gloopy , I know all that ‘thin tyres cut through the mud’ stuff but nearly 16 stones of me does just the same job 😳

They are heavy but I don’t get many pinchflats so I can live with the extra , I delude myself it’s training wieght.

Thanks all. Think I’ll go with Mud X and shove them on my full susser for if I ride steep downs and keep my fast rolling tyred HT for everything else 🙂

Bonty Mud X are good, but IRC Mud Mads – if you can still find any in stock anywhere are the dogs bollocks of mud tyre.