Thinking butcher grid, hans dampf snakeskin or minion/high roller exo for my next front tyre.

Wondering if any outshine the others in not squirming in corners when the pressures are soft. Schwalbe rate their lowest pressure at 23psi while the others officially say 30+ … is there any difference in practice?

I run a Magic Mary SG at about 17psi with no issues at all. Massively preferable to the HR2, and much prefer it to a minion DHF on anything but hardpack.

Way too many other variables, like side knobs, terrain etc. Not to mention the accuracy of your pressure gauge and riding style or your bike.

Just buy a some tyres and try them out.

I have a Hans Dampf and loved it on my Scott in loamy stuff. But love the High Roller on my Jeffsy as well. I couldn’t say which was better. I ride a Minion DHF on my Capra, which is brilliant.

But its next to impossible to say which is the best.

Following with interest.

(Genuinely.)

Thinking butcher grid, hans dampf snakeskin or minion/high roller exo for my next front tyre.

What brand do you have on the back? That would swing it for me.

@submarined if you’re running super gravity that’s going to be in a different league to the carcasses I’m considering anyway. You’d have to compare with downhill tyres from the other brands based on weight alone. I’m looking for something sub 1kg in 29er size.

Depends what you class as soft pressure in the first place really?

Yeah, I guess so. I haven’t tried the non SG one for comparison in afraid.
I’m also using a 30mm room, which imo has a big effect on what you can ruin pressure wise.
Plus I’m unhealthily malnourished in terms of build.

I’m 80kg and run (according to my pressure gauge) 20 psi. None of my tyres squirm and I push in the corners hard enough to regularly fall off 🙂

But they are different in feel, so I reckon you should buy a couple and just try them.

SG sidewalls are like plastic they are so supportive. I can have no air in them and the bike still stands up. There is a weight penalty compared to Snakeskin though.

I have a range of Schwalbe and Maxxis, and overall I’d say Snakeskin is slightly thicker than the Exo casing, but it does seem to depend on the tyre. A Hans Dampf feels like it has a thicker sidewall than a Nobby Nic, a High Roller has thicker sidewalls than an Ikon.

This is 26 inch and with a 160mm travel AM bike and 80kg rider (inc kit) and tubeless. Schwalbe Digital pressure gauge.

It’s horses for courses with tyres and pressures. Too many variables. Start at 30psi and work up or down from there would be my advice and get a digital gauge.

Magic Mary SG at 13 psi on the front and it’s still fine – wet Antur Stiniog. (Rear SG Dampf @ 19psi).

This is for general AM/trails:

A non SG Mary will go 17 psi ok on the front.

I’m currently running DHF 3C TR EXO 2.3 up front at 19 to 22 PSI. It will squirm around sub 17 PSI.

Out back DHR II 3C TR EXO 2.3 or Minion SS TR EXO 2.3 – I run them 23PSI ok. Much less and I’m risking dinging the rim on rocks. Absolute max I’ll go in them is 26PSI though for my riding.

Been great all summer on Maxxis. Had a blast. Fast and grippy tyres, they’ve worked really well.

Dunno what I’ll do for winter yet. Mary / DHR2 maybe.

If I was going to somewhere like Antur with anything other than SG tyres I’d be upping the PSI to the 30+ on EXO or Trail tyres. SG tyres are so worth putting on for there though as they don’t wear out in one day. Everything else I’ve tried is pretty much in the bin from wear after a day there.

What brand do you have on the back? That would swing it for me.

Does your mum put matching M&S socks and pants out for you too?…

She does for me.

SG sidewalls are like plastic they are so supportive

That would be down to the large (blue) plastic insert.

Rated at 30+ – damn I’m breaking the rules also.

I love the maxis DHF up front. Tried other over the years but keep coming back to this. I’m.a big guy, and ride somewhat aggressive. I’ve rolled tyres at low 20s but now run about 26 or so on the front. The Stans suggestions say I should be way above this for my weight (about 16 stone), so in my book lower than recommended is ideal.

There’s a couple of grouptests that discuss sidewall support which would be worth a look. Think I’ve seen it covered on Bikeradar and EnduroMTB.

I really like the Bontrager SE series. Feels better than the Snakeskin HD that was on the front before.

e*thirteen trs race front and rear for me.

Running about 24psi on 30mm internal rims.

She does for me.

Can’t deny the truth. Freshly pressed too.

I’d love to be able to run the pressures quoted.

Of the normalish weight casings –

EXO protection > snakeskin > control

Beefier casings –

SG > double down (does little or nothing for support) > grid (basically the same as exo protection)

EXO, cant comfortably get below 28psi from, 30 psi rear, with 30mm ID rims. With super gravity maybe about 2 psi less.

Saying that though, not really into my tyres rolling about anyway.

AM kind of wondering if I stopped short at the wide rim thing at 30mm, would 35mm really cure it for me? Like the damping and grip of the softer tyres but not the roll, so inconsistent.

Thinking butcher grid, hans dampf snakeskin or minion/high roller exo for my next front tyre.

All excellent choices IMO. Well, I don’t really go for the HD as a front tyre – but the snakeskin or exo casings are great for me, riding reasonably fast.

No idea what pressures I use, but often softer than friends.

Grid in 29″ form is significantly beefier than EXO. Don’t know if it’s 29″ specific, but the EXO’s are really light tyres for their size at ~800g. Butcher/Slaughter are 1kg.

That said, still can’t get much below about 28psi without feeling like the tyre is going to fall off if you hit a corner hard. Shame because they feel much nicer elsewhere.

EXO, cant comfortably get below 28psi from, 30 psi rear, with 30mm ID rims. With super gravity maybe about 2 psi less.

Was running 19psi in a Maxxis Beaver EXO 29 the other day with no problems…

25mm rims, 170lbs rider.

Interesting conundrum – I’ve just switched from very well worn Spesh Purgatory / Butcher Grid tyres to High Roller / Minion DHFs EXO TRs on both of my full suss bikes.

Initially, the greatest difference is in rolling resistance. I am one or two gears higher on my Maxxis tyres and they seem to be better in terms of pedaling traction. Up front, the difference is less pronounced, the Butcher is a very good tyre indeed and it has a similar tread pattern to the Minion. Both tyres like to be leaned over onto the shoulder lugs and have a similar feel up front.

I’ve not had a chance to play with pressures yet, I ventured out on a very conservative 33(r)/30(f) psi starting point, I used the same pressures as my Spesh tyres. The Spesh tyres never really felt happy at low(er) pressures, particularly on the back. I’m running Stan’s Arch rims on bike 1 and Specialized Roval rims (25.2mm internal width) on my 29er. I’m no weight weenie, I’m approx 85kg soaking wet so running ultra low pressures ain’t going to work particularly well for me.

The rolling resistance alone makes a compelling case for Maxxis, but if you’re just looking for a front tyre then I daresay that there isn’t much in it between a Butcher and a Minion.

In terms of sidewall support/strength is the TPI number quoted in many descriptions of relevance? My understanding is that the higher this number, the more ‘material’ therefore the more strength in sidewalls? And subsequently increased support, puncture protection etc….

For Example:
29 Minion DHR EXO – 60 TPI
29 Butcher Grid – 60 TPI
29 Minion DHR Double Down – 120 TPI
29 Continental Der Baron Projekt – 240 TPI

My understanding is that the higher this number, the more ‘material’ therefore the more strength in sidewalls?

It’s the other way round

Sheldon link

As muggomagic except, I thought, for double layered sidewalls like Double Down which are 2×60 TPI rather than true 120tpi.
I suspect the Conti Projekts are 2x120tpi as well.

The double down have 2 x 120 TPI casings and a butyl insert. No idea about the Baron.

The der Barons say they are 4 layer so I am guessing then that is 4 layers of 60 TPI carcass. So they would be the toughest presumably?

Conti say everything is 4 layer (they used to say “4 ply”) even their 500g XC tyres!

I’d look at weight first as an indicator. Only question is where the extra weight has been added.

I just went from Butcher/Purgatory on the Salsa to 2x Racing Ralph Snakeskin. I ran the Spesh tyres at 25 or sometimes 30 to get the support, but I ran the RRs at 20 which was way too bouncy on the Spesh.

The der barons actually are over 1kg each and supposedly 240 TPI (60 TPI x 4) under tread, 180 TPI (60 TPI x3) sidewalls and have Apex’ sidewall inserts.

Should be sturdy?

@groundskeeperwilly Fair enough, actually what is the conti equivalent to minion/butcher/hans etc?

@molgrips were your spesh tyres control or grid?