I fitted a shorty on the front at the weekend for the King of the Hill and while it was good in the mud, it slid out easily on the wet roots. Is it just a case of getting used to it when it comes to riding wet roots or is it specifically only really good for mud? Would like to hear people’s opinions particularly those that ride steep muddy rooty trails, cause normally where there’s mud there’s wet roots! Is there a better option for a winter tyre? Based in Scotland so winter is wet and the trails are muddy!

Never noticed it being poor on roots. Maybe a wee bit much air in there?.

Yeah, nothing really grips on roots but it’s better than most ime. (it’s the main reason I sacked my Mary and replaced it with the shorty). A really big, soft tyre can glom right over them though…

Like Nobeer said, I’ve ridden with mine all over the tweed valley last winter and never noticed it being any better or worse over roots than a super tacky minion. I’m running mine tubeless at about 23 psi. You could try a vigilante or magic mary though. Neither quite as good in pure mud, but work better in more mixed conditions.

Planning on picking up either a shorty or magic Mary myself this week,
What’s the best for all round stuff, mud, loam etc but a bit of trail centre red thrown in, a mate reckons the shorty was poor on the packed hardcore surface which is understandable.

All the spikies are a bit unsuited to hardpack, though they’re not terrible, just not as good as a hardpack tyre… Shorty and Vigilante (WTB) are better than the Mary though IMO, Mary feels like harder rubber and is a bit wandery too. I reckon, I want the extra grip when riding orrible winter endurobarstards, more than I care about the loss of grip on the hard bits where there’s more grip anyway.

I’ve not compared like for like with the shorty vs vigilante because I went all clown wheel but so far it seems like the vigilante is a bit more allroundy/less muddy. Quite like it tbh, heavy mind.

Northwind, I’m looking for a 29er tyre for my wife’s bike for a muddy Highland winter. In light of your clown wheel comment ^ can you recommend something. Current tyres are some Bontrager XR1 things 2.20 wide, not especially grippy. Tubeless not required.

Shorty. I have mine on the clown bike, it’s pretty faultless on natural stuff (Ayrshire muck)

Didn’t realise they did them that big.

Aye did have it fairly hard to make the transitions a bit easier, will take some air out and work on my technique!

@Ape- Can’t really recommend, yet. But the vigilante’s probably as good a tyre as the shorty, it’s just a wee bit different in focus. I’d bet 10p that the 29er shorty’ll kick ass too.

Ok cheers

Magic Mary on hardpack for any length of time equals not very many functioning side knobs. They all tear through.

Now that I know that I only ride my remaining Magic Mary on softer trails and it is holding up better but not perfectly.

I’m very keen to try the Vigilante now that I know of them!

That’s it Ian, blame your crashes on the tyre!

Got to blame something nothing to do wi my ability honest

I find naff all tread, soft compound or flexy knobs, ala ardent for example for wet roots.

Spikes are for gripping the mud, not the roots, they rely on having better grip on the mud between the roots, rather than gripping the roots or wet rock.

Ie, you cant have your cake and eat it. Spikes grips soft stuff, flexy, small knobs and soft rubber grips hard stuff.

Is anyone else running the single-ply shorty up front as tubeless or am I better off getting the exo protection version?

Having run Vigilante and Magic Mary’s, I will be changing to an EXO Shorty (iCycles stock) at the next change. The MM just wears too quickly and the Vigilante is brilliant but doesn’t seem to shed mud as easily as the shorty from what i have seen/heard. Will still use a Vigilante when dry/trail centre hardpack/not too muddy.

I was running a shorty as a rear for a while, 3c exo. Was excellent if a little draggy. Very good on the kind of spring mud you get, i.e not very deep. once the trails became super dry it became a little ‘skippy’ over the dust and hard pack.

Now running one at the front and again it’s great, although it does seem a little narrow. Tubelless and around 23psi it grips as good as anything else i’ve found on wet roots. I’m considering running them front and rear as the rain has come back with a vengenace and everything is vey wet and muddy again.

edit: 23 psi seems to be the magic number looking back at peoples comments!