Aargh, a what tyres thread… Thing is I have a really good idea of what I normally like, but I haven’t a clue what’s good in the world of more XC kit. For the first time in years I have an honest-to-god XC bike, got a set of SIDs for my Soda… It’s normally rigid so the main tyre choice factor is “something massive and bouncy”… Nevegal 2.5 currently!

So, a proper XC bike calls for a proper XC tyre, but I’m a bit too used to big, super tacky trail/dh rubber for a lot of those to be a very good idea.. So looking for an inbetweener, something that rolls sensibly quick but will suffer my front-heavy riding and unreasonable expectations. Something with decently sticky rubber and a bit of tooth.

So where to start? Not a Nobby Nic fan, my Karmas are good for race days but probably a bit too XC for everyday use. The bike’ll have to deal with allsorts on one set of tyres so probably Ardents are a little too dry, not sure, it’d be a good option the rest of hte time… Bonty XR3?

Any suggestions much appreciated.

County vert pro – obviously!

*i was actually going to suggest ardents tbh

Yeah, they’re the best I’ve managed… I suppose realistically I might want to mud-tyre it up for winter anyway so it probably makes sense… Cheers!

As you are a spesh fan like myself, I have to say purgatorys!.

Small Block 8, they are surprisingly grippy in a wider range of conditions than you’d expect, or a slant 6* if you want a bit more tread?

*not tried one though, but I like my small block 8s, so I’m tempted?

County vert pro – obviously!

bad eastern copy of conti vert pro?

I really like smallblocks as a rear tyre. I am going to interpret the suggestion of putting one on the front as attempted murder though. Slant though, hmm.

Hmmmmmmm. I suppose I should probably be thinking about Mountain Kings… A sadly absent big hitter just suggested rubber queens which I think are not for me, had those before but maybe the Kings will suit (I had original Kings, they were pish, so I am prejudiced)

Nobeer, do you not find the Purg a little hard? I’ve not actually used one that I can recall but I think the compound’s the same as the eskar?

Keep the Nev on the front where the grip is, and stick s Small Block on the rear where the rolling resistance is.

X-King? I’ve settled on this as a front tyre with a Race King on the back. Both 2.2 but the X-King comes up a good bit narrower so maybe a 2.4 if you want more volume.

X-King is great, even in the non Black Chilli compound, but they don’t last long on the back.

FWIW I’m running Spesh Storm tyres F & R on my xc bike, they’re not fantastic at 38psi on tarmac, but they’re grippy and mud friendly everywhere else. Fit and forget.

Use to run an advantage on the front…not bad and quite light.

Now have a Nobby Nic 2.1….bloody dangerous

On my Soul I’m running s 2.3 Butcher control on the front and a 2.25 Ardent on the back. For me it’s the perfect trade off between rolling resistance and grip, with a decent amount of volume there as well.

I love my Butchers but… it’s just kind of a wrong idea, thematically wrong 😉 If I end up with that much tyre on the xc bike I might as well just ride the Ragley instead. So it’s like, I don’t want a bad bike but I want a different bike, with a bit of speciality.

Also, it’s nice to play with new things!

Advantage, I’ve used before and they’re great most of the time but they’ve got that maxxis grip-no grip thing which just freaks me out on the front…

So I guess, in the shortlist is

Ardent 2.25
X-King 2.4 RaceSport

and still out there is
Mountain King
Purgatory
Maybe downsize on Nevegals, used to love the 2.1s, should still have some of those maybe.

And absolutely zero love for the Bontys.

Spent a lot of time Useing Spesh storm over last winter and for mud tyre they roll very well but latly
Use groud control 2.1 and very impressed
Sworks casing can be a little thin though

Nobby nics are a totally different tyre if you go snakeskin tubeless and get those pressures down. I always hated the old fragile ones but better now

I’ve just done exactly the same thing (put sids on my soda from rigid). I’m currently using a bonty xr1 on the rear and a rocket ron 2.25 snakeskin on the front. This is perfect for my local trails and long-distance stuff, but was a bit hairy when I took it around Afan a couple of weeks ago (although I think that was more to do with trying to ride the bike like my full 5″ full sus rather than the tyres).

I’ve a soft spot for WTBs. I like my mutano raptor for speed with versatility (not sure what the current equivalent is) and have a Moto on the front of my wet weather bike for more bite.

Crossmark rear and a nic up front for me. Although i keep eyeing up the high roller i have hanging up in the garage to replace the nic.

liking my 2.2 mountain king black chilli’s

There’s supposed to be a 2.35 Ikon somewhere in the pipeline that’s designed with taller side-knobs and supposedly, based on feedback from the US where it is available, a fast but decently grippy front tyre option. One of those and a 2.2 Ikon on the back could be interesting.

It’s hard though, one person’s fast and grippy is someone else’s sketchy and marginal. If you’re not speed obsessed a 2.35 Minion DHF on the front and a 2.25 Ardent on the back is a decent all-round combination, the Ardent on the front is fine in the dry, less clever when things get soft.

I run Racing Ralph snakeskins all year.

Rocket Rons

Ralphs

2.25 Ralphs front and rear – surprisingly grippy on most surfaces and roll very well.

Spesh Captain, seem OK, light & easy rolling. Might be better out there but its what I am running at the mo.

Nothing by Conti.

if its muddy any mud tyre.

Spesh Captain, seem OK, light & easy rolling

But they’re neither light nor quick! A reasonable all round tyre I agree, but they’re over 550g even in S-Works guise.

£ for lb they are not so bad compared to the ralphs, but I do take your point.

Happy enough with that sort of weight tbh, I don’t want the durability compromise of really light tyres. Ralphs I will avoid, not really as grippy as I’m after and when I last ran TLR Snakeskins tubeless they were forever puncturing, was almost glad to find they wore out in 10 minutes flat 😉 (I reckon the majority of all the punctures I’ve had in the last 2 years were from that one set of tyres, even though they didn’t last long and got the least hard use)

Captain on the list, cheers!

Ralphs I will avoid, not really as grippy as I’m after and when I last ran TLR Snakeskins tubeless

That’s odd although I appreciate stuff is different for everyone. I’ve got Ralphs on American Classic race wheels on one bike, and a Hans Dampf/Nic on American Classic AM wheels on the other. All Snakeskin TLR and they’ve become default spec for me on any bike going forward (as have the wheels tbh, love those wide rims!)

So when you said:

proper XC tyre

What you really meant was not really an XC tyre at all? Got it! 😉

Captains are reasonable. If you found Ralphs fragile you’ll want the Control carcass, which is well over 600g, and feels like it IMO!

£ for lb they are not so bad compared to the ralphs, but I do take your point.

Are they? They’re what… £30? €34.90 for Ralphs.

Recently switched to a NN gatestar compound on the front (from a Ralph) to see if I could get more grip up front on the more loamy off-piste stuff at Haldon. Have to say the grip is good, running c.26 psi up front & 28.5 rear.

Managed to put a 10mm long slash in the crown of the tyre on it’s first real outing mind you, so lost a few places while it lost enough pressure to seal up. Finished with 8 psi in the tyre, but at least it didn’t roll off the rim on the last lap!

26 psi up front & 28.5 rear.

😯

Jeeez… am I doing this all wrong? N-Nic 37 front, 41 rear… 😯

Pressures that low would drive me schizoid! How do you cope with all the rolling / dragging / squirming..? 😯

Or do you weigh 8 stone? 😉

njee20 – Member

So when you said:

proper XC tyre

What you really meant was not really an XC tyre at all?

Objection yer honour! Quoting out of context!

“So, a proper XC bike calls for a proper XC tyre, but I’m a bit too used to big, super tacky trail/dh rubber for a lot of those to be a very good idea.. So looking for an inbetweener”

slant 6 on the back and butcher control on the front is what I’ve got at the moment, seems ridiculous but it’s lots of fun.

Oh and I saw someone riding the uplift at Inners at Jayfest with slant 6 front and back, and they were still alive at the end of the day, braver than me though!

Jeeez… am I doing this all wrong? N-Nic 37 front, 41 rear…

Pressures that low would drive me schizoid! How do you cope with all the rolling / dragging / squirming..?

12st and I run 2.25 Ralphs at 18psi front and 20 psi rear.

Wide rims, and snakeskin sidewalls is the short answer. Nay a hint of roll, LOTS more grip.

God, I’ve ran Hans Dampfs at 13psi on a wet technical DH day…

I think the Captain’s probably my number one just now, just because I was considering one of those for a rear on another bike anyway… So it’s a safe option

bigjim – Member

Oh and I saw someone riding the uplift at Inners at Jayfest with slant 6 front and back, and they were still alive at the end of the day, braver than me though!

I used my trust singleply nevegal/slant combo at fort william last month. Still got the bruise

I run a Maxxis Advantage 2.1 front and Spesh Fast Trak rear on my hardtail.

Works pretty well and love how the rear drifts round corners.

I reckon you need to give the Advantage another go, brilliant tyre for most things.

12 stone as it happens, and as mentioned previously, snakeskin sidewalls avoid most of the squirm. I’m using Crest rims, so not particularly wide. They do squirm a bit with only 8 psi in though!! I came 42nd out of 57 (bugger!). 😀

Looks like it’s the x-king, just found one in classifieds 😉 Cheers chaps!