Looking for a good alternative to the 2.2 Rubber Queen Black Chilli UST I had on the rear, 26″. So basically something pretty light with decent grip and reasonably fast rolling, also good for tubeless and with a width roughly the same as a 2.2 RC – not too fat. Ideally it will be tough enough for the Lakes (which the Rubber Queen wasn’t). Can anyone recommend a Specialized tyre that fits the bill? I fancy a Specialized because they seem to get good reviews, they’re not megabucks and I can buy/order them from my LBS, which I’d like to support. Ta v much.

halfway between heaven and hell? purgatory control I get on fine with. Grippy in all but the very worst gloopy mud and fairly quick on road too.

I can’t really speak for the lakes but in general, specialized’s control range isn’t massively tough. Tough enough for me but I’m not hard on tyres.

It’s a wee bit of a hole in the specialized range I think, maybe the Eskar? But it’s a bit slippy sometimes. The Purg’s not that great, bit too slow for the grip imo, the Butcher is almost as fast but far grippier and more predictable. The Captain’s got a lot of grip for a fast tyre but still, it’s a speed tyre not a grip tyre.

I love the Butcher and Captain but I’m not totally sure they’re right here 😕

You’ve just described the Maxxis Ardent EXO (apart from the specialized bit).

Currently running the specialized butcher up front and the slaughter out back. Both are the tougher grid version of the tyres, I ride in and around the Lakes and both have been fine so far.

Go up tubeless nice and easy too

Cheers for these answers – keep them coming.
dave – ha, thanks. If my shop sells these and they’re not loads more dosh, I might look into it.

Seven bikes running a mixture here
mine

Clutch front, Purgatory rear
Enduro front, Enduro Rear

Kevins
Enduro Front, Enduro rear
Eskar front, Eskar rear

Abigales
Butcher front, Purgatory rear
Enduro front, Enduro rear.

Katies
Enduro front, Enduro rear

All our tyres are used all year round, mainly in the Peak and for our Alps trips.

I think the Enduro is the best all rounder but you cant get them any more and we are running out of our stock pile.
Clutch and Butcher on the front with Purgatory on the rear come in a close second.
The Eskars we dont rate that much, they come up small compaired to the others. Thats why they are stuck on Kevins hack bike.

I wish they still made eskars. My fave tyre ever.

Been on specialized tyres for a while now – nice performance / price balance. Be surprised if any of them were tougher than a RQ UST (which I used for a good while), the TLR carcass seems a fair bit lighter. They may ride better and be cheaper – but if you’re trashing a RQ UST and want something more reliable, then can’t see what that is in the spesh range.

Reality is that the RQ is well up to Lakes riding, obv, it’s just aggravating when you bin a 50 quid tyre. So something like a butcher or purgatory is worth trying out. They’re tough enough, roll well and are good value [no tubeless problems either – go up first time with a track pump].

gary – cheers for this. I had big problems with pinch flats using a RC on the rear, initially burping air without tubes and then puncturing when I put a tube in. Ended up switching to a far heavier duty spare tyre I had with neon that trip. Must admit, everything else about the RC was great (cost aside).

I like the Specialized tyres and also a Lakes rider, but saying that I ripped a Purgatory control on the rear at Grizedale last weekend.

Going to try a Purgatory grid to replace it. Running a Butcher control up front with no problems so far.

Butcher control up front and no problems. Good tyre and great VFM. I have a thicker bonty xr4 on the back which does fine. Not a fan of Eskar/ Purgatory.

The Protection carcass on my Trail Kings feels a lot tougher than the UST carcass on my Rubber Queens – it’s about twice as stiff on the sidewalls and even stiffer under the tread. I gather Continental are launching an Apex Protection version this year which will be much more pinch resistant.

Whatever you go for, the answer is “Grid”.

I’m a fan of Spesh tyres but the sidewalls just aren’t tough enough, especially if you live anywhere flinty.

FWIW I run a Butcher up front with a Purgatory at the back, the latter in Grid form. The extra fiver and 150g is more than offset by the increase in stability and tear resistance.

I split a Ground Control at Grizedale a couple of weekends ago, and did the same tyre on Walna Scar a few Lakes rides before that, so I’d be looking elsewhere if I was riding in the lakes every weekend.

There are three different types of Spesh tyres:

S-Works (tubeless ready, very light but extremely fragile)
Control (tubeless ready, heaver and not as fragile as S-Works)
Grid (Look pretty much like UST to me, reinforced sidewalls. Heaviest)

There’s also:

Sport (wire bead, possibly harder compound)

Have got a couple of part-worn Butcher Controls that gave great service up front and are now working quite well on the back although they’ve both pinch flatted which is unusual for me

Also a Captain Control which I’m undecided about. Too narrow for the front and too draggy for rear. Digs in and goes on slippery loose stuff but not so hot elsewhere

Most noticeable thing about all three is that they have small eccentricities compared to Maxxis/Schwalbe which I guess is why they’re not so expensive

Standard spesh tyres have thin sidewalls like Schwalbe so I would be looking at the grid version to help with stability.

The Continental protection sidewalls are very tough and stiff. Tougher than the Maxxis EXO which are also very good for stability and abrasive resistance.

I ran purgatory front and butcher rear which was great for anything from trail riding to #enduro races.

My AM rims have a butcher rear (and Magic Mary front) and were superb at Antur Stiniog.

Have just bought a new purgatory and a ground control, which will go onto my trail rims.

Super value tyres, but do agree the sidewalls aren’t the thickest. That said, I’ve not had any issues so far…

Butcher up front, Purgatory grid on the back.

Both ghetto tubeless and the easiest ghetto tubeless I’ve ever done.

Purgatory control is usually on front but the Alps saw the butcher going on last summer and it hasn’t been off since.

I have a Butcher Control and it’s not as tough as a UST Rubber Queen – I’m curious about the Grid version as a front tyre as it’s also stickier (42a) but I think it would wear too fast, drag too much and the side blocks distort too much as a rear.

42a is just the same as maxxis supertacky- may be literally the same, they’re both made my CST. Nothing wrong with a front supertacky.