I have tried a few different rear tyres and against all odds i thought i had found my holy grail in a snakeskin version of the Nobby Nic.

It seemed roll pretty well, gripped extremely well and for me it fitted tubeless with ease so in all respects it seemed to be a winner.

So with a pat on the back and a smug grin i headed out to the trails.

500 miles later(not in one go), and used in very different types of terrain i was willing to accept that yes. I had the ONE.

Wrong. dear jesus these tyres must have been made from swiss cheese. The centre knobs have been completely trashed. Now i am not heavy on the brakes and i dont do skids 😯 so this is pretty poor. At £40 a pop ill not be buying another.

So fitted an unused Eskar i had in the garage from an old bike to continue the hunt. But i really dont want to like it too much as they are discontinued 🙁

I hope you’re ready for a good bashing. Cus you need one. Better get your anti troll suite on.

The hunt for the perfect rear tyre continues….

and bigfoot, yetis, atlantis and a man who understands women.
Grippy in all conditions, Fast Rolling, Tough as nails.
Pick 2 if you’re lucky.

I’m pretty certain I’ve found my perfect rear tyre! 🙂

I am pretty certain I dont care..I know which tyres are really poor IMHO [ or not for what I ride – crossmarks for example] but beyond that I dont really care tbh

how many miles do you want from an offroad tyre?

Whether you think you skid or not, rear tyres are always going to wear quicker than fronts.
Do you really need centre knobs for the current dry conditions anyway?

soobalias – Member

how many miles do you want from an offroad tyre?

more than 500. 🙂

actually wondering that myself,

i reckon i probably get about that out of a front tyre, then the same again when i move it to the rear
so 1000 miles, or a years riding?

soobalias – Member
how many miles do you want from an offroad tyre?

How long is a bit of string? High performance, general purpose, no need for grip?

Maxxis ignitor, obviously

Ardent’s currently.

I get about 6 months out of them on the rear – about 3k.

Yeah, Nics wear ridiculously fast- and they lose much of their grip as soon as the knobs lose their square edges too. Combination of soft rubber and hard edges I reckon, they just break up. I didn’t get anywhere near 500 miles from mine, maybe 100 tops. They also punctured for fun. Shame as they were pretty good in other ways.

Advantage maybe? I like the Eskar but it’s a wee bit hard for my taste, not good at wet rock. stick-e Slant 6 for less grip on loose stuff, more grip on hard stuff, but more speed and better lifespan?

Maxxis crossmark LUST is the ultimate rear tyre.

Maxxis crossmark LUST is the ultimate rear tyre.

Not round here!

I have a feeling you are, at best, just going to get a list of what works for an individual rider.

Rider size/weight, terrain, bike, etc all make a difference imho.

I like my ground control but ask my son and he swears by high rollers. Then again my father is a Rocket Ron fan. Horses for courses.

I am pretty certain I dont care..I know which tyres are really poor IMHO [ or not for what I ride – crossmarks for example] but beyond that I dont really care tbh

+1, just follows the front.

It doesn’t matter what you have on the rear. The only tyre that counts is the front. The rear can do what it likes IMO.

Nobby Nic 2.25 user (front) – grips like a clawy thing
Michellin XC All Terrain 2.1 user (rear) £10 from One One – wears for ever and slides about on wet corners in an amusing ‘Tokyo Drift’ kind of way 😀

That just depends on what you’re doing really, there’s times when you need a bit of grip from the rear. Spent plenty of rides going sideways even with a big grippy back tyre never mind a slippery one. Other times, it just won’t let you put any power down and climbs become walks.

Found it 🙂 and it was only 13 quid.

And the award goes to On One with their Smorgasbord.

So far i am absolutely loving it on the rear. grippy and rolls well. Bosh 🙂

So whats the perfect front then…

When I saw the title I was thinking Smorgasbord…OK its not the lightest but its got good grip, goes up easily when tubeless and its cheap as chips. Ignitor on the front on the 26er and another Smorgasbord on the front on the 29er for me.

robhughes – Member
So whats the perfect front then…

I would get banned for starting that thread 😆

So whats the perfect front then…

Chunky Monkey obviously.

Crossmark here, on backwards by mistake, it’ll stay that way until it punctures.
Use them all year

For the past 3 or 4 months I’ve been using Smorgasbords front and rear and been loving them. Most definitely getting a Chunky Monkey up front for winter. Maybe even rear.

I just bang on a tyre and ride……..never change them for different times of the year, lifes far too short. Christ it’s a rubber tyre……in fact i can’t even remember what tyres ive got on my bike but they have air in them and go over mud and rooty things

What therag said. Crossmark all the way – great wear and as it doesnt have major knobs in the first place they cant break off!

Maxxis crossmark LUST…Not round here!

A tyre that’s not round? That’s not a good start…

Bontrager XR4 front, XR3 rear. Cheapish, grippy enough for most of the year and tubeless ready.

Other times, it just won’t let you put any power down and climbs become walks.

Technique that though innit. Unless you’re using a Furious Fred in deep mud!

Ha! I did exactly the same as OP thought Nobby Nic was the holy grail of the rear… but no its not the messiah its just a Brian. Its been great for couple of months then last night it rolled off my rim a few times and generally felt like crap I put it down to there being a bit more moisture around and the insanely quick rate it wears. Im off back to UST Ardent or might try Crossmark bombproof fit and forget.

I would normally agree that the rear just follows the front, and was using a Crossmark LUST rear for sometime, but recently changed back to a Nevegal. I found that in the dry and loose/flint/chalk conditions the crossmark would let go on corners – my nevegal manages a little better. I might give it a go again soon for a trip to Afan.
Crossmark on rock/hardpack would be ace 🙂

Anyone know how big UST crossmark 2.1 29″ come up against a 29″ ardent 2.25?

My bonty muds are great everywhere except wet roots.
Would a pair of chunky monkeys be good for dunes?

Schwalbe Racing Ralph snakeskin on the rear here, had a nobby nic ‘4X’ up front, but the side knobs were breaking up after 6 rides (less then 100 miles)! so switched to Ardent 2.25 exo up front.

Thinking next move will be either a 2.1 crossmark LUST on the back when the ralph dies, or a matching ardent.