Afternoon folks..

Lugged my sb6c round a 42 mile trip in the Hope Valley on Saturday circa 6000ft of climbing.

Found it hard work and even on some decents I felt my tyres were slowing me down (lot of effort to wind them up to speed).

It’s not a particularly heavy bike, yes it’s overkill for most of the miles at 160mm travel but I can only have space for 1 suspension bike so it needs to cover uplift and alpine trips hence the choice.

I really felt the tyres were hard work though and on some short road sections they were making it hard work to keep up with the group I was out with.

Currently running Magic Mary trailstar front and Hans Dampf Pacestar rear. Both 2.35 650b.

Anyone recommend a different combination that will still give some grip in the corners but be overall lighter to wind up and less draggy?

Preferably something that will manage some speedy rocky descents though without tearing at a glimpse of a rock.

Thanks for recommendations in advance

I just used a semi slick. In summer there’s so much grip on the gritstone it didn’t matter what rear I used.

Dirtjump tyres in particulalr worked really well, like DMR Moto, Maxxis Holly-Roller because they had just enough grip, plenty of sidewall protection and minimal rolling resistance. I don’t think anyone makes anything like that in 650b though 🙁

Summer tyres….
Shorty front and rear 😉

Minion SS?

Are you on supergravity casing or regular folding?

Try swapping the HD for a rock razor, should give you a good balance of grip with a big reduction in rolling resistance.

Regular folding. One fella who was out recommended a rock razor on the rear and keeping the Mary.

That will probably be what I try next unless there’s a massive load of recomendations for an alternative?

I swapped from a 3c Shorty / e13 dual to a 3c HR2 / Minion SS at the weekend.

Good but a bit hairy on one particular fast off piste bit, where the HR just wasn’t slowing me down

Yep, swap the HD for a Rock Razor. Great tyre.

I’m gonna remove my Mary for one of these on the front at some point…
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYOOCM29X24/on-one-chunky-monkey-29×24-tyre

You want the trail extreme version, it’s dual compound.

Drop me a line if you’re interested in a used supergravity Rock Razor.

Cheers but I’m more likely to go for a Snakeskin Pacestar one as they are about 30% lighter.

Or run the Hans Dampf up front and bop a Rock Razor on the rear, see how that combination goes first before buying two new tires.

Yeh I thought about trying that.

Is there much difference up front between running a Mary and a Damp?

Pretty sold on the razor for on the rear although I’ve read a few crc reviews of them puncturing easy in the main tread

“Is there much difference up front between running a Mary and a Damp?”

yes, I find the HD really sketchy as a front tyre in terms of hard cornering. I’d keep the MM on the front and stick a minion DHR2 or highroller 2 on the back in dual compound flavour (found 3C very draggy on the rear). saying that I never found MM front and HD rear too draggy when I was using them, only stopped as I found them too fragile for the peak, so swapped to a super gravity MM for the front but at over a kg there was no way I was going with one on the rear

Cheers for that.

Just had a look and the dampf on the rear is a trailstar not pacestar so a touch more draggy than I had stated.

Think I’ll start with a different rear tyre.

Not too keen on mixing brands from an aesthetic point of view. What’s the maxxis equivalents to Mary front (trailstar) and Razor rear (Pacestar)?

What’s the maxxis equivalents to Mary front (trailstar) and Razor rear (Pacestar)?

I’d go with DHR2 3C EXO TR on the front, Minion SS EXO TR on the back.

Closest Maxxis to a Magic Mary 2.35 is a Shorty 2.5 – but that’s better at mud. Going the other way from mud tyres it’s the High Roller 2 or Minion DHF or DHR2, probably in the new WT 2.5 sizes.

Rock Razer equivalent is the Minion SS. On my bike right now (literally taking a break from pushing it up a steep hill) I have a Minion SS 2.3 Exo Silkworm Dual and a High Roller 2 2.4 Exo 3C which are a pretty nice pairing of fast, good braking from the front and good turning from both.

Thanks for input everyone. Just ordered a Rock Razor in Pacestar evo flavour to try on the rear.

Cheers