I just bought a Lapierre Zesty for UK trail riding and general MTB fun. The first thing I am going to swap is the Conti Raceking tyres on it, I am sure they are good for some but they look a tad sketchy for me and for UK conditions. Can someone suggest me a good replacenment tyre that will do justice to a bike like this, I trail ride uk centres mainly and whilst I need a tyre that gives me plenty of confidence on the downhill stuff It’d be nice to be able to avoid sacrificing everything on the way up. I had some Panaracer Fire XC pro’s before on my stumpy, but I reckon they’d be a bit skinny for a bit more of a burly bike like this.

What size should I be looking for ? I understand some 2.2’s size up like 2.4’s, and some 2.4’s size up like 1.9’s !!! So some specific advice on model and correct size would be ace.

I was sort of looking at Conti MK protection 2.4 or 2.2, Maxxis Advantage, Maxxis Ignitor, Conti vertical Pro ??
Would appreciate some advice

Cheers

Conti Rubber Queens; 2.2″ – wouldn’t bother getting the 2.4″ as they are massive.

Maxxis Ardents in a 2.25 flavour. Waaay better than XC Pro’s, & roll extremely well.

I’d agree with GTDave. Failing that the Advantage would be OK

How do the Maxxis advantage size up ? and also how do the Ardents size up ?

Can’t you tell what tyres will work for you by looking at them? :p

Maxxis advantages come up very big,thought a pair of race kings would be good for trail centres?

Nobby nics tubeless

I’m running a 2.25 60a Advantage on the front and a 2.1 62a on the rear at the moment. Really like them. Although I have torn a sidewall on the rear and will probably swap it over for another 2.25 62a. The Advantage does size up quite big, about the same as a 2.35 high roller (which come up small for the size) The newer design Maxxis come up big, whereas the older designs come up small as a rule. I have heard very good things about the Rubber Queens in 2.2 flavour as well though.

Hutchinson Toro Enduro 2.35. Sizes up the same as Maxxis 2.35s available in tubed or tubeless. Just put one on the rear of my Turner and im very impressed so far.

…I am sure they are good for some but they look a tad sketchy for me and for UK conditions.

Rather than just looking at them, why don’t you actually try them before blowing the best part of £60 on new tyres?

Agree with Jimbo

Good call I suppose, but they just have very very shallow tread, perhaps I am wrong to judge without trying,

the race kings are great, a fast grippy tyre. its summer after all…
i run them. ridden muddy races with not much problem…

and if your mainly riding trail centres, you don’t need much tread, do you !!

For combos that work most of the year and can take some abuse:
fronts: blue groove/high roller/rampage
rear: nevegal/advantage

The Race Kings should be OK for the moment though (although I think they’ll be supersonics not protections so the sidewalls might be on the fragile side if hammering through rock gardens etc.)

Isn’t a ‘race’ tyre on an ‘all-mountain’ bike a bit of a weird combo? How about some High Rollers?

If it’s just trail centres and no mud I’d go fo Maxxis Ignitor Exceptions.

If you’re going to come across a bit of muddy stuff go for Advantage Exceptions.

The 2.1″ Advantage is fractionally smaller than the 2.35″ Ignitor.

If you think race kings look sketchy look at Kenda 8 blocks now they look like they’d be good for nothing accept tarmac! when in fact they grip like billy O. Mind you I am soft southern sh1te and only really ride the ridgeway, swinley and welsh trail centres 🙂

I’d say try the rcae kings first mate you might be surprised.

I’d also recommend maxxis ardent/avantage.

Also the Specialized eskar is very similar, comes with 3 flavors of sidewalls, a tube/no tube bead and is quite cheap – top marks all round.

the tyres you need are maxxis minion (f) and high roller or crossmark (r)

thats what I use on my zesty and they inspire confidence

go tubeless, and use a standard kevlar minion and use a UST rear, you know it makes sense….

If it’s just trail centres and no mud I’d go fo Maxxis Ignitor Exceptions.

If you’re going to come across a bit of muddy stuff go for Advantage Exceptions.

The 2.1″ Advantage is fractionally smaller than the 2.35″ Ignitor.

Which one measures up correctly then ? Is the Advantage really big or the Ignitor small ?

To be fair I have a Zesty that came with Race Kings and although they probably are okay at trail centres they are shite on anything remotely loose. They just slide out when banked over. I also find them shite in mud so simply_oli you must be a riding god to get them to grip on muddy downhills/corners!! They clog up with mud real bad (the tread is so close together).

I use some old Spesh Enduros on my Zesty and they are awesome but when they wear out I will be going for some Maxxis Advantage. They look like a good all mountain/all round tread.