So I’m looking for new tyres and the one thing I’d like to avoid at all costs is that horrible unpredictability of tyres that suddenly decide they like lying down in a bend. I can cope with most stuff – slipperyness on roots/rocks etc, but that horrible feeling of your buttocks gnawing at your saddle as you teeter round an off-camber bend that you used to be able to do at full tilt with your old tyres is frustrating.
So what is it with tyres that give that wash-out effect. It seems like the “endless edge” of the contis should cure it, but then the fire xcs have a nice spikey stud design that should too, assuming the studs dont fold over. I’ve been unable to avoid my mudmad DH tyres for all-round use as I’ve not found a tyre that grips better in corners and slippery stuff, but they weigh in at nearly 900g.
For some reason I seem to “get on” with spikey tyres, like the fire xc seems to be, and shy away from things like the maxxis advantage which intuitively looks less grippy to me. But now I’m trying to find the moon on stick good all-rounder that rolls well and my conclusions have come back to the fire xc despite its spikey mud DH lookilikey appearance. Allterrain are doing a deal on folding fire XC 2.1s at the moment, I might splash out on a pair and see, they’ll probably re-sell well if I dont get on with them.