Wow. You all hate Contis?! I love em.

To answer the question though, I really don’t like: WTB Velociraptors. Maybe good on dry Californian dust, but rubbish in the real world.

Contis then:
1. The first tyre I tried that transformed my ride (for the better) was Conti Vapors at SITS in about 2002. Whatever I had on was spinning in the mud. A stall had Vapors cheap and voila! I could ride again! So I rode Vapors for years.

2. Then I got a bit better and kept washing out on Vapors. Went to Vertical Pros, tubelessed : http://www.tubelesswheels.com – like that. Still using them. All-round brilliance.

3. Then I started riding in winter night-time mud (ie Strathpuffer). And Maxxis Medusas (tubelessed, as above) are the dog’s. So, I kept them on for the remainder or Winter. And Spring. And Summer. And they turn out to be a bit skittery on wet roots, so not in Autumn.

I ride Conti on the road bikes.
The only Conti tyre I HATE is the Leader. Rubbish!

al.

Conti Explorer – never had more punctures than when it was on, only good traction on light mud, it was clogging/puncturing/sliding on anything else. I thought that if I get the folding version it will be ok. Wrong 😉

IRC Mythos XC – I got 3 punctures on the rear on the same day, front had zero grip when wet, not too quick or light or puncture proof or good at climbing. Totally crap to be honest.

Panaracer Fire XC Pro – they are not too bad, but it was meant to be a universal tyre, and isn’t that good on anything, just average at everything, plus clogs up with mud. Had the sidewall cut once.

Specialized Enduro – never had one, but the friend we rode with couldn`t clear a slightly wet climb, that my mate on quite worn Fast Tracks did without a problem, also slow, heavy and got a puncture. Not really impressed.

Vittoria Randonneur 700×28 – heavy, very very crap in corners as it was sliding like mad, especially when wet. Only upside is I never had a puncture, not like on the Gatorskins.

Conti Gatorskin – 700×23 Maybe I was unlucky or something, but I did stop using it after the sixth puncture. Good grip and quite quick but crap with puncture proofness.

Kenda Kharisma – heavy sticky non-rolling non-gripping shite.
Maxxis Workdrive – only if you like punctures.

I like Conti Explorer Protection, very supple tire, never had troubles with punctures (why would I?). not a fast roller but good when wet or on snow.

Hutchison Pythons, nasty tyre on HT Cannondale. Binned ASAP
Michelin Wildgripper hardpack tyre 3 months and the sidewalls were perished to danger levels.

“I did have a a pair of crossmarks which I actually thought were trying to kill me”
I like mine, even in the harder 70a compound
“find them bloody lethal on man made wet ST”
Though I haven’t ridden them anywhere like that yet

“maxpro high rollers”
Also like these in 2.35″ or 2.5″(in the alps), admitedly on a 120mm bike, not a 160mm one

I didn’t get on with 2.4″ Conti Mountain Kings in mud. They seem to turn very well. The ‘random’ triangular tread with no ‘directionality’ to them probably has something to do with it

Conti Gatorskin – 700×23 Maybe I was unlucky or something, but I did stop using it after the sixth puncture. Good grip and quite quick but crap with puncture proofness.

Weird, that is the exact opposite of my experience with those tyres – slow, draggy & lethal in the wet but good puncture resistance.

Any tyre that has the weight printed on the side and is basically designed to be fitted for a weigh-in by a German bike magazine or some internet nerds, rather than ridden. Maxxis Flyweights are a good example but I’m sure there are others.

spesh enduro’s do drift, bit uits fairly controllable, just make sure you’ve got your line picked out and take account of it.

maxxis swampthings, cheep, and never puncture, grip like leaches, what more could you ask of a winter tire?

conti gravity, it drifts, but at like the enduro’s its predictable.

panaracer fire’s, I liked them, useless in mud though.

tioga factory XC, best (budget) tires ever!

Current wepons of choice – Maxxis highroler 2.35, kevlar SPC up front at 27psi, maxxis hollyroler 2.4 (presubably DPC and steel), Its so unbelievably quick in the dry, and feels like a short travel full suss!

Conti Mountain Kings and Explorers – I have extra hate for the Explorers as they came fitted on a bike and I used them for years not knowing any better. I look back and laugh how I bought them time and time again when they wore out as well!

Joined a club, a guy leant me some Kenda Nevegals, realised that tyres were not created equally and suddenly my tyre fettish began…

Michelin Dry2. For roadies on MTBs only.

Bontrager ACX-B Tubeless Ready. About the puncture resistance of tissue paper when run tubeless. Absolute cack. Shame cos the tread is brilliant.

dunno if anyone remembers them, but the old Tioga Red Phoenix 1.8s were truly rubbish

super narrow, to the point where they didn’t seem like much more than a CX tyre, yet still managed to be really draggy…without offering anything in the way of grip

to not puncture you had to run them at silly high pressure so you got a harsh ride from them too

they were very light though, so if your bike spent more time hung from scales than it did out on rides they were probably OK

Amazing contrasts on here, I wonder how much the type of: bike, wheel, trail, weather, riding makes.

To answer the question tioga DH, good for making a knobbly tyre noise on tarmac, prob for a very long time – currently havea pair on the pub bike. Do agree with above some where made in softer rubber and where much better. I also have some tyres from the 80s, (scary that!!) they look like they should work, but very skinny, hard, no grip, slow, punture prone – better walking.

We really like the Contis, currently running, Explorers best in the dry. Mountain kings and Kaisers, amoungst others, but also have (and rate) High Rollers-great alround pointing down tyre, Wet Screams-great muddy DH tyre, Minions- good hard pack DH tyre, Trail Rakers-great muddy XC tyre. Super 8s and Death Grips, great on the BMX track like trails

I have some Endro Pros on my SS my ever day ride, goes any where in all weathers, they don’t appear to be wearing at all so must be damm hard, I like them because i know exactly what they are doing and they are big, pretty fast and dont pinch punture.

We have had bad experiences of wrong tyre for the day/conditions. I broke my shoulder riding Trailrakers on hard pack, dramtic grip and dramatic breakaway. Or High Rollers in serious downpour conditions with no grip at all.

I’m with people on the conti front, I hate em, never found a conti tyre I like. Some people dribble on about ‘predicatble drift’, I found they just washed straight out from underneath you.

Another vote of no confidence for Continental tyres here. I had gravities for a while on my full sus bike and thought they were OK`ish, then put some 2.1″ verticals on my HT, the first wet hard pack corner I tried them on I was off and in to a ditch, which was a patern that lasted until they were ditched (no pun intended) I replaced the rear conti on my HT with a WTB Wolverine, which spun up on wet tarmac! on the way to the trails. Much slidey entertainment was had…..

Oh and another thing with contis…….an almost enless stream of pinch flats – even at 55 psi

Panaracer Fire XCs, dump you on your ass at the first sniff of mud. Clog in seconds and then offer no grip whatsoever. I can’t understand their popularity, as they really are one of the worst performing tyres in wet conditions that I’ve ever used. (And there’s usually at least a spot of mud to be found on rides in the UK.)

Conti Mountain King 2.2. As above, except they don’t really clog so badly, just afford no grip.

Highroller 2.35. Slower than a very slow thing and I’m yet to find the surface they work well on.

All IMHO, naturally.

I have some Endro Pros on my SS my ever day ride, goes any where in all weathers, they don’t appear to be wearing at all so must be damm hard, I like them because i know exactly what they are doing and they are big, pretty fast and dont pinch punture.

I agree, I always thought Enduro Pros were some of the best and most versatile tyres I’ve ever used. Got the Eskars now (the Enduro replacement), they’re excellent as well.

Conti pros here – did a Blackmill Rat run on a set. Rolled well in a straight line and washed out from under me as soon as I wanted to turn.

I’ve not touched a Conti tyre since. My favourites are the Kenda Blue groove/Nevegal combo although they may be about to be eclipsed by Michelin All terrains in their sticky grey incarnation. I like Swamp things for the winter.

IRC Mythos XC–switched to them from Kenda Nevegals on my Superlight. First ride out tackling a rocky downhill in the Clwydians exactly the same way as always: washed out sideways leaving me in the dirt covered in blood. Possibly jaundiced view here.

Had some conti gravities that were frighteningly poor, stuck them on the commuter for 6 months, after which there was no discernable wear to the knobbles. No surprise they had no grip when the rubber compound was harder than tarmac…

davidtaylforth – YGM

conti mountain kings are crap. cost me my 3rd spot on the last lap at hit the north 1.5 as the front end disappeared from under me. would never go near em again.

Panaracer Fire XCs … I can’t understand their popularity,

They’re dead cheap and durable. The sideknobs work OK if you lean on them, decent super cheap all rounder as they work OK in loose gravel or loam, OK on hardpack. Worse than useless if its proper wet as you say.

Tioga Psycho II <shudders>

I like contis – a lot of my riding is done in non gnarly conditions so the easy rolling is nice as is their all roundness. I agree with others tho that once you reach their limits they let go suddenly without any warning and are not good in sticky mud.

Either WTB velociraptors, or some Michelin AM24 thingy, that’s sole plus side was that it gripped on wet roots. It didn’t grip on anything else, even tarmac, and despite its light weight was immensely draggy. Useless (unless your sole surface is wet roots).

no one’s mentioned schwalbe RR/NN yet. Aren’t they great or what? 😀

PS I still like the Explorers.

Conti Verticals – they have an uncanny ability to just go right when you don’t want them to.

Panaracer Trailrakers PR – a great tread pattern but the sidewalls are absolutely shocking. I’ve never had a tyre split along the sidewall in several places with so much tread left on them.

Specialised Storm Controls circa 1993 – absolutely dreadful on wet concrete but great in the mud.

IRC Mythos – wore very quickly – no discernable grip in the wet.

Cheers

Sanny

My mate got himself some very light Conti Twister Supersonic and a Schwalbe Fast Fred Light for the front.

Both tyres managed to survive a marathon but after 60km in rough terrain there was some knobs missing, cuts in rubber, and they had to be run with very high pressure as well not to puncture.

Every time we were out training he shook his head and couldn’t believe he spent almost £40 a tyre for tyres that were useless after just one race and good enough for some light training rides only. As far as I know that were his only lightweight tyres he ever bought, never again 🙂

Can’t justify spending so much on lightweight rubber, maybe because with my performance level that wouldn’t give me such time saving advantage over regular tyres (I could probably throw stones at other racers while changing the tube, so not all bad ;-)).

Kenda Neveragains.

Had a demo Nomad with them on. Thoroughly glad I was riding flat pedals that day as it meant I only slid down the trail on my face once. Completely unpredictable grip and absolutely no warning when the front would let go, which it did, very, very quickly. Not a great fan of the Contis with those little triangular knobs either. Lethal in the wet and whilst predictable, way to drifty in the dry.

That all said I do run a 2.35 supertacky Highroller as an XC tyre, so I’m kinda used to LOTS of grip.

funny about the Maxxis Crossmarks. I love mine, bloody great in the dry, round sherwood pines etc… nothing can beat them i think, roll very fast, and loads of grip in corners i find.
Not rode them on any natural derbyshire stuff so can’t comment there, but i would expect them to be just about “ok”

All of you who hate the Enduros pass ’em this way, i love them! Not sure if i have the pros or not, but mine are foldable so i guess they might be?
They aren’t the fastest rolling tyre but the grip is ace. Put it this way, i’m currently running an old enduro with a hole (and bodged patch) instead of the Nobby Nic sat on the shelf because the grip is so much better!

Tioga Psycho II…

<end of topic>

Tioga DH – no idea what was going on there

Yeah, I like my Spesh Enduros, and agree with the positive comments above.

Tiogas I’ve tried are are ‘Fisher Price My First Tyre’ plastic and dangerous rubbish in the wet.

My worst was a Green solid tire back in ’92.

Then Tioga Pyschos and Ritchey z Maxs sucked

More recently Specialized tires have wrecked rides.

I agree with dez b about the micheling xc dry 2s. They are ok on the back, on a xc race bike, but i made the mistake of putting it on my 5 inch fs this weekend. All i can say is im glad that i can drift…

Oh, and Tiogs white tigers. Appalling tyres.

on the wtb side of things, i had a pair of 2.5 dh tyres, I cant remember what they were called, but they were amazing in loose stuff, and not bad all round.

Tioga DH were the dog’s about 12 years a go. Best race tyre at the time.

Worth tyres were some Michelin XC Dry. Split up after 2 rides and punctured 5 times! Normally get a punny about every 3 month on average. Had no grip and were super skinny for a 2.0 tyre. I like the Panaracer XC pro though in 1.9. I understand some people dont like them though, as a mate took some off after a few rides and he never does stuff like that!