Ive had a vigilante on the front for the last year and been really impressed with it. Took me a while to find the pressure sweet spot (psi low 20s) but once I did I’ve found it very grippy and predictable on all types of terrain.

Its getting a bit worn and im trying to decide between sticking another on or trying a Maxxis Shorty, which seems to be the tyre of the moment.

Anyone tried both?

My riding is probably 90% natural trails, 10% trail centre

What size is it? I’ve got the 2 29ers but it’s an unfair comparison because for some reason the 29er Vigilante comes in a less sticky rubber than the other sizes. I think if it had the gravity dna like the smaller sizes, it’d be pretty competitive but as it is it’s not close really. These tyres need sticky rubber really

I have both. Prefer to run my vigilante in the warmer dryer months with a trailboss (I’m a bit anal about both tyres being the same brand) the Shorty has recently gone back on for the winter with a minion at the back. I really like both of them but the Shorty is definitely more accomplished in the slop.

Northwind- 26″. Didn’t realise there were that many compounds. Think mine is TCS

Is the Shorty as bad as the mags suggest on trail centre hardpack?

It’s not great on hard pack but I’d not really compare the two. I ran a vigilante as a rear tyre though so might just be weird.

Loved the shortly till it did the whole maxxis deformation thing

RicB – Member

Is the Shorty as bad as the mags suggest on trail centre hardpack?

Depends how you look at it- it’s good at it for what it is, but it’s slower and less grippy than say a minion would be.I don’t think it does anythign too unpleasant though, it’s just not what it’s best at. Way I see it, if it runs out of grip or drags on hardpack, I’ll just go a wee bit slower, if it runs out of grip on some evil offpiste descent I’ll crash into a tree.

Not sure what else can do the same job in nasty offpiste stuff and also work well on hard stuff though. Old Conti Baron isn’t as good when it gets slippy but a fair bit better on hard, it could be a good one?

I have a shorty on the front and vigilante on the back, but 29er so again the vigilante isn’t the high grip version sadly. Shorty is definitely a more mud/soft orientated tyre I’d say, much more space between knobbles than the vigilante. I rarely ride trail centre hardpack but suspect it wouldn’t be as good as the vig on that

Again i’ve run both on a 29er but also had the Vigilante in 26 and 27.5 previously.

As the others said the 29er version is not quite as good as the others and again i’d agree that if you’re doing 90% natural trails with mud etc then Shorty would be my choice above the Vigilante at this time of year…

I use both, Vigilante for wet conditions, Shorty for proper sloppy crud. To be honest for what a shorty costs, as good as it is I won’t be getting another, I’ll be sticking with the Vigilante

I run both on two different 650Bs. Funnily enough was out on vigilantes F&R today when I’ve been on a shorty/minion dhr 2 mix for last few weeks.

We were off piste all day and it was pretty slippy and slidey steep stuff. I was wishing I’d had the shorty on front as the grip is better in that stuff in tight twisty trails and it seems to shed mud better.

Grand- thanks all. Think I’ll give the shorty a try