We’ve been inundated with tyres here at Singletrack Towers and that’s made resident rubber fetishist Jon quite happy. In fact he came out in a bit of a rash. Possibly some kind of reaction or overexcitment. Anyway, welcome to a special rubbery edition of Fresh Goods…
Maxxis High Roller II (various flavours)
The original High Roller was hugely popular with the downhill crowd and crossed over into the world of trail riding well too. For the High Roller II they’ve changed the knob spacing to give a better transition to the edge and reduce the ‘floaty’ feeling you could get part of the way through a turn. Braking performance is also said to be improved. While the original made do with fairly simple blocks, there are now plenty of sipes on both the edges and centre tread to provide better wet weather performance and mechanical grip. 
There are going to be three versions available: a downhill dual ply casing version with sticky 3C compound, another downhill casing with 60a compound all over and a folding bead EXO sidewall in 60a, which should be the pick of the bunch for hard hitting trail riding. All the tyres are in a reasonably sized but not insane 2.4″ width…
The older High Roller will still be available alongside the High Roller II, which will be in shops from August onwards..
Price: HRII DH 3C: £58.99, HRII DH 60a: £47.99 , HRII EXO 60a: around £39.99
From: One Industries Europe
Geax Saguaro TNT 29×2.2″
The days of famine for big wheeled rubber freaks is coming to an end. We’re seeing more and more big tyres for big wheels and these versions of the Geax Saguaro use a folding aramid bead with 120tpi casing with TNT (Tubes or No Tubes) sidewall technology. The tread is designed to be a good compromise between speed and grip with a fast rolling centre but decent edge. They are designed to be run as either a front or reversed as a rear tyre.
Price: £31.99
From: Chicken Cycles
We like the built in width ruler a lot too…
Kenda Slant Six DTC 26×2.1″ folding
This is one of John Tomac’s line of ‘Signature Series’ tyres and is said to be a mix of his two favourite tyres; the Nevegal and the Small Block 8. It’s designed to be used on hard to intermediate ground and looks like it should roll plenty fast, especially with the DTC compound that uses a 60a compound in the centre with softer 50a on the edges. Full sticky rubber (Stick-E) versions are available, as are cheaper non-folding versions…
Price: £34.99
From: Today’s Cyclist
Kenda BBG DTC 26×2.1″ folding
Want a fast rolling centre but proper edges? This Lopes signature tyre could be just the trick, with proper square edges and a file-like centre tread, almost in the style of a semi slick. As before it uses the dual compound tread with fast centre and softer edges although there is a Stick-E version of these too…
Price: £32.99
From: Today’s Cyclist
Kenda King Of Traction DLR 26×1.8″ folding
Some mud spikes now, and the King of Traction (K.O.T to its mates) has some seriously spiky side knobs and then heavily siped but smaller centre tread to try and keep as much grip for as little rolling resistance in the slop. They use sticky Dual Layer Rubber too…
Price: £32.99
From: Today’s Cyclist
Kenda King Of Traction Downhill 26×2.35″
The King of Traction is also available in this aggro downhill casing with wire bead and extra support mouldings around the knobs…
Price: £34.99
From: Today’s Cyclist
Panaracer Cedric Gracia Soft Conditions AM 2.25″
The flamboyant Frenchman has been helping Panaracer develop their range of tyres and this is designed for use in, well, Soft Conditions, so mud, sand, or loose rock. The widely spaced knobs aim to clear mud quickly and the siped edges and recessed centre knobs are designed to flex to get grip on rock and roots. This AM version has slightly higher knobs than the 2.1″XC version.
Price: £39.99
From: Zyro
Panaracer Cedric Gracia XC29 2.25″
Yup, now even big wheelers can enjoy the grip and speed that comes from Cedric Gracia’s initials! Joking aside the CG pattern provides a fast rolling centre thanks to the almost continuous tread but the well spaced side knobs with mid corner support should mean you can keep the speed in the corners too. They use a folding bead and lightweight casing and 26″ versions are available…
Price: £42.99
From: Zyro
Comments (13)
Comments Closed
no high roller 2.25 🙁
“All the tyres are in a reasonably sized but not insane 2.4″ width…” as opposed to sane 2.4″… I have the Advantage 2.25 and it measures more like the real world unlike the alternative caliper-challenged universe that certain tyres inhabit.
So what’s the true (not mentally assessed) sizing like on the High Roller II, have Maxxis learnt how to use a “measuring stick” ?
Just because we have a High Roller 2 in 2.4in doesn’t mean that it won’t eventually come out in all the sizes. In the meantime, the High Roller 1.0 continues on in all of the sizes.
I’m liking the look of the Gracia AM 2.25″. Look like an ideal replacement for the old Cinders for autumn-to-spring use when its not so bad as to need Trailrakers
Is it me or have bike tyre prices doubled this past year?
I Bought a pair of Bontrager XR3’s 26×2.3 recently as I wanted something quite beefy, but not excessively. They are great tyres, but they are no way 2.3 in terms of volume or width. They were pretty skinny really.
I have now gone to the opposite end of the spectrum and bought a pair of Maxxis ADvantage’s 26×2.4, and they are BIG.
High roller 2 how much???
No thanks think I’ll stick with the originals at around half the price, struggling to see much significant difference (I appreciate I can’t see any improvements in compound etc) in tread pattern, doubt I would really notice any difference other than being able to corner faster due to carrying a lighter wallet
They’ve got the prices mixed up on the HRII actually – the 2 DH casing tyres will be £58.99 for the 3C and £47.99 for the 60a. The one that will be more applicable for most people will be the EXO 60a folder version at £39.99.
The ‘originals’ are actually similar prices for similar sizes and compounds.
‘Have bike tyre prices doubled in the past year?’ Not quite, but nearly – check out the commodity prices on rubber and butyl – at least quadrupled in the last 9 months, transport from the far east still rising, plus labour costs rising out there.
HR 2: £58.99 – Is that a joke? doubt we’ll see many of those out on the hills. Maxxis may have made a mistake there…
any one who is riding a 1 kg+ DH tyre on the ‘hills’ is a loon any way – it’s a DH race tyre, not a trail tyre. The ‘trail’ tyre out of the 3 is the £39.99 folding version, much lighter and applicable to the normal mountain bike rider.
Things are just getting more expensive – an XT chainset was about £100 a few years ago, now it’s £209.99 RRP…..
Could you take a ruler to the HR2 at some point? Just to see which of their rulers Maxxis measured it with 😉
Mmmm. Have to agree with @robsoctane. I ran some HR eXCeption series last year. They started out very well but wore down super quickly. Didn’t feel I extracted any value form those. My well-cheap WTB VeloRaptors on the other hand….
@starfanglednutter: got to agree about the WTB Velociraptors. They may be classed as ‘old school’ but have serious grip and last for a looooooooong time and are cheap (when CRC have the sales on). Great for climbing and descending. The only complaints they ever got were that they were ‘too grippy’!!!!! And yes, I did use them, as well as the original Smoke/Dart combo, way back when in the mists of time.