Yes I know a bike has only two wheels but bear with me
I've been toying with the idea of picking three tyres to run all year round.
It would work something like this:
Summer: Fast tyre on the back, Medium tyre on the front.
Winter: Stick medium tyre on the back and run a grippy tyre up front.
I'm thinking maybe Crossmark, Ardent, High Roller, or Small Block 8, Nevegal, Blue Groove
Does anyone run their tyres like this and have some good combos to recomend?
What happens if you ride somewhere that has different terrain ? Do you take different combos / tyre for that ?
Most of my rides encompass all sorts, so all tyres will be a compromise.
Personally I just use one set, when they wear out I replace them. Lack of choice means a lack of tyre faf/indecision/regret.
Used to do this with Small Block 8, Nevegal and Blue Groove. However, haven't bothered to change the rear this year since going tubeless, and not having any dry weather.
yes I do cross mark rear , ardent front summer, ardent rear advantage front, for the rest, but just broke that habit after 4 years and gone advantage front and rear 😀
Personally I think it's difficult to categorise riding in terms of seasons - as you know we have good days in winter and bad days in summer - but what you have suggested generally works pretty well.
Spending most of my time riding around Cannock I tend to use the following combos depending on conditions:
Advantage F Crossmark R
Ardent F Crossmark R
High Roller II F Crossmark R
2.4 Nic F 2.25 Nic R
2.25 Nic F 2.25 Ron R
3C 2.5 Minion F 60a Minion R
and very occasionally 2.1 Medusas F & R
Thanks guys.
Yeah I did realise that running a summer tyre kind of relies on having a "Summer"
I have one set of tyres per bike apart from on the road where I have two spare sets, one new one old, just in case.
One bike has all-round tyres all year.
The other bike has mud tyres [s]6[/s] 8 months and all-round tyres the rest.
XR4 and Mud-X tubeless.
Then I go riding.
I run Ralphs all year apart from when the mud is stupidly bad (Mayhem) when I run Medussas.
No real problems on most stuff I ride - you don't need to swap tyres for the conditions unless you're racing and it'll really make a difference.
I have a similar 3 tyre systems.
I run a High Roller on the front all the time. I then swap the back tyre between an ADvantage and a Conti RaceKing. This works for me for.
Raced the other week on a course with mud/grass/hard pack/gravel/leaf litter Maxxis Ignitors 29x2.1 tubeless were pretty good everywhere. I think I'll stick with them now.
2 tyres, new in winter for grip then as it starts to dry the rear is worn down to give something faster rolling.
Ideally - Smoke 2.1 R & Z-max 2.1 F
or
Spesh GC 1.95 R & Tioga Farmer John's Cousin 1.95 F
Actually - Fire XC Pro 2.1 F&R
Spares - High Roller 2.35 F&R
I could happilly run my Nevegals all year round tbh. But having a Baron for winter would be a good addition.
(I wouldn't rotate backs onto fronts or anything like that, the rear would be the same all the time -what makes a good rear doesn't always make a good front)