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Folks your pref for non trail centre xc riding (mixture of terrain here in Dublin, rocky, rooty and sandy, often muddy), heard good things about the new bonty tire range, but that tends to be marketing educed guff,
What say you? 2.25 Ardents or 2.2 XR4 new 2011/2012 model. The ole Maxxiss seem to be lagging behind the trendier brands for weight these-days.... Running UST, but would give the non USTs a good if they would seal on my American Classic Rims with sealant.....
XR4 tyres seal sweet in the tubeless ready spec. Really good tyre on most conditions and surfaces but seems to lack a little grip when its muddy compared to my previous continental X-kings and rubber queens. They have unbelievable grip on rocky or loose stones/shingle type surfaces. They wear really really well.
Ardents are pretty good at everything but not particularly brilliant at anything. They are tall floaty tyres with shallow fast-rolling(ish) tread and flexible sidewalls that you can feel wind up when accelerating. They do hold their speed well though, especially downhill.
Great on hardpack and buff singletrack, rubble, roots, loam (whatever that is) and watery mud. Hopeless in claggy mud and probably a bit fragile for gnar-tech rocks.
They have unbelievable grip on rocky or loose stones/shingle type surfaces.
+1 Great tyre for the lakes, loads of grip with a predictable drop off. Way better than an X-King IMO with the usual grey weather we get in the north, that said the X-King is a good summer tyre. The only downside if found is they're quite draggy on grass, but then most big volume tyres are. The old models are cheap on Evans website.
For me the new XR4 tyres are the worst tyres I've ever run. Dead feeling, wooden, I had to run really low pressures to get any feel out of them at all.
On the plus side, they tubelessed easily, and look nice. They also have good grip.
But they're slow, heavy, and wooden.
Again, this is my opinion of the 2012 XR4 in 2.2 TLR Team Issue flavour.
Rickon, what were you using before? 2010 XR4 2.2 TLR Team are great!
XR4 have more grip than i'll ever need. Find I have to run them at a lower pressure to get the best out of them.
2012 XR4 2.2 TLR Teams for me. Great all rounder, although I have put a tiny hole in the rear sidewall which sealed after tipping bike on its side.