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Sitting here feeling a little worse than wear after a high speed off on a sweeping downhill(ish) section of singletrack, mainly cuts and bruises, but I realise that I need to act now... i.e. buy a new front tyre.
I've had a number of similar incidents on the same trail where the front just wants to wash out / lowside, even at relatively shallow angles of lean.
Trail is hard packed earth with a covering of loose gravel / stone, so I appreciate it's never going to offer really good grip, current front tyre is a Panaracer Cinder 2.1", bike is a Buckshot Pro running Mars Elites.
I've tried messing around with pressures from lowish to highish, and adjusting rebound/compression, but it doesn't seem to make a blind bit of difference, initial grip followed by sudden break-away. Looking at the tread pattern on the edges of the tyre, its fairly angular, not very rounded. Could this be the problem?
Anyway, I have no confidence in it now, so please recommend me a front tyre in 2.1-2.3" that would give me some good grip on loose dry surfaces.
Cinders have quite a close packed tread pattern - you could try something more open with more defined line of edge knobs eg. most Maxxis tyres, tend to be a bit "vague" when upright but dig in as you push them over.
Higher volume tyre run soft-ish will help.
That type of trail surface will always be very skittish tho'.
Maxxis - high roller or advantage ? went through this with some MK's 🙂
I'll look into the Maxxis range... Anyone tried a Specialized The Captain 2.2?
I run the Specialized Escar Control 2bliss 2.35 and I'm pretty impressed with the level of grip, I ran Conti mountain kings before and also found them confidence inspiring, I do run quite low pressure though max 30psi.