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I realise there is propably a post about this already somewhere but crap at searching!
I'm riding a pair of very old 1.9 Panaracer mud tyres and my mountain king/race dry combo is likely to be crap in the wet stuff. Bike is very harsh as the tyres are pumped to high pressure.
So what is the best combo for a 4" travel xc bike used in the Peak?
Panaracer Trailrakers
I tried Trailrakers and they are brilliant in deep mud, but slow and sketchy on anything hard.
I've not tried em, but many people claim Bonty Mud-X are nearly as good in mud as Trailrakers but a lot better everywhere else.
If I was buying again i'd get Mud-X.
there is no easy answer to this, depends on how you ride and where you ride. My personal favorite at the moment is the bontrager Mud X, i find it is not the best mud tyre or the best dry tyre, but more importantly it copes well with mud, roots, rocks, tarmac, etc. so is good for most of the autumn thru spring period.
But i am in the cotswolds so conditions aren't the peak.
I think Panaracer Trailrakers are very good in the mud. They clear well & seem to always find grip even in the deepest mud. They are a sketchy on rounded pebble type surfaces. Not much good on wet roots , but what is. They do generally work quite well in the woods though. They drag on tarmac, but I wouldn't change them for anything else if the ride was muddy.
Mud X.
I've given up on Trailrakers, there so much hard work everywhere else, it outweighs the small amount of advantage they give you in the mud.
But if your riding in constant slop, they maybe for you.
Mud-X for me now (also consider Spesh Storms - a very similar tyre).
Swampthings?
mud x
In the Dark Peak? Some sort of all-round knobbly rather than a mud tyre - Minion FHF front and rear, Nobby Nic maybe, High Rollers if you like drag. If you ride in the slop fest that is the White Peak, Mud X or similar, but you don't really want to be riding low volume muddish tyres on rocky stuff and the gritstone part of the Peak tends to a sort of abrasive slurry rather then proper mud, so you don't really need them.
Maxxis Swampthing SuperTacky Single Ply 2.35 - Front
Bontrager Mud-X 2.0 - Rear
Works for me. 😀
Specialized Storms and Maxxis Medusas are very similar to Bonty Mud-X's so would work as well I should think. The Swampthing sticks like glue to rocks and roots.
Another fan of the mud x. My commute includes wet bare chalk in the winter and they cope ok with that as well.
I've got a set of Mud-x and Trailrackers.
I prefer the Trailrackers personally
loving mud-x, medusa's are better in clay and sticky clag as they shed better than any tyre I've used but are slower than the mud-x. Mud-x is a better all round tyre.
Front: Maxxis Swampthing or WTB Stout (very similar tread pattern, soft sticky rumbber and dirt cheap at CRC at the mo)
Rear: something a bit faster rolling but still grippy, I use a Maxxis Minion F.
Just got in from a three hour ride which consisted of skirting round the edge of lots of very muddy farmers fields. Only my second time out on a set of 2.0 mud X. I normally use swamp things but the difference was very noticeable in favour of the mud X.
Sure there a little narrower but i do know if that would have made the very noticeable difference???
I ride the Peak district and depending where i was heading i wouldn't have a problem riding with these if lots of mud was involved.
Spikester 😀
I've just ordered some Maxxis Highrollers . . .
I'm intending using these over the next couple of month's and the tail end of the year.
Don't know if it's the right idea or not, but I didn't want anything mud specific, and the
Highrollers looked well spaced and rugged.
Used the wider versions in the Alps and they rocked!
I've got Maxxis monorails for the summer.
My WTB raijin seem to be doing ok so far, they were pretty damn cheap too at £14 each!
Bit of mud 2.1 Nics both ends,lots of mud - Mud X pointy end,2.1 Nic blunt end
If it's the Dark Peak, you don't need mud tyres. I run a Nobby Nic on the front and something a bit quicker on the back, currently a Maxxis ADvantage, previously a Racing Ralph. You might suffer a bit in the occasional short stretches of proper mud, but they are fine for 90% of the ride.
I've fitted some swampthing recently and have been pleasently surprised, they're a bit draggy mind but the grip on most surfaces is impressive
Maxxis Swampthing SuperTacky Single Ply 2.35 - FrontBontrager Mud-X 2.0 - Rear
Same here. Quite a good compromise I think.
Going back to Mud X on front now it's slightly less slippy out there though thanks to recent dry spell.