If the reach on your patriot was 410mm I’d wager whatever size reactor you’ve gone for the front centre is going to be a chunk longer. Even the small is 10mm longer than that. Needs to be ridden more aggressively / front orientated to get the grip. Although the head angle isn’t that slack at 65.5 degrees.
Very good point.
Reactor here, I felt the same with a Assegai and Dissector combo. Tried various combinations, but I settled on the DHR2 2.4 Exo+ on the front and Dissector on the back. Feels much better for me. I was considering Dissector front and rear for summer but I haven't got round to it. I found this a useful chart to refer to when trying out Maxxis tyre combos. Link
Also on the climbing characteristics of the Reactor, I felt a noticeable difference in efficiency, between using the Fox Float X shock, and the new Rockshox Super Deluxe. Lots more bob with the Fox, but hardly any with the RS. I also dropped the stem by 10mm too.
I’ve got a float x - it’s ok generally - although I don’t find the lsc adjustment knob makes much difference to anything.
I’ve heard good things about the new super deluxe air shock. Maybe the tune that bobs less has more of a firm platform / lsc base setting than the float x….could be worth getting a custom tune done as that should be cheaper than a new shock.
The seat angle on the reactor isn’t the steepest - might also be worth banging the saddle as far forward on its rails as possible too.
I'm not wedded to maxxis either, but i do like the dhf up front and the commitment-type riding style that gets the best out of it. Same for similar tyres like butchers. But when it's mucky I switch to a wild enduro front or hillbilly.
Dissector is good on the back. Same for similar tyres like Eliminator etc. A bit loose but nicely so and speeds up the tarmac miles too. So the only tyre swap I would do would be a dhf on the front and leave the dissector on the rear.
The Patriot is slacker than the Reactor, at least how I have it set up. I'm not overly bothered about the washing out thing, as like you say there's always a lot to learn with a new style of bike.
I have the super deluxe shock, the lack of lockout is irritating in principle but it's pretty well sorted so it's not a huge issue.
The less slack seat angle is one reason I went for the Reactor, as I think super steep seat angles are more about technical climbing than all day comfort. I think 78 degrees feels weird when JRA on flat ish stuff.
I'll head out today with more air in the tyres.
I know what you mean about seat angles. My Transition is fine, as was my Aether - but I think on hardtails where you have no sag at the back the steep seat angles don’t make for comfy long rides. Why I designed my Marino hardtail with a 74 seat angle and it’s worked out great for the longer flatter rides.
Everyone is different on tyres pressures but I tend to run 23 psi in my Assegai for most stuff. If smashing something rocky I might go up a psi or 2 just to be on the safe side. I’m 75kgs.
I put 25 in, I'm 90kg and so is my bike.
Maybe I can go even higher.
SRAM and Bike Faff both say 25/27 near enough.
My base starting point is weight in stone x2 (from stans....years ago mind).
I run 18-20psi in my Assegai front and 20-22psi in my DHR rear both Exo+ with Cushcore pro.
That setup makes sense to me, depends a bit on carcass and compound but then you can't always get exactly what you want.
I'd replace the Dissector, personally, don't rate those at all. Not fast enough for the lack of grip, or, not grippy enough for the lack of speed, whichever you prefer. It's the one hole in Maxxis' modern range imo. A Rockrazor is much faster and while it's less grippy it still does surprisingly well, and is more predictable and has better skidding manners when it lets go. (other semislicks are avalable but schwalbe absolutely killed it with the rockrazor, the old supergravity's the best tyre they'll ever make) But even a worn-down dhr2 is pretty much as fast as the dissector but has better grip and just ridiculously beter manners.
DHR2 in maxxgrip is a superb front tyre for most of the year, but it does not handle proper mud well. (the drawbacks of maxxgrip on the front aren't that big but the improvements on greasy stuff are more than worth it imo). Just in general, I reckon having excellent grip on the front means you can compromise more on the rear, and speed on the back makes more difference than speed on the front so it's pretty complimentary. Tbh mud is the only time I prefer the assegai but even then it's fairly rare that I find the perfect mix of weather and surface that makes the assegai really shine (and when it does, it really does shine)
If you can find one the Conti Argotal is pretty much incredible, Ive been using a 2.6 then a 2.4 one as a trailbike tyre all summer and it's grippier and faster in the dry than makes any sense, I used it for a trailcentre weekend in dumfries and was just knocked out and it's finding grip in superdry tweed crumble just now, but it's also fantastic in the wet. Remains to be seen how it handles real deep winter, but so far I've been nothing but impressed, it's like it's from the future. The carcass seems decent too though I wish there was some choice, hopefully next iteration we get "soft tough" and "soft light" and suchlike rather than carcass being tied to compound, but it's already the best front tyre I've ever had.
I've never had a tyre I could happily use all year for all my riding before, I'll probably still switch to the dhr2 for real summer in general, and remains to be seen if it match a maxxgrip shorty in the real winter. Only real complaint I have is that it picks up mud and stones like nobody's business, causes quite a lot of mudguard/fork noise, those big knobs are like pebble tongs.
My hardtail has a 2.5 3C EXO DHF on the front and a DD MaxPro (I think) Minion SS on the rear (because that was all I could get) and never had a problem with punctures.
I used to run DH tyres on all my big bikes but switched to 3C EXO years ago and never had any problems with punctures or tears. Rode them in wales, Alps, Italy, Dartmoor, FOD. I know the internet says that EXO are too weak for anything but I was a big chap hitting stuff pretty fast (back then anyway) and never had a problem. I did run them at 30psi though as I don’t like really soft and wallowy tyres.
do you think that your tyres are right for the trails? You can always pump them up really hard for riding to the trails and then lower the pressures when you get there if they’re too draggy on roads, etc.
It's not just the roads, it's the fire road climbs etc. I do think I would go down one gnar level for the next pair, tbh.
Do you Strava/time?
I'd be really curious as to time on a climb now Vs different rubber.
It is, as you'd expect, much better with more air in the tyres.
It took me about a minute less than last time to get to the forest car park from home - which is a road climb. The general feeling of the bike was better so clearly I had them too low. But the ride itself was overshadowed by trying a trail I hadn't done for a few years and finding my path blocked by dozens of full sized trees blown over and having to hack through miles of undergrowth.
But thinking about it - it's still a shock how absolutely massive a 29 inch wheel with 2.5 inch tyres on is. I almost wish I'd gone for a 27.5
Today, with higher pressure in the tyres I did the Strava segment up the road hill in 11.41 at 147bpm average. Tuesday, with lower pressures, I did 11.29 at 150bpm. And on my XC bike last Saturday I did 10.13 at 154 bpm
The XC bike is somewhat lighter, but most of that I am putting down to XC rubber vs gnar-core rubber.
FWIW my PR, also on my XC bike is 8.16 back in 2018!
Ardents look like they might work, in 2.35. That'd save half a kilo off my wheels.
I think it’s less the weight and more the size of the knobs / tread pattern tbh. Rolling resistance more than outright weight in terms of saving time. Although obviously lighter tyres will make the bike feel livelier.
I commuted today on my hardtail that I’ve recently put a rock razor 27.5x2.6 on. Absolutely flies along as a result. Has a 2.4” wild enduro on the front at the moment.
I’m not sure the ardent is particularly good at anything is it - not that grippy but also not that fast either?
I think it’s less the weight and more the size of the knobs / tread pattern tbh.
Yes, and the carcass. But the Ardents look faster rolling (going by the tread) due to the tread pattern and size - the reduced weight is a nice bonus though.
Exo+ is only about 50g/tyre heavier than Exo casing, the massive jump in weight is going up to DD/DH casing which adds about 300g/tyre on most models!
MaxxTerra is the faster of the two compounds compared to MaxxGrip which is err...grippier so probably not the reason. I think it's probably the tread pattern mostly.
I've just fitted 2.5 Assegai/2.4 DHRII to my 140mm 29er full-sus for an Alps trip (hence the swotting up on compounds/casings) and going from Bontrager XR4's I gained about half a kilo but fortunately I've been riding a lot more so my fitness increase offsets the drag and I really don't have to ride any tarmac or even much fire road for the rides I do on it.
If you're looking to change (which would be frustrating on a new bike!) the Bontrager XR Team Issue tyres are great and light/fast and quite a lot less than Maxxis equivalents. XR1 = speediest/sparsest tread, I found the XR4's in a 2.4" really great on my 140mm trail bike and my mate flies along on XR2's but he's braver/more skilled than me. I really like Rekon/Rekon Race as a fast trail tyre too.
Ardents look like they might work, in 2.35. That’d save half a kilo off my wheels.
The new version Forekaster looks interesting as a fast trail tyre.
I think Ardents are kind of 'okay' in an unremarkable way. Rekons feel better to me and the Ardent Race is good for a mix of speed and grip, at least on rocks. I ran an XR4 for a bit and quite liked it, but thought the Maxxis rubber compounds just felt grippier.
I used to LOVE putting the XC rear tyre on my ht every spring. It felt like i was an XC pro for a while every year.
then invariably i`d slice teh tyre wide open on the local flints and have to put the DH tyre back on while weeping at the loss of my newfound XC prowess. But, my god, a lightweight tyre made a huge difference!
If you are pedalling about then you definitely want to sacrifice some DH gnarr/grip for rolling speed. they did a reinforced larsenTT one year which was easily the best summer tyre ever. fast, completely driftastic and (more) flint resistant.
now i dont pedal about so much i dont really mind a draggy tyre. I`m in it for the mucking about not the miles.
Interesting reading this. My bike came with Assegai MaxxTerra's front and back (!) and while the grip is great they do drag a bit. Really liked the Bonty XR5/4 combo on my previous bike so am after something similar in Maxxis flavour - thinking Dissector on the rear as mentioned previously?
Compound matters more than tread for rolling resistance, and EXo+ vs EXo casing is less than tire to tire variation.
Maxxterra is Maxxis’ middle of the road compound. It’s similar to Schwalbe’s Addix Soft (probably little slower, but not much).
So, if you want faster, you should look at rubber mostly. Faster compound in the rear would help. Faster tread design would help a bit too, but I wouldn’t go lighter on the casing in the rear. Very little gain, and too much risk of flats in the rear.
Faster rubber in front would run the risk of crashing, and has less effect than in the rear on rolling speed.
I rode down the gently downhill cycle path to my house the other day and I had to pedal, I wasn't gaining any speed despite being downhill!
They're not made of chewing gum 🙂
The only tyres i've really struggled like that with are Michelin DH22s, but they're incrediby grippy and really not designed for rolling speed.
Anything else is fair game for me. I think i've got MaxxTerra on both ends on the Slayer and XC happily on it.
I had a DD Agressor on the rear. Hated it. Put on an XR4. Different bike!
This was on a Bird Aeris. I think you can lighten up some components like tyres and cranks on a fully that you need more tonk on a hardtail.
