Subscribe now and choose from over 30 free gifts worth up to £49 - Plus get £25 to spend in our shop
Currently running Hutchinson Griffus but they are a 3 season tyre, useless in mud.
Having put the DH Kryptotals (soft/supersoft) on my Levo and absolutely loving them, thinking about some in a different flavour for my 29'er HT
I don't want to add too much drag, so would 2.4 Enduro Softs be a good choice front and back?
PFA. The Hutchinson's will stay on the Stanton as that's not going to be used much in the winter
I think I have some Enduro softs in the garage if you want to try them? They're my hail Mary spares so just sat there.
I put them on my Druid and took them off after 2 rides. I couldn't handle the drag.
I've got them on the uplift bike and now the Levo SL and I love them but they drained my life force when I was trying to pedal them around.
This was 2.4 Enduro soft on a full 29er.
I've just gone from trail MM ultra soft front and gravity albert rear to an argotal front and kyrptotal in enduro soft on my trail bike and the bike feels so much quicker when pedalling now, so I guess it comes down to what you've gotten used to. I have always found the enduro soft contis to be a good balance of rolling resistance, weight, grip and sturdiness. Probably not the best at any of those but good enough at all of them.
What about something like a Tacky Chan, fast rolling but surprisingly grippy even in wet conditions. I'm running a Tacky Chan and have a Shorty for wetter conditions but haven't felt the need to switch to the Shorty
I got a bit fed up of having less grip on my big bike and just run Argotals (trail rear, enduro soft front) and they're good - not the fastest but they're a lot quicker than, for example, an Assegai.
OP - I ride in a similar area to you and run a Spesh Hillbilly T9 on the front and Eliminator T7 on the back. Doesn't feel too draggy, and digs in nicely at places like Crich and BR. Switch back to Butcher T9 in the spring.
All of these are the new spesh tyre designs, not the old ones (which could be rubbish)
Enduro soft Kryptotals are decent allrounders, but for the winter (and if you’re in an area with slop) then I’d try Argotal or something more mud focused on the front with the Kryptotal on the rear.
On my Sentinel I tend to run Kryptotal front / Xynotal rear in the summer (both enduro soft unless going to Dyfi etc when I have a DH Xynotal for the rear). When it gets muddier I switch the rear to the Kryptotal and when it gets biblical I throw a T9 Hillbilly on the front.
I don’t find any of the above terrible to pedal - but when I previously tried a Kryptotal DH / super soft on the back it felt really draggy (but it had all the grip).
"I put them on my Druid and took them off after 2 rides. I couldn't handle the drag."
Draggy tyres don't seem so draggy when a less knobbly tyre just spins hopelessly as you try to pedal through the mud!
Kryptotal looks a good all-year rear tyre, I'd run an Argotal for the front in the winter but it does get muddy here...
I put them on my Druid and took them off after 2 rides. I couldn't handle the drag.
Out of interest, what did they replace and what did you then replace them with?
I put them on the Druid around this time last year when it was similarly wet and boggy. I did one day of winch-&-plummet stuff at Wharny which felt like hard work then a big Ladybower loop which just felt painfully slow. I was really unfit at the time and anything that made the bike feel slow and sluggish was totally demotivating.
I've currently got something the OP probably doesn't want in a Forekaster V2/Rekon combo which is much lighter and faster. Crap in proper mud but good for trail centres, hardpack and a few road miles.
I've had Kryptotals on an Edit MX since day one and they're mint. They last forever. I've done 2 Alps trips and probably a dozen uplift days. I just switched to a DH casing on the rear because I had half a dozen plugs in there but the tread was still perfectly functional.
I've also just put them on the Levo SL because the Specialized Butcher's were crap. The Continental's are vastly superior in grip when it's cold and greasy and the casing doesn't squirm and burp so much.
They're still a 3 season tyre though, not a proper mud tyre.
I think I have some Enduro softs in the garage if you want to try them? They're my hail Mary spares so just sat there.
Cheers for the offer, but hang on to them - I'll probably just take a gamble on some new ones
OP - I ride in a similar area to you and run a Spesh Hillbilly T9 on the front and Eliminator T7 on the back. Doesn't feel too draggy, and digs in nicely at places like Crich and BR
The 1st generation were horrific, the 2nd generation better, but I wasn't convinced. I read the latest generation Spesh tyres are better again, but I can't say I'm ever going to rush to spend money (all my others came fitted) on a Spesh tyre when other manufacturers are still making tyres
They're still a 3 season tyre though, not a proper mud tyre.
I'm finding the grip on the Levo good enough to encourage me to put some on the HT. Can't be faffed with a proper mud tyre tbh. I'm expecting 'some' drag over the Hutchinsons, but there's always going to be a trade off to some degree
[quote data-userid="3505" data-postid="13673504"
They're still a 3 season tyre though, not a proper mud tyre.
I'm finding the grip on the Levo good enough to encourage me to put some on the HT. Can't be faffed with a proper mud tyre tbh. I'm expecting 'some' drag over the Hutchinsons, but there's always going to be a trade off to some degree
Same here. They transformed the Levo in the steep, slippery stuff around Wharny.
They're so good I won't bother with dedicated mud/spikes this year.
The new Butchers are a huge improvement over the old ones. But... once I started taking the new bike to gnarly trails with tight berms, drops and g-outs they were just twisting and burping and I couldn't keep them inflated. I had a couple of long walks back to the car after unseating them.
I did one day of winch-&-plummet stuff at Wharny which felt like hard work
Made the mistake of Wharny on DH contis. That was not fun.
Enduro soft Kryptotals are decent allrounders, but for the winter (and if you’re in an area with slop) then I’d try Argotal or something more mud focused on the front with the Kryptotal on the rear.
+1 this, there's surprisingly little downside to the argo, it's a little slower and you lose some hard surface manners but it's not massive, way smaller than the benefits in everything except hard and dry.
Argotal up front it is then.
Anyone run 2.4 rear, 2.6 front?