Been a faithful Continental user for a couple of years just about to take my Mountain King 2 BC'S off for the winter was thinking of jumping ship to Maxxis for cost and wet route reasons.
Looking at their range The Minion DHF - 26x2.3 EXO 3C TR on the front and the MAXXIS BEAVER 26X2.25 KEV EXO TYRE on the rear look like a good idea.
Anybody tried it ?
Or should I use the Minion DHR II 2.3 EXO 3C TR on the back instead ?
i ride trail centres & natural trails.
Ardent race rear, high roller/minion front is great for the summer.
So I should imagine the beaver would be a pretty good combo for winter riding, but the minion doesn't really make sense to me. I find the High Roller to be a better all conditions tire.
Dhr2 Would be my choice, even better for wet would be a dhr2 Rr shorty front. Actually I would use a dhr2 fr and Rr over the dhf for wet riding.
The Minion DHF is a great front tyre. I've been running them for years and haven't found anything as reliable and predictable yet. The EXO 3C TR is a good tyre as it rolls a bit better. I'm currently running a EXO 2.5 60a but have used the different 3C tyres before. The Missus is currently running the 2.35 EXO 3C TR and it's great.
Would like to hear some feed back on the Beaver as I always seem to end up running a 2.35 DHF on the back and fancy something a bit faster rolling come spring.
Tom KP
Beaver is decent performer. I ran one rear for a while in the mud and performed better than I expected, hooking up well, and rolling well too
Very light which is a bonus
Running Minion 2.5 front on a rigid (Stooge) and that is a pretty amazing tyre
Would imagine the Beaver complimenting the Maxxis fairly well
The beaver is spot on for the rear, a shorty exo would be a great winter front for loose mucky natural trails but the dhf would be better I guess if you're mixing it up with trail centre stuff.
Been running 29x2.25 Beavers front and rear since June (they are great in dry loam). Just smashed a hole in my rear Beaver (ohh err) so switching the front to the back and sticking a 29x2.30 Shorty on the front. Also tempted by the 29x2.5 Minions front AND rear as I have one of the only bouncy frames that will take them (Banshee Phantom).
I'm running almost the same setup. 2.25 Beaver on the back and 2.5 Minion DHF on the front. The beaver is probably the best winter tyre that I've used that still rolls reasonably. The knobs are not so big that its posed any problem on hard surfaces either. I moved away from a very slow DHR on the back and the beaver rolls much better. However, the newer DHR 2 may be better. The beaver is pretty light and I did manage to put a hole in the beaver tread so if your hard on tyres, it may be a little too light or you'll need a bit more air.
Thanks for the advice guys I shall go n price up some tyres now. 😀
Been using a 60a High Roller on the front with an Exo Beaver rear since the spring. So all through the dry spell, been a good grippy combo, although maybe a little draggy.
Since the weather has turned and our local patch has some serious gloopy mud in parts now, the Beaver is working very well indeed. Winter before last on the back, was using a Mountain King, which was reasonable, last year I used a Racing Ralph which went on in the summer and I couldn't afford a replacement for winter. I thought it was bloody rubbish.
When the Maxxis wear out I'll be replacing them like for like.
Stif had beavers cheap in 26" flavour the other day, I'm finding them best for maxxis price wise lately.
Watching this with interest. I run HR2 front and rear all year, have just swapped to Minion DHF front and rear for winter. I bought a Beaver for the rear but sent it back in favour of the rear DHF. Hope I don't regret it! Running both tubeless on a hardtail, so like the volume the newer size Maxxis offer.
Got a Minion DHF on the back of my HT for this winter, seems to be coping well so far....I've gone OTT with a proper spikey tyre on the front (Schwalbe Dirty Dan) but it also seems to be ok and offers huge grip in the sandy slop around the South East at the moment, if things get truly biblical (and it looks like going that way, rain rain and more rain forecast) i'll go to both tyres being narrow spikey mud/wet tyres like Beavers.
RH2 front, beaver on the back both tubeless and Exo.
Great combo