[Closed] Minions V High Rollers

Haven't used them in a few years but minions always worked well for me. Can't say I have tried the high rollers however...

high rollers are **** ime

@cruzheckler that is a very strong opinion! For what reason are they ****?

You looking at dual ply or single ply? Cos for general riding, dual ply's will be massive overkill.

Anyway. General consensus is High Rollers have slightly more outright grip, but Minions roll slightly quicker and when they reach the end of their grip they are more progressive when they let go.

If that helps.

^^ M-boy is spot on.

In my experience:
High Rollers work best when ridden hard, you need to lean them over a long way to for the side knobs to grip, but when they do they are marginally more grippy that Minions. They’re better I the mud than Minions as well.
Minions are slightly faster rolling and offer less outright grip but they are more progressive and don’t need to be ridden quite as hard to get the best out of them.

That said, both are good tyres, both are better on the front than an Advantage (IMO). I prefer Minions but I’m not very knar.

A lot of the guys I ride with run Minion DHF on both front and rear. I have run High Rollers in both single ply on my XC/Trail bike and Dual-play on my DH bike with no issues. I think they are a great all-round tyre

Yes single ply - possibly super tacky as it is for front and will not wear as quick as rear.
IIRC minion @ 2.35 is slightly narrower than HR @ 2.35...therefore is minion supposed to be more of a mud tyre as it is narrower?

High rollers can feel a bit strange, as they kind of 'lurch' then grip as you go onto the side knobs, I use a minion on the front now as I like their progressiveness.

As mboy says.

Highrollers clear mud better than minions, hence grip better in mud generally. Again as mboy mentioned, the same applies to mud, the high roller grips better for the most part, but has a bigger habit of letting go, in mud the minion is never gripping well, but doesn't let totally go for the most part.

HRs are great if you're a bit unsubtle like me, and just kinda slap the bike over.

So High Rollers if you are brimming with Gnar and ride proper with the bike at 45° on every corner and Minions if you are a bit of a tentative cornerer like me?

Have used both over the years.
High Rollers in the winter, wet months as they grip better in mud. Minion DHF for the rest/most of the year as I prefer their cornering characteristics.
Minions definitely roll faster.
Single ply in all cases.
The super tacky High Roller makes pedaling the bike much harder than the super tacky Minion.
Winter/mud: 60a High Rollers front and back
Summer/dry: 42a Minion DHF front, 60a Minion DHF rear (reversed)

Minion on the front. High- Roller on the back.

Works very well for me.

Strangeley I thought my HR worked really well on the front in the wet.

They are **** as the grip is not great in any condition - its passable in many. The sidealls on the single ply are very fragile. The pressure where it works well is a very small window. They are heavy for the grip they provide. Advantages or spesh eskars are far better for me

@cruzheckler That interesting about your preference of Advantages. As a friend of mine who is a far better rider than me felt the advantages on my bike [when he rode it] were really good also and far better than the 2.35 nevegals he was using...

So High Rollers if you are brimming with Gnar and ride proper with the bike at 45° on every corner and Minions if you are a bit of a tentative cornerer like me?

I def wouldn't say that! I've just never been very smooth, HRs seem to suit that.

Dirt, for what it's worth, rate the Nevegal as a terrible tyre for cornering, so prob not a great comparison. Whoever said High Rollers need to be angled over a long way for the side section to grip is talking poop. Very square tyre profile so the edges engage when the bike is closer to vertical. There is however a 'void' as you roll the tyre off the centre section and onto the side knobs.

Advantage - good rear, not as much grip as high roller/minion
Minion - Good grip, clogs more than HR, more predictable than HR
HR - Grip grip grip...then goes very quickly if the side knobs loose traction.
Edit - Larson - Good rear, round profile and more grip than you'd think.
Ignitor - Very slidey on the edge but i like it as a rear tyre, wouldn't run one on the front.

Don't a lot of the pro downhillers use Minions/Highrollers? Some of whom aren't paid to do so therefore it may be safe to assume that they aren't '****' although there may be certain tyres which suit some people better.

I would agree about single ply high rollers side walls being very fragile!

I have some on Flows, Tubeless obviously and they are starting to fray and the weave is coming through!

Mind you they are cheap as chips and offer me plenty of confidence, I have tried a Minion DHF on the front but didn't really notice it rolling quicker - However I may try one again.

Tyres are very subjective, a lot depends on the rider, terrain, pressures etc. They are all good tyres it just depends what you feel comfy with.

I think Gotama (and others) have it bang on.

I prefer Minion DHFs front and rear - roll quicker, work well in dry conditions & wet mud, clog a bit in sticky mud. Don't seem to let go as quickly as HRs, but as already said, riding style, pressures, conditions all play a part.

Just to throw a curveball in here, I swapped from single ply HRs on my trail bike a while ago to 2.2 rubber queens black chilli (avoid the 2.4s they are MASSIVE) and haven't looked back - grippy and roll well. Bloody expensive though.

i've ridden both and prefer minions.

either on the back though. or something faster (larsen?)

Would like to try a queen on the back in the black chilli but everytime i look the cost it just steers me back towards maxxis.

SBrock - Are you running non tubeless specific highrollers at low pressures? Lower than you would with a tube in? Never had them start to fray, be it high roller or minion, and wonder if its something to do with the fact that you're running them tubeless and they're not meant to be? Having said that i'm a surrey hills kid so don't ride in a particularly rocky environment whcih may alter the performance of the tyre. I also ride mine with low 30s in the front and mid in the rear.

I love minions on the front.. my only wish would be that they had a larger volume like more modern Ardents or Adavantiage.

I ride Dry Ardent front, Wet Minion Front... Crossmark rear whatever

binned my RQ 2.2s in favour of Minion DHFs. The Minions roll faster, have better cornering grip - feel slightly more sketchy in the wet over roots, but I get on with them a lot better.

FYI, the RQs were Black Chili and the Minions are 60a 2.35s.

Ridden both, prefer Minions too. Didn't find High Rollers confidence inspiring. Preferred Eskars for that type of riding.

Which is this. My impression from the marketing schpiel had been that High Rollers/Eskars are for dusty loose fast fire road California riding whereas Minions are for earthy soil UK twisty singletrack. In other words, Minions are East Coast US; High Rollers are West Coast.

I'm surprised to read that Minions clog more than High Rollers. I haven't tested mine in the mud yet but cannot imagine anything that clogs worse than a High Roller. They clog bad.

Also poss worth adding....this months dirt tests a Geax tyre, forget which one. Pretty much the same tread pattern as the high roller but with a soft edge compound and a hard centre. They rate it and it makes sense in my head. May be worth giving that a try as opposed to a HR.

I got some HRs after reading how awesome they were, but found them to lack grip and scare me a little bit.

Then I spent a day with Jedi...

Now I think they're very good - maybe because I'm properly loading the front and leaning the bike over etc now?

I have an Ardent on the back and find they make a great combo.

I've only ever had HRs on my bikes - miniDH and hardtail. Both now shod with the single ply super tackies. Grip really well in the dry over everything, and not bad in the mud as long as you go fast enough for them to clear. But if the top soil is wet and underneath is dry, they can slip about like buggery.

If your HRs are not gripping/shedding mud as you'd want, it's probably down to how you're riding - not the tyre.

I find HRs quite sluggish, but love the feel of them. Minions roll better but maybe come up a bit smaller for the 2.3?

I love advantages on the back, but they dont feel very good on the front for me

nb went out today with a Rubber queen front. Really liking this tyre - blows up big for a 2.2 but seems sturdy enough at about 25psi and performed ok in the wet

Gotam, yes Im running my HRs tubeless and they are non-ust!

well when i bought my alpine it had high rollers on it and i swapped them over with my other bike which had minions because i thought the minions were amazing for grip and they arnt draggy i think the high rollers are a bit more draggy so id say minons!!

Quick question - 60a or 42a super tacky on the front for an Alps backcountry week?

I'm currently running a High Roller st 2.35 single ply on the front and a Larsen st 2.35 single ply on the rear on my Pitch, really good combination, the Larsen looks like it'll give next to no grip but rolls fast and grips much more than you'd think. I find the High Roller to be good in the corners but maybe suits a more aggressive rider.
When the weather deteriorates i put a 60a High Roller on the rear, once it gets really bad i put Swampthings on but the drag on those means the conditions have to be pretty damn awful before i fit them.
Have Rubber Queens in bc compound on my Soul too which are quite nice, probably fine on HSD but may be out of there depth on Egypt/Super Tavi. High Rollers are a good choice for Gawton imo.

Stevede - You ride your Pitch on Super Tavi/Egypt? I've tiptoed down Super Tavi once on mine, tiptoed is hardly riding though!

I'm really loving a combination of Minion DHF 2.5 up front and a Nobby Nic 2.25 at the rear.

Insane grip at the front and nice and light at the rear.

Julioflo - i haven't ridden either on my Pitch yet but i will at some point over the summer, last time there i hit Super Tavi in the wet on my old Charge Blender with 120mm forks up front (rode round both road gaps btw), was interesting to say the least, loads of fun, quite a few crashes on the very bottom section across the fire road/push up track! The new 4th track will bridge the gap between HSD and the other 2 apparently which will make it more appealing on a trail bike.

Stevede - The bottom section of supertavi, the bit you can't see from the push up track is mega tough couldn't get down it! HSD is great and I agree the 4th track sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

Actually, i have to say in my experience that HR's are terrible in thick mud. Had one on the front at last yrs' CRC Marathon round at Ruthin and it was that bad i couldn't keep the bike in a straight line. The tyre clogged solid til it looked like it was made from smooth mud and became increasingly dangerous. Might have been the clay-based mud but it was a horrible experience. The bike came with a HR on the back and a Minion DHF on the front but i thought (in my wisdom) that the HR on the front was a better bet - i now know different. Having said that, the DHF dumped me off the other week when it slid out in a puddle of wet mud so hmmm...

Agree

With one exception

the DHF dumped me

You dumped yourself!

Well yeah, hit a puddle of mud on a tight turn and didn't have enough weight over the front end so down i went! 😳 Hadn't ridden the DHF for ages and it's pretty much brand new. It was fantastic in the dry and dusty conditions of the Long Mynd last weekend but i've no real experience of how a DHF will hang up in a lot of mud. Suppose i'll find out this weekend!

Most tyres are terrible in bad mud though.

They're not all that massively different IMO... Only big difference I find is that once a Minion slides, it just wants to keep on sliding, where other tyres would reaquire grip. Both need a bit of commitment to get the best out of them... Minion has a hilarious amount of grip on the right surfaces, ie firm and dry but not dusty or rock hard. But Highroller works well in more circumstances.

I hope I never have to buy new tyres for my Stumpy.... I don't think I could decide what to go for. Horses for Courses 🙂