surely the pattern is: new tyres in autumn for the mud. use em all winter and spring and by summer they have worn enough to be good summer tyres. use them all summer to wear them out and get a new set in autumn?
the pikey version of this is to put the front on the rear and only ever buy a new front tyre?
i`ve buggered my self up as i can only get a skinny rear tyre in my frame so i have to make do with a part worn front this winter.
I went through a few different tyres* until I found something that I was comfortable with in all conditions: Maxxis Advantage 2.1 (62a and 70a)
Saying that I have a set of 2.3" WTBs on the big bike as they were heavily discounted, and they proving to be a nice dry condition and trail centre combo. I have doubts about the rear tyre (ProwlerXT) in slippery corners and may put an Advantage 2.1 on there.
So, yes and no.
*
Panaracer FireXC pro 2.1 (good, but clog up a bit too easily)
Panaracer Trailblaster 2.1 (fast as f, but don't brake hard)
Panaracer Mud 1.8 (ouch, my back!)
Panaracer Fire FR (grippy but slow)
Maxxis HR 2.35 Stick-E (very slow, but grip was amazing!)
Maxxis HR 2.35 Maxxpro (good esp. at cornering, but still a little slow)
Continental Mountain King 2.1 [puncture-tastic and scary in corners]
[i]So, yes and no[/i]
I agree
OI! Van Halen! who you calling pikey?
I've just put some MudX's on the 'spare' wheels. I doubt I'd bother changing tyres when packing the wheels is so much more convenient.
I change them when they wear out ,every 3 or 4 years
HR all year unless i do the uplift i change the front to a super tacky but thats on another rim so no tyre change
I change them when they wear out, then buy another good set...
I have a selection of tyres and wheels, for various bikes from monster truck big through to weight weenie xc race stylee, although I now have enough bikes that I just take whichever is suitable for the ride I'm going on.
I like tyres and I'm on the constant quest to find the holy grail of rubber that is light weight, grippy and happy to play with stans. Rocket ron 29ers in at under 530g for the tubeless versions are ace!
Sorry tazzy your opinion doesn't count as you ride nichewhore wagon wheeled, sandals with socks bikes.
Same tyres all year for me, I just lower the pressures slightly if it's going to be wet. Generally use them til the centre is fairly slick. Been using a Specialized Clutch SX up front for the past few months and I don't think I will buy another Maxxis tyre, this is just as grippy, bit cheaper and way lighter.
lol at kudos
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see any wagon wheel nichewhore bits here do you? hmmmmm? no, I thought not. I'm no niche whore, you sinister sellout! 😆
Same all year round (Advantage front, Crossmark rear, tubeless) although I tend to avoid riding trails that have claggy mud.
same tyres all the time and can't even tell you what they are. one is a continental something. one is something else. they have nobbly bits and work. that's enough. most tyre and equipment chat on here is a pile of shite if the standard of riding i normally see is par for the course.
@tazzy No just a bike that fell out of the ugly tree, hit every branch and gnawed on the root 😛
As I was boxing up the sinister I had a moment of panic. I couldn't bear the thought of not having it and was one step away from refunding the guy and keeping it. 🙂
I use something fastish, like a Fast Trak or Race King at 45psi all year because I think rolling resistance is more important than grip.
I don't find myself at a disadvantage because of it when I'm racing. If it's muddy, everyone is sliding around, whatever tyres they've got.
I have 4 pairs of wheels with different tyres set up on them and then use the wheels that are most suitable for the conditions.
Continental Twisters/Fast Fred
Continental Race Kings/Racing Ralphs,
Continental Speed Kings/Rocket Rons,
And Schwalbe Black Sharks if it's completely gopping!
I do change the tyres around Spring and Autumn so I have appropriate ones if I need them.
the pikey version of this is to put the front on the rear and only ever buy a new front tyre
😳
I was a one set of tyres all year round person, and I still might be, but dont know yet, as this year I tried a set of kenda small block 8's, which dont look like they'd be the best over winter, but I'm tempted to leave them on until I fall off because of them.
I've previously tried loads of different tyres, and couldnt really tell much difference between them apart from the high rollers, which I hated because they made cornering feel wierd.
I've tried :-
Specialised enduro pro (dont make them any more under this name - Great tyre , quite cheap too
Continental rubber queen black chilli - Great tyre but expensive and
not better than the specialised.
Maxxis high roller - very poor IMO, cornering was all or nothing.
Some michelin downhill tyre - pretty good downhill, not so good uphil (no surprise there)
Kenda small block 8 - so far a great tyre, but I've only had them on for the summer, so I suspect they're not going to work too well over winter.
Overall I reckon the specialised takes some beating, and am tempted to swap back to that and stick with it through all seasons, but I might try some more different tyres first.
Nope. I went through the tyre swapping thing then looked at how much it was costing me. Waste of bloody dosh. So, now i buy anything with a spesh logo for 20 quid and for the past three years that has meant fast predictable tyres.
Three bikes, two have the same tyres (spesh eskars)
The third has skiny commuter tyres on it.
iDave - Member
most tyre and equipment chat on here is a pile of shite if the standard of riding i normally see is par for the course.
Eh, what's that got to do with anything?
I ride like the Venus de Milo, but I can tell the difference between tyres I like and those I don't.
I only change bikes when they break or get stolen (I've had 2 in 11 years), so playing around with tyres give me the opportunity to faff about for little cash outlay.
They all get properly used and wear out eventually, so what's the problem?
I change my tyres when they're worn out or if i'm going to the alps. Highrollers for the win and fatter highrollers for the alps win.
I do change from wet conditions to dry, but only for a single ride if it's a race. Otherwise now, I'll stick to the bonty mud x's until spring.
Summer or winter tyres, not much else inbetween. That means fairly light XC tyres for the summer and Mud tyres for the winter.
Tyres are one of the biggest things you can do to change how the bike handles, so why wouldn't you try a few out?For the money, one of the best things you can buy for a bike.
I quite agree but to save changing tubeless I have three wheelsets for two bikes:-
Mavic 819s with 2.35 UST Nobby Nic and some old Conti thing for the Alps and northern rocks;
Stans Olympics with 2.1 Racing Ralphs for racing in dryish or dry conditions;
Stans Crests with 2.25 N Nics for damper conditions.
I find mud tyres absolutely hopeless on hard dry trails, energy sapping and nowhere near the grip of a propper summer tyre.
Try Bonty Mud X you'll be surprised.
Tyres really matter but as I can't predict what the weather and thus ground will be like, plus I'm not a fan of faffing with gear, I've tried to find a tyre with the right balance of compromises for me and my riding, run them tubeless and then just vary the pressure to suit the conditions.
I've loads of tyres and loads of wheels, all tubeless.
Usually aim to have whatever tyres will work best on my bike - 10 mins spent usually pays back in spades over the days' ride.
Currently, Front - Ardent, Rear - Larsen
i run high rollers all year for riding in the peaks and change to a dual ply ardent on the rear for riding places like snowdon or the lakes but to be honest its a bit of a faff when you use tubeless
back when I regularly raced DH I always carried 3 different types of tyres, dry, mud and intermediates with 2 sets of wheels for ease of switching I'd sometimes change tyres 3 times in the one day and was very particular about pressures for type of course.
Despite still having a shed with over 30 useable tyres to chose from at any one time, now that I no longer ride competitively I only ride one particular dry tyre combination per bike no matter how wet it gets, never change from that combo and ride exactly the same pressures all year round.
now that I no longer ride competitively I only ride one particular dry tyre combination per bike
Yup ,same here.
When I used to race ,I would fret about every detail,now all my racing is age related ,so I don't give a toss.
It's not that hard to adapt your riding style to suit tyre/conditions,when every second doesn't count 😀
Just back in from the garage and I have 19 tyres!! I do swap tyres for conditions and have even changed tyres mid race (D2D) to suit.
Normal practise is, training tyres / race tyres and summer / winter tyres.
Also on both bikes, so fair bit of swapping but IMHO does make a difference.
Gives me something to do whilst the wife is watching 'come dine with me', 'location, location, location' etc..............
Erm.. yeah I change my mtb tyres twice a year too, summer and winter for me. I've found the summer tyres stay on way longer than the winter ones (thankfully) The winter 2.3's have about 3mths use max, then the summer 2.1's or 1.9's go back on until they're worn out (which is normally about Xmas time when the winter jobbies get slung on. I'm much happier when the summer light ones go back on though, all that weight and vrrrr vrrrr vrrrrrrrrrr from the winter ones is so bloomin noisy. On the roadie, erm no... same all year round.
on the Orange - Rampages all yr
on the Rock Lobster - Nevegals may-sept, trailrakers rest of the time
I'm still running the tyres I put on at the beginning of the year in Spain, Michelin Mud tyres! They've stayed on all summer and are now pretty bald and slipping a bit on the wet climbs. Time for a change I think.
I don't see what all this tyre fuss is about myself.
barons for dh, rqs for everything else
I am a serial tyre changer - I put on the tyres for the type of riding. Much of my locval riding involves a 20 mile round trip to get to the trails so I want something fast rolling for that. Take the tandem to north England and ride the rocky trails there I want big DH tyres - but they are too slow for other circumstances.
So rather than riding a differnt bike I ride the same one and swap the tyres.
Yep - have loads of sets which gets used as required - everything from tacky DH tyres for the Alps to Furious Freds for racing to Mud Sharks etc...
x.c/trail :same tyres all year
d.h : change tyres to suit the conditions
I get my tyres changed for me
