The Specialized website has what seem to be some good deals on their tyres - half price or less ATM. I'm building up a 29er FS on a budget and could do with avoiding Maxis prices for now - what's he general feeling on Specialized tyres?
Get grid casing, 2bliss and you'll be fine.
I run a butcher front, purgatory rear, they roll fast on the road and seem to cope off road well.
Guy I ride with ran ground controls until he lost one in rocks when he sliced the sidewall, but he'd have kept them otherwise; he just changed cos he fancied something new.
They're very good for the money, especially when on sale.
I was running a hillbilly front Purg rear both Grid casing and in terms of durability they’ve been fine. The hillbilly is decent in terms of grip but not in the same league as a soft Magic Mary or 3C Shorty
Definitely get the grid casing, had lots of holes in the sidewalls of the non-grid pair we have while the grid ones have shrugged off the same treatment. Worth the small extra weight. They go up tubeless very easily.
Had butchers and purgatory's all with grid casing, they came as std on Specialized's Ive bought, found them to be pretty crap tbh
Quite a few people on a Specialized Facebook page i use have said the same, they lack grip, sidewall strength and durability compared to well proven Maxxis DHF & DHR2 combo
Only one Ive been impressed with was a Hillbilly with the black diamond casing
They're great for the price and I've used most of them. Don't bother with anything less than the Grid casing. They come up small so go bigger.
I've switched to Michelin on my proper bike and prefer them but I'd put them on a hardtail or occasional use bike no problem.
I been using SWorks Fastrack and Renegade f&r on my Spark for about 2 months on Kentish bridleways and woodland singletrack and have been very happy with them despite both being a light tyre. QUite a bit of flint my way. Have had one small cut that wouldnt seal on the Renegade but that's all in 1200 miles.
IMO fantastic for the money. Especially since maxxis have gone pretty expensive. But never quite as good as the top brands.
I’ve been using butcher control front and purgatory grid rear for a few years now. I stopped using High .rollers or Minions because I had awful problems with them getting ripped sidewalls after no time at all.
It funny how this is the opposite of other comments above. But as I say, I’ve been running butcher front, purg rear for several years now and I’m happy as a clam. They’re grippier shed mud better and roll as well as the Mountain King, Rubber Queen, Michelin something-or-other, HR, Minions that I’d been using before.
Edit: I do remember that the Black Chilli Contis were great. But I struggled to get them to hold air when tubeless. The non chilli versions were just terrible.
Hillbilly front eliminator rear
Personally like them, better in usual conditions than the current California condition.
Slaughter Grid are a fave of mine. Work well on the front for commuting on the rigid mtb with something less knobbly on the back, or equally on the back with something slightly more knobbly on the front. Think the Slaughter might be a little more durable/harder than the Minion SS.
Running Eliminator Grid 2.6 f&r on my Aeris and I think they're fine. I'm not that handy on a bike though, so ymmv!
Used a mixture of butcher, purgatory, eliminator and slaughter over two bikes for a few years. All perform v well especially for the money. One thing I’d say is great when fresh but I think performance does drop off pretty steeply with wear and age. That may be the case for all brands though and at the offer prices you can afford to replace more often.
I've run a variety of tread patterns in both grid and control casings, it's not particularly rocky/flinty where I ride so I opt for control as they're a fair bit lighter and perform well enough for me. Sidewalls are a bit leaky when setup tubeless to start with, and if sat for more than a few weeks. Overall though, I think they're good value for money compared to the likes of Conti & Maxxis.
I have Butcher front and Slaughter rear on my two MTBs, always in the GRID format.
Brilliant tyres and can’t be beaten at the sale prices IMHO.
2.6 butcher F 2.3 purgatory r on full suss both grid
2.6 butcher blck diamond f+r for uplift
2.3 butcher f 2.3 slaughter on hardtail for summer
I’ve got a stash in the shed Incase they go up in price 😀
I put a hole in an eliminator on a very pointy rock. No other problems in a couple of years.
Possibly not the best, but fine grip, rolling resistance and price for me
2.6 Hillbilly front, 2.3 Eliminator rear on the Levo. Both Gripton Grid.
Rubber doesn’t feel as soft 3C MaxxTerra or Addix Soft but it’s grippier then you’d expect. Wear rates are very good, incredibly long lifespan.
Grid carcass is a bit lacking in damping and quite pressure sensitive on the bigger casings like the Butcher 2.6 - less of an issue on the Hillbilly 2.6 because it’s more like a 2.4; I added Rimpact inserts which helps loads, much wider range of pressures now work, lower in the wet, higher in the dry.
Eliminator rolls pretty fast, corners well and brakes well. It’s a great rear tyre, seems to handle all conditions and in the mud it’s not too tail happy. Feels like a DHR2 that’s a bit more speed / dry conditions oriented.
Hillbilly is a great front tyre, similar to a Magic Mary in that it’ll cope with everything from dry and loose to deep mud. There are better tyres on harder surfaces or endless rocks, it’s best when it can dig in, but it’s never bad. It’s also very good at finding more grip after you’ve pushed it a bit too hard and doing so fast enough that you don’t hit the deck. Obviously it’s the not fastest rolling but it’s fine up front.
They’re good enough that I bought another pair ready to go on once these wear out!
On 'normal' rims I've always run Specialized (usually Butcher front, Slaughter rear with the grid casing) - best balance of cost and grip/performance I found.
Only switched as I run + on my main bikes now and have switched to WTB for 2.8s.
Guy I ride with ran ground controls until he lost one in rocks when he sliced the sidewall, but he’d have kept them otherwise; he just changed cos he fancied something new.
I've run a 2.3 Ground Control on the front of an XC bike for nearly two years. I absolutely love it. Just as good as an Ardent on the road, but way way better offroad. A nice rounded profile, loads of grip and has lasted so long.
Grid casing pretty good, compounds and wear not the best IME.
But if the price is right, why not. Worn tyres and any old shit will do in summer as long as they can take the faster speeds and big hits!
What do people make of the Gripton compound? I'm finding it unpredictable on wet roots, compared to some previous Specialized compounds / Kendas. I've never liked Maxxis in wet conditions.
I run butcher / purg on my big bike and ground controls on my smaller bike and I like them a lot and they are always good value. Both grid. I founds the controls to weep out stans fluid.
I've never ridden a minion in anger mind, maybe I'm missing out
Had butchers and purgatory’s all with grid casing, they came as std on Specialized’s Ive bought, found them to be pretty crap tbh
Same. Had Butcher Grids 2.6 which came on an Enduro (same tyre is specc'd on the Stumpy Evo I tested as well) Agree with this poster. Spesh do some great products, the Butcher tyre sadly ain't one of them. Firstly, they're ridiculously pressure sensitive, I think partly as the sidewalls are pretty thin (in order to keep the weight down I think) so it takes an age to find the sweet spot, and it's difference of one or two psi, and as the sidewall is so weak (again as they're thin) they fold over as you lean the bike rather than grip, it's especially worse if you've got a decently stiff fork. Finally the tread pattern looks the business, but it's too shallow, but the casing's made to last rather grip anyway, so show it even slightly moist conditions and it'll slide out from under you. Which can be a bit entertaining in the dry if it's wasn't so unpredictable, but in the wet...Put it this way, the Butcher is, alongside the Continental Vector, the only tyre that I thought was actively trying to kill me. This was the up market Grid casings as well on both bikes
As a rear it's mleh; too heavy, a bit draggy not enough grip, on the front it's mleh/whoaa. not enough grip no support, unpredictable.
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Put it this way, the Butcher is, alongside the Continental Vector, the only tyre that I thought was actively trying to kill me.
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Same, have tried to find a sweet spot and they either slide or fold. Not for me, horrendous things.
Specialized now have a Grid Trail casing that sits between the current Grid and the BLK Dmd casing.
It solves the problem of the flimsy sidewalls squirming around, is less pressure sensitive and has a better damped compound.
I'm running the Butcher and Eliminator versions and they are way better than the standard Grids.
The Butcher tread has been tweaked slightly too.
Any experience running the non Grid tyres on a lightweight riders bike?
Was thinking I could get a pair of non Grid Pergatory tyres for my lightweight 12 year old son to run on the Specialized Enduro i'm building him.
£15 each & he's not going to be loading up the sidewalls much at his weight - worth a punt run tubeless with some Stan's liquid?
Grid casing is a bit too flimsy for the Lakes. My son and I bought four tyres and sliced the sidewalks on all of them within two weeks. Maxxis are better in rocky terrain. On softer ground like the Dales they’re very compliant and fast.
“It solves the problem of the flimsy sidewalls squirming around, is less pressure sensitive and has a better damped compound.”
This is what adding the Rimpact inserts does, if you already have the standard Grid tyres. Beforehand my Butcher 2.6 seemed to have at most a 2 psi window of working ok, and even then it wasn’t brilliant.
I'd echo chiefgrooveguru's assessment, and many other's comments on flimsy sidewalls. I really like the 2.6 Hillbilly up front but grid casings on the rear just squirmed too much cornering and and gave either a harsh or overly bouncy ride quality depending on tire pressure - bouncy seems a weird thing to say but it's apt. I had to add some rebound damping to compensate. In the end I gave up and switched brand. I'd like to try the beefier casings but hopefully not due any new tires for a while.
I like the tyres, they're great for the price when on deal on the spesh website, but run black diamond not grid as have had too many issues with punctures and damage. This is not just a grid thing, have had the same issues with exo and others. Didn't use to be an issue on 27.5 but is on 29.
They are good value. I have 2.6 Eliminator and Slaughter grids on my hard tail for the summer. I thought with 2.6 I’d be able to try lower pressures but really didn’t like the squirmy feel. As others have said inserts, Rimpact in my case, made them feel better but I’m still not running lower pressures. It feels to me like they have more volume but aren’t actually 2.6 wide so maybe rather high profile? I should measure them.
Wouldn’t put them on my best bike.
Edit: By good value, I mean when they are on offer for £20-£30 each as they often are
2 rides on my Butcher front , Purgatory rear. The front is ace but sometimes I can only assume that the rear knobs are squirming around as it feels like I have a flat even though no pressure is lost.