What tyres for the winter mudfest coming up ?? - currently running on 2.35 High rollers (42a front and 60a rear) and seems a fine set up on the mixwd rock and wooded trails I ride - only seem to do less well in the clag when they clog up with mud quick and dont clear. With that in mind and wanting to lighten the bike a bit, Im thinking of changing over to some 2.1 Maxxis Medusas or MudX's for the winter months. Any thoughts?
I run highrollers in the summer 60a 2.35 f&r, find them great in most weather but i have just switched to 2.1 62a medusa's for the winter. They are a fair bit narrower than the high rollers but they are designed to cut through the mud, they grip well in the gloop, clear themselves well even in really sticky clay. They save a nice amount of weight too!
You can't really go wrong!
I've not tried them, but from what I've read on here and magazine reviews (when I was trying to work out what to buy) is that they're very good in slop, but the tall narrow knobbles can squirm horribly on tarmac/other hard surfaces and not overly brilliant on wet rock or roots.
Panaracer Trailrakers are supposed to be silly grippy everywhere (slop, wet rock/roots, but unfortuanatly on tarmac and hard surfaces too, so quite slow rolling
Bontrager Mud X's are more of a race mud tyre, not having the ultimate grip of a trailraker, but still grip very well in slop, wet rock/roots and roll well for a mud tyre. I bought these in a 2.0", which still come up small. The 1.8" is supposed to be very small, though I've not seen one. I sometimes use them in summer too, when I can't really be bothered to take them off. They corner quite nicely too I think