I finally got my Trek Rumblefish last week, I took it out on Sunday for the first time – It’s awesome, the Bontrager Tyres are not, no rear traction in mud, slippy and breaking away over rooty stuff.

I have always been a bit old skool with tyre choice running a Panaracer Smoke/ Dart combo on my last hardtail – which I got on with really well.

So a simple question – What 29er tyres for a British Winter?

On that bike, Hans Dampfs…

If you’re considering Smoke and Dart (you shoudn’t be as things have moved on a lot), you probably should have bought a Superfly anyway.

Edit no 29er Smoke and Dart anyway as far as I can see…

Bontrager Mud-X

take a look at Maxxis Beaver or Bonty mud-x

I run beavers

Specialized Purgatory. Works OK in the really mud sections and massively better in not-hub-deep-mud than propper mud tyres.

Specialized Storms are good too, but rubbish in the dry (so need swapping for trail centers and the like).

Only one ride on it so far but I had decent bite and traction in all sorts of slop from a WTB Moto 1.9 tubeless as a rear tyre.

Specialized Purgatory are pretty much as described above. Great on everything including mud.

Mud X’s are a bit sketchy when you encounter rocks & roots IMHO

+1 Mud-X
I have mud-x on the SS, and purgatory on the FS. Mud-X are very good indeed, and are actually great all year round rubber. I removed the Purgatory this weekend, the FS is now running Ground control (2.1) on the rear, and 2.4 Ardents on the front, working well.

Have a small pile of Bontrager rubber lying around. Cant give those away. Designed for a very specific kind of Californian sand I think.

andyl – Member
take a look at Maxxis Beaver or Bonty mud-x

I run beavers

Second that emotion

Is the Rumblefish your only bike? I’d hate to put anything XC and mud specific on a bike like that…

Are the other posters even looking at the bike this is for?

I have a Trek 8000 hardtail as well (with the smoke/ dart combo). Will check out the Purgatory and the Beaver.

Maxxis Beaver… rad!

i am having good fun with Specialized Ground Controls front and rear, they are good in the mud and pretty useful on wet roots, plus weigh around 650g which is okay for a sturdy all rounder, i plan to run these all winter even though I have beavers, easy ti set up tubeless like all spesh tyres,

beavers I found were good in a straight line and deep mud, but wash out easily on roots and muddy corners, in fact i had to adapt my riding and lines to except the rear was going to wash out on any root, but they are light, sadly the walls are a bit thin, i have made one repair already,

purgatory’s I got rid off after a couple of rides, the large centre knobbles give them no bite on the front in mud, the centre knobs were also a harder compound so also rarely gripped roots, plus they weigh around 850g, too heavy,

2 x Hans Dampfs just ordered..

Watch the trails dry up and the sun come out!

I think the mud-x is over rated. Like said, it’s OK except on roots, so if you don’t encounter any of them, the mud-x will be OK

I’m going to try a Beaver – lightweight and from all accounts sounds very good

Any advantage using a 26er in the mud/glop?

Any advantage using a 26er in the mud/glop?

slightly lighter to push maybe 😉

Is the Rumblefish your only bike? I’d hate to put anything XC and mud specific on a bike like that…

Are the other posters even looking at the bike this is for?

I’ve got the (very similar) Hi-Fi Pro and it’s a great XC/all round bike. And one of the first things I did when I got it (Dec 2008) was ditch the Californian summer tyres, chuck on some Mud Xs and go off and play in the snow !

Admittedly I’m now running the slightly more all-year round Bonty XR4 on the rear of it, whilst the mud X is on the back of my hardtail

bonesetter – Member
I think the mud-x is over rated.

i agree

Specialized Purgatory’s on order. Thanks for your suggestions.

Beaver, it is the best mud tire I’ve used, pretty good on rocks and roots too and it works well tubeless with 2 scoops of Stans

Beaver here..

I’m going to give a shout to the WTB Stout.

Awsum in mud and on rocks and roots .

You might have to hunt around to find them though.

the great thing about these tyre threads is it reminds you what’s in the shed 🙂

Yes, I enjoyed the Stout, but so far the new Hans Dampf is proving pretty similar. Might be just new bike kit, but it grips well. Durability, listed on Schawlbe’s site doesn’t get a good rating

Anyway, I’m after rear 2.2 wide rubber 😉

Have Mud X on the bike at the mo & nearing end of life. IMHO they are not bad in the slop, but let go without warning on wet rock, which is not fun.

I will be replacing with something else. Don’t know what yet.

Andy

If you’re going for pure mud tyres and don’t come across ticks I personally think that the Specialized Storms are much better than the Mud X’s too