I’ve got real issues with clearance on my 650b hardtail, amplified by the fact I’m running 30mm rims.

So far, I’ve tried:

– HR2 2.4 – Seems good al year round, but buzzes a lot

– Ardent 2.3 – Clears, but I thoroughly dislike it

– Slaughter 2.3 – Very close, buzzes occasionally

– Ardent Race – Rubbish, don’t care that it clears. Sidewalls made of paper, naff all grip

– Currently on 2.25 Trail Boss – quite like it, but buzzes occasionally.

I guess I’m after something fast rolling that’s a bit of a jack of all weathers, with good strong sidewalls as I smash the bike around a bit, .Someone mentioned the Aggressor 2.3 comes up a lot narrower than the 2.4 HR2 – anyone confirm this? If not, then what alternatives can people suggest? Minion SS I’ve kinda discounted as I think it’d be too much of a compromise in the winter.

(And yes, I know the rims are neither ideal nor helping, but they aren’t getting changed for the moment)

Yup, lots smaller.

Not the greatest tyre though. Good through the dry part of the summer but not great in greasy conditions. No braking traction at all on steep woody chutes. Fine on rocky stuff though.

Would agree with clubby on the aggressor – I use it as a summer tyre but I’ve recently swapped it back out for the dhr2 I use in the winter. A bit of rain a few weeks ago and the aggressor was still fine on hardpack (it’s an exo 3c) but as soon as you went onto more natural steel texhnstuff it didn’t have good braking grip. Typically it’s dried out a bit again now but the dhr2 is noticeably better on steep tech.

If all you do is surfaced trail centre though the aggressor could be ok at a push all year round.

What hardtail have you got that’s so tight for space at the back?

Cheers 🙂 To be honest this is a kind of ‘do it all’ and winter bike – the gnarlier stuff gets attacked with my full sus. I do everything from towpath commutes to XC hacks, trail centre laps, bit of singletrack smashing, and pump track stuff on this bike, year round. I know I’ll have to compromise somewhere, so I guess I’m happy with that being traction on the steeps, as that’s one of the things we don’t really have in Warwickshire! 🙂

Only £30 at CRC so I guess I’ll get one ordered.

Joe: It’s a 2016 Whyte 901. A bike ‘designed for the UK’, apparently. The bits of the UK where they don’t have mud, natch.

Lol – you’d expect Whyte to be better for mud clearance than that! I’m assuming the newer fatter tyre versions have solved the problem….