All Round Tyre Recommendation.

My current set up uses Mountain King 2.2’s which came with the bike. I occasionally find myself falling off and see no obvious reason for doing so – I can only conclude that the tread pattern is not suited to what I am riding, especially in the wet.

Anyway I am in the market for something new and am considering, Schwalbe Nobby Nics, Panaracer Cinder or Panaracer XC Fire (pro).

I mostly ride on the South Downs around Worthing or local single track (The local stuff is relatively flat).

Quite ‘flinty’ areas so I need something that is not too easily ripped apart and gives enough traction on wet root/rock as well as not being useless in the mud.

Any suggestions?

Rubber queens.

The standard Schwalbe XC/Trail tyres have thin sidewalls so could rip more easily in a flinty area. I have some Snakeskin sidewall Nobby Nics which I’ve found great so far this winter.

Take a look at Specialized Ground Controls. Basically Nobby Nic copies, but stronger and not much more than half the price. Mount up well tubeless too.

the spesh are 2.1s tho

I didnt get on with NN – ran one on the front and it lasted 1 ride before it ended up in the spares bin.

I run fat albert 2.25 F & R tubeless (snakeskin) on my hardtail and a minion front highroller rear combo on the FS. The Mrs runs Fat Alberts on her FS and HT – we’ve just got back from Stainburn (anyone who knows the black WBT at Stainburn knows its a slip fest at this time of year) and I ran minion ST on the front and highroller ST on the back – the Mrs with her standard compound fat Alberts kept up no probs.

I’d try some FA in 2.25 guise with the SS sidewalls, don’t pay rrp as if you shop around you’ll get a pair for £45 ( we got ours from O-O)

For me (and this is all personal opinion) but right now Maxxis ADvantage 2.25’s front and rear (2.4″ front if like me you like larger tyres) and in summer same front tyre and either a Maxxis Ardent 2.25 or Crossmark on the back. Same front tyre all year round and just change the back.

Job done 🙂

I ride the South Downs anywhere between Brighton and Eastbourne, been really impressed with the Bontrager XR4’s 2.2s I got a couple of months ago, been in Friston Forest, on slippery chalk, clay, gravel, mud and grass and they’ve been great, I’d say a true allrounder, quite big though but I prefer bigger tyres and they clear quite well if a little draggy in the sloppy mud today.

outthere – Member

Quite ‘flinty’ areas so I need something that is not too easily ripped apart and gives enough traction on wet root/rock as well as not being useless in the mud.

Mud = not a Nobby Nic or a Rubber Queen IMO.

I’d be considering 2.35 Minions if I was you, not the best tyre in the world but they can do a bit of everything. Supertacky on the front, maxxpro on the rear, the worst you can say about them is that they’re fairly slow. Or, perhaps an Advantage, they’re impressive tyres.

TBH if your MKs are the OEM spec, that’s a very low benchmark- even the best spec of the old MKs was pretty damn poor but the ones that didn’t have the black chili rubber were like something from the early 90s.

I’m no tyre snob…..but Mtn Kings are tyre of death!
Black chilli X-kings however…..

I always likes Conti Verticals to be honest for any condition (except piles of thick mud) as always found them to be predictable.

If they are going to let go, you know they will so they don’t end up catching you out for example.

I like them and the’re cheap and 2.35’s.

One the other bike I have a Minion up front and a High Roller on the back. I like that too, 2.3’s

Alps, I like a sticky 2.3 Minion on the front and 2.5 high roller at the back cos it worked for me this year.

Maxxis Advantage, all year round, front and back. They come up nice and big too.

Not tried one but the Hans Dempf got a good write up from Pink Bike?

All year round for the South Downs? Probably quite tricky as that has to cover slick greasy clay mud as well as hardpack and summer dust.

I ride the area a lot, but i switch tyres a lot too. Spring/summer i like the maxxis ignitor (2.3 tubeless in my case) as a great bet for a grip/ speed compromise. They dont cut it in the local mud though – my winter tyre setup is a maxxis high roller rear with a maxxis 60a swampthing front, great for fun, bit slow on long rides though.

Maybe two highroller style tyres (big side knobs, widely spaced tread, harder compound) might cut it if you find you slip out too much?

South Downs, anything but winter mud; Bonty FR3 and MTFU.

For mud either Bonty FR4, XR4 or Mud X and abandon all hope on green chalk.

Failing that Black Shark Mud’s (1.5 dia) @ 80 PSI and never ride over roots or solid surfaces.

I really like Panaracer XC Pros as an all round tyre- not universally popular but I just find them predictable in most conditions. If you want something a bit bigger, I have a set of Panaracer Rampage Sport 2.35 on my hardtail and they are remarkably grippy in most conditions- first tried them out on this years FOD enduro and they coped really well on roots etc. ( and that was quite muddy!)

Mud X – If only they’d do a 2.2 or 2.3 for the front though.

Not even slightly surprised to hear that you’re falling off all the time with Mountain Kings! A truly terrible tyre and a major contributor to the crash that broke my collarbone a few weeks ago!

I’ve been a Panaracer fan since the days of Smoke & Darts & can strongly recommend 2.3 Rampage as an all round tyre. The XC Fire Pros are pretty good too but the biggest size available is only 2.1 unfortunately.

Take a look at Specialized Ground Controls. Basically Nobby Nic copies, but stronger and not much more than half the price. Mount up well tubeless too.

Was a suggestion I was going to make.
Recently got a Spesh Purgatory too and that’s been good – tubeless ready, fairly light but tough and doesn’t hold mud.

Thanks everyone.

Tried a Panaracer XC Fire Pro today. Just put one on the front to see how much difference it made. Conclusion this is the tyre for me. Just need to put one on the back as well. May not be as wide as some of the suggestions but the grip they give is excellent, no comparision to the previous tyres! Oh yes and the bonus is they come with red rims which adds to the black and red look of my bike!

Mind if I borrow this thread, as it gets a long way to answering my question…

I’m also on the South Downs and recently put a Bontrager XR4 on the front, but at 2.2 with a bit of mud on it gets gummed up on the fork too easily. So, how big do the XC Fire Pros come up? Any other good suggestions for a winter / spring south downs tyre in the 1.9 to 2.1 kind of size?

2.35 Minions

nobby nic evo all the way, apart from a complete mud fest they are a brilliant all rounder ive used in pretty much all conditions everywhere, used to run a nobby nic on the front and ralph on the back but have gone nic all round as so much better for traction on the steep climbs.

Advantage are a superb all rounder, not fantastic in sticky deep mud but not many tyres are.

The Bonty XR4 2.2’s are great apart from on mud I found, on rock and chalk they have exceptional grip. The conti 2.2 rubber queens are my all time favourite tyre but don’t fit in my current frame, the conti X-kings 2.4’s are really good but do cut up easily. So I would go with the rubber queens if they fit as they are quite tall.

2.35 high rollers all year round on the downs