I’m always reading posts of people saying they are not that good, especially in the wet. I got a 2.4 as a front tyre a few weeks ago and it had it’s first outing in the wet this afternoon. I rode over wet grass – flat and hill, gloopy mud – brown earth on a hill and esturine, wet rocks and wet rocks covered in sea weed. I wasn’t going masively fast and the Ardent seem equal to the 2.3 ground control previously on the front, better than a Mountain King 2.4 and 2.2 XR2 but worse than a Trail King 2.4. Anyone else found this or will my problems start on more challenging terain?

I use them on rear, and find grip is better in the wet and slop than High Roller II these days. The latter is okay for descents but that’s about it. Draggy and was slipping in the mud yesterday. Ardents today and powering through the mud fine even if more of a summer tyre in a way.

Front, don’t know. I’d probably fine them wandering a bit much. I’ve always stuck to Minions up front. Cut through everything and roll everything fine for me.

deadkenny

I have a 2.25 Ardent on the back of my other bike which I like and found similar results to you. Now I’ve tried one on the front , and so far so good.

I didn’t like HR2 on the front of my other bike so I swaped it for TK 2.4 which I like a lot.

Sounds about right. None of the tyres you listed are particularly great anything in particular. but absolutely fine as allrounders for general riding.
You sound like someone who doesn’t lose the plot when their tyres aren’t the ultimate choice for the conditions and just gets on with riding.
refreshing to hear.

geex

I like that appraisal. Nothing to do with the effort of changing them… and the cost.. “well, obvs I would have been faster with the super descent gripper beaver munchers on”… etc…

I think it adds a bit of excitment to any ride!

Ardent is good in the wet for what it is, particularly because it clears really well while frinstance a ground control tends to become a bit of a mud slick. A big part of it’s reasonable expectations tbh which you seem to have.

I like a big grippy as **** tyre personally, it’s one less thing to cause me bother which means I can get on with screwing up myself. But sliding’s fun too

Hi Northwind,

I usually find when things go wrong the fault is mine, not my equipments. Especially when I try to attempt what it has not been designed/ optimised for! Or mostly failure of skills.

The 2.25 and 2.4 are quite different in terms of tread depth. But also not expecting it to be as good as a full on mud tyre whilst rolling fast is a good start. Please hand your stw login back on your way out 😉

Ardents (2.25’s anyways) are diabolical in the mud and wet. I’d even go as far as treacherous.

they certainly deliver on the excitement front…

they make great all purpose bikepacking and summer tyres though.

never tried the 2.4 (never seen them in 29er).

all IMHO. obvs.

I wouldn’t have said that Ardents were as fast-rolling as XR2s or Ground Control, I found them worse than XR3s. Must admit, I didn’t get on with them at all, thought they were draggy (relatively) without having the traction pay-off you’d expect. That was on Arch EX rims, so things might be different on a slightly wider rim.

Always considered them a rear tyre, wouldn’t want them on the front in anything other than perfect conditions.

I haven’t used one for a long time and I suppose they might have changed the tread

Mine had a quite significant gap between the central knobs and the edges – meant you had to lean it quite far into a turn to engage the grip.  That made it a decent soft-ground tyre if you were going fast but pretty unpredictable when going slower on tight singletrack between trees or something where you couldn’t really lean them over.

It ended up on the back wheel

Why would you need a mud tyre in the UK!

Tbh it sounds like your bar is pretty low, so yeah, by those standards, they’re not bad at all!

I was running a 2.25 on the rear and an HR2 2.4 on the front and it was a moderately ‘exciting, rather oversteery combo. About a month ago I built up a new wheelset and stuck the bikes original tyres(Ardent 2.25f, Ardent Race 2.25r) on as I thought they’d be a bit quicker for gravelly miles. They are, but on anything else they’re certainly an adventure! I really wouldn’t recommend this combo in current conditions! Loose at pretty much any angle, and not very good at either speeding up or slowing down!

Ardents (2.25’s anyways) are diabolical in the mud and wet. I’d even go as far as treacherous.

I didn’t notice that yesterday but may become apparent when riding faster. They did have that off centre floaty feeling (as scaredypants said) but the shoulder knobs hooked up well.

…pretty unpredictable when going slower on tight singletrack between trees or something where you couldn’t really lean them over.

I didn’t notice this but I wasn’t in that exact situation. I may go to Cardinham later, that’s got some tight turns, so I might end up in the scenery!

I wouldn’t have said that Ardents were as fast-rolling as XR2s or Ground Control

Nowhere near as fast as the XR2

Can’t feel much difference from the GC

Submarined- I guess I have set the bar low. I want my hobby to be riding my bike not changing tyres! So the most versatile Jack of all trades suits me.

Yeah, in not an advocate of constant tyre changing. HR2f/Ardent rear was actually an ok combo, but compared to something like a Slaughter on the back it’s pretty bad IMHO.

Horses for courses though really.

I was running a 2.25 on the rear and an HR2 2.4 on the front and it was a moderately ‘exciting, rather oversteery combo.

My experience as well – not a fan.  These threads always prove how much comes down to personal preference and where you ride. I reckon an Ardent on the back is a good trail centre tyre even in the wet (fine in wet on gravelly armoured trails) but treacherous anywhere with any sort of sticky or greasy mud.  Then it spins out when climbing and slides out when cornering.

I think I’m rare in that i’ve never felt the love for the HighRoller either – every few years I put one on a bike and never like it.

Trail King 2.4 all year on the suspension bike, front and rear (with a new tyre put on the front when the rear wears out and the front swapped to the back). Specialized hillbilly on the front of the hardtail in winter (which gets used when it’s muddy).

How quick are the Slaughters? I’ve got an XR2 on the back at the moment, which works pretty well (Dales/Lakes, mostly hardpack), but they only go up to 2.2, I think.

I found the HR2 a bit vague and much prefer the TK. I’m liking the Ardent on this bike and that may convince me to try one on the other, although that does more challenging things.Given the thoughts on here I will hold off on that for now!

martinhutch – they are on Flow ex

Really don’t rate the Ardent in mud, it’s fine if you’re on wet hardpack trails but throw in some mud and it’s hopeless. It’s ok in a straight line but it has zero cornering grip. I did run HR II/ardent (2.3/2.4) then changed to 3C Minion DHF/3C HR II (both 2.3) and the latter combo was insanely grippy on most stuff but oh my word we’re they draggy! Just switched to Maxxis Forekasters 2.35 front and rear on my T130 and though I only have one ride on them they had to deal with mud, hardpack & snow and they felt ace. Far lighter than a Minion or HR II, much faster rolling and while I dare say not as grippy on the absolute limit, for me they had far more grip than I expected and they didn’t slip or slide once. Well impressed! Hopefully they’ll prove to be awesome all-rounders and I can finally go back to a one tyre suits all seasons setup

The Ardent is great for fire road, trail centre or any other dry hard ground.

I found the moment you hit roots or put real power down over anything more technical / wet it’s weaknesses will send you sideways.

Like a few people have already said, the 2.4 Ardent is appreciably more aggressive than a 2.25. The 2.4 is, ime, fine as a dry to medium soft front tyre, the 2.25 has much shallower tread and for me anyway, is a fast-rolling rear, but not something I’d use up front. I found the Ardent Race quicker out back and still decent grippy on dry to medium trails.

It’s confusing for sure, but the 2.4 and 2.25 Ardents might as well be different tyre models. I’d use a Minion DHF up front anyway. The 2.4 Ardent out back is a nice, high volume, reasonably high rolling tyre with more grip than the 2.25.

I can’t believe I wrote all that.

The Forecasters look good and the tyre for me on that bike, shame Maxxis don’t do it in 26!

I reckon an Ardent on the back is a good trail centre tyre even in the wet (fine in wet on gravelly armoured trails) but treacherous anywhere with any sort of sticky or greasy mud. Then it spins out when climbing and slides out when cornering.

Quite different experience for me. Rarely do trail centres and recent weeks/months had (2.25) Ardents plodding through all kinds of mud including sticky/greasy and clay. Was fine enough for me, or if it wasn’t, no tyre was going to cope with those conditions anyway. Not a mud tyre sure, but on the rear I get enough grip most of the time and no spinning on climbs. Cornering I’m more focused on the front wheel. The rear just follows whatever the tread.

But then I’m not an aggressive rider, heavy or weighted on the rear though and don’t drag the brake back there much.

I certainly would use them on front though in anything but dry and firm conditions.

<div class=”bbp-reply-author”>“bsims
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The Forecasters look good”

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They are pretty shite tbh, basically Maxxis decided to see if all their expertise was up to the job of making a tyre as disappointing and pointless as the Nobby Nic, and they nearly managed it.

I’ll give them a miss then!

I’ve tried to go a bit faster on the ardent, yesterday and today on the same route and it still seems fine – the mud is gloopyer with less rain but nothing copes well with that except mud tyres. Still seemed ok on rocks and sea weed.

What are your thoughts angeldust?

I’ve just put a 2.4 Ardent (F) & 2.3 HR2 (R) on my 29er hardtail (both on Stans Flow mk3 rims). First time I’ve tried Maxxis.

Twice I’ve binned it.

Not overly impressed, but Summer is around the corner (he says optimistically)

I did a bit of a slide down hill in the thick mud locked up. Stayed rubber side down, but do it another 9 times and i’d be rubber side up. I do think that any tyre except a mud specialist would be the same there though. I will build up the speed and see how it goes, and so far I am happy.

What were you doing when your binned it?

Same as you. Sliding downhill in mud.

Also lost the rear going up damp rocky climbs a couple of times.

We live & learn. I’ll stick with them until it dries up a bit. If it stays damp, I’ll change ’em & put it down to experience.