Best 26" tyres. Opinions please.

Im looking for a set of grippy yet as fast rolling as possible tyres.
I went to my local shop today and came out with none as it just seemed impossible to get the right tyres. Opinions please. Thanks in advance.

For what?

Depends on what you want…

Right now I’m running Spesh Storms up front and Captains on the back of two of my bikes. I love the grip and feedback, although the Captain is out of it’s depth on slippery chalk at this time of year. My AM bike has a Conti Rubber Queen Black Chilli up front, with a boggo folding Mountain King at the back.

I’ve tried all sorts of tyres, from Ardents, High Rollers, Rampages, Minions, Nevegals etc…I rarely settle on one setup for long but I’m pretty pleased with my Spesh setup.

yep for what where and why….

Ardents awesome (dusty tasmania)
Minions awesome (wet lake district)
Ardents crap (somewhere)
Minions crap (as a dusty XC race tyre…)

The grippier they are the slower they roll.

muddyfunster – Member

The grippier they are the slower they roll.

Sometimes. Kinda. But tread patterns make it not that simple, frinstance a Specialized Butcher (or Minioncopy as it should have been called) rolls faster than the less grippy Minion maxxpro.

I have nobby nic evos (old) front and back running tubeless.
They’re ok in the wet and mud, but they’re pretty grippy for trail centres and they’re light too considering their size.
I’ve ran chilli MKs, Cinders, fire pros and various older spesh tyres (a long time ago).
Merlin have a panaracer sale at the mo and on-one have a sale on Schwalbe at the mo!

Specialized storm this time of year

summer time (sigh)

specialized Purgatory front
specialized captain rear

The above combo is the best I have used to date better than a NN RR combination in my opinon

Swamp thing 2.35 super tacky front and bonty mud x1.8 rear for the peak district at this time of year for me.

Maxxis crossmarks for summer work nicely, bit slidey in the wet though…

Ardents in Exo. They do everything. Though somebody will be along shortly to tell you you’ll die if you put one on the front or something. Don’t listen. Great all round tyre.

ianfitz – Member

Swamp thing 2.35 super tacky front and bonty mud x1.8 rear for the peak district at this time of year for me.

Try a Baron next time, makes the swampie look old and sad.

Conti Mountain King 2 in 2.2in black chilli variant.

Very fast-rolling, but also grips well in most situations. Even sheds mud well.

Best all-rounder I’ve ever used. Only weakness is a thin carcass (because it’s only about 600g), so can be a bit fragile if you ride a lot of rocks.

Ardents in Exo. They do everything. Though somebody will be along shortly to tell you you’ll die if you put one on the front or something. Don’t listen. Great all round tyre.

You will die (someday) – currently my tyre of choice for dry dusty lower tech stuff. Still have the minions for “proper riding” though

X king rear mountain king front is doing it for me at the minute. Was racing Ralph, nobby nic front but just too fragile

Ha Ha you could get a 100 answers and each one different. I’m new myself and will just experiment til I find what’s best for me. Old tyres have just worn out on my first bike and I’ve just equipped it with a 2.4 Chunkey Monkey on the front and a 2.25 Smorg on the back from On-One. Going out on ’em for the first ride today. Main reason? cheap as chips and designed for UK trail centres (what I ride).

In April I’ve got a Cube Reaction Pro coming which has Ralphs and Ron’s on – when they wear out I’ll replace em with Nobby Nic’s probably as they seem to be a bit of a ‘go to’ tyre with a lot of bikers.

Experiment and have fun doing it!

Another Specialized combo here run tubless:
Purgatory Control Front and Captain Control back
or
Purgatory Control back + Butcher Control front

Muddy = Schwalbe Nobby Nic
Not muddy = Schwalbe Racing Ralph

I’am thinking of going rocket Ron front and back 2.25 ‘s tubeless
For spring,summer,autumn ?
Any one any thoughts on this?
Or are Ralph’s better?
Or nn and rr

Been running a 2.2 RQ UST front, 2.2 X-King Protection rear for almost a year now. Both ends tubeless. Can’t fault the combination in anything except the sloppiest gloop.

Prior to that was running a Michelin combo – 2.25 Wild Grip’r front with a 2.1 Wild Race’r on the back. Good but a bit lairy on tarmac and wet roots.

Ive got a rubber queen 22 up front and a Mountain king 2.2 out back both black chilli and they grip really well even on dodgy, wet, pink pine roots. Seem OK rolling.

schwalbe tyres on sale here if you do decide on any of these. http://www.on-one.co.uk/

I quite like the Panaracer Fire XC Pro.

I’ve got to say – and I know it’s not for the weight conscious – but the Chunk/Smorg combo was absolutely brill at Cannock today – rolled well enough and the Chunk out front felt like it was on rails…just went where it was pointed…very impressed. Just need to test em in wet conditions now, who’d have thought I’d be waiting for the wet? 😯

I use Maxxis crossmarks most of the time because they are great on rock. They stick like octopus suckers to rock and also to tarmac but they’re not great in mud. If I know I’m predominantly going to be in mud, I use Panaracer trail rakers, which are brilliant for slippery mud.

wow 24 posts and no real conclusion 🙂 got to love open ended questions….

chunky monkey up front here and well impressed dunno if youll find a better tyre for the money

I find Bonty Muds roll well and superbly grippy.

Fantastic response. Thanks.

Racing Ralph. Quite impressed with them. Roll nicely, doubt I’ll be putting Smallblock8’s on this summer. Running them in the 2.35 size, on rigid 29er. Nobby Nics reckoned to be good.