Best back tyre

Sorry I know I’m committing a cardinal tyre related sin…

My bike is a pimped orange filing cabinet.i ride 2/3 times a week mostly Inners/glentress at the moment mostly at night…enjoy doing some of the muddy enduro trails..the 2.35 high roller is wearing..what’s good ATM? Or should I just get the new high roller….

Specialized Butcher is ace on the back, as long as you’re not a sidewall-destroyer… Not the fastest nor the grippiest but decent at both, works on anything, and when it does slide, it slides like a boss goes where you want it, when you expect it, and comes back when called. I’ve gone off them on the front but on the back it’s mint. Light, tubeless ready, not too expensive. But, I mean that about the sidewalls, they weigh 700g so you can’t expect bombproofness. Craps on the old highroller imo in everything but super dry conditions, where to be honest it kind of sucks

Check out the Geax deals on On One right now. The Goma is my favourite all round trail tyre right now, they’ve also got the Dhea (which is like a HR) cheap, and the Saguaro is a fantastic faster rear tyre too…

It appears we’ve reached peak tyre thread

Back tyres are far more problematic than front for me.

Recently settled on Specialized Purgatory Grid though: grips well off camber, rolls well and I haven’t holed one yet – despite some really rocky rides.

(Disclaimer: I’m riding wagon wheels)

New HR on the front and move the part worn old front HR to the back?

I did this for a few years. It spreads the ‘new tyre’ cost nicely.

Smorgasbord…cheap, grippy and, if preferred, goes up tubeless easily. Chunky monkey if you want bigger still

I used to use one of these at Gelntress;

With a ‘Bling Bling’ on the front. What a combo!

I knew I was onto something but didn’t expect to see Aaron Gwin running the same setup when he won his first world cup in Africa.

Way to recommend 2 discontinued tyres 🙂

I use a purgatory 2.3 in the quantocks and I really like it.

High Roller II

Crap knows if it’s best, but I love it. Not one for pedally xc though. A bit more draggy than a plain HR but it’s got tonnes of grip on descents. I’d say could be equivalent to the formerly raved about Hans Dampfs on rear, before people realised the knobbles fall off, plus they don’t clog up with mud as much as the HD 😉

If I must recommend tyres from this decade then Specialized Purgatory’s in the aforementioned 2.3 flavour are great. So good, I’m on my second set. And I usually jump at any chance to try something new.

I’m a massive fan of High Rollers. In fact I’ve definitely described them in the past as “best bike product ever made” but even I leave them on the DH bike. Too much hard work everywhere else.

The DHR2 2.3 dual compound is an excellent rear tyre for Inners and GT enduro trails.

Better than the HR2 in the mud, good weight, good side bobble grip.

I’ve got a Minion DHF on the back of my bike at the moment, so far I’ve been impressed with its ability to shed mud in the general deluge we’re having down south at the moment although I accept I may have to go for a speciality mud tyre when things get properly sticky further into winter.

This wont be for everyone but i’m running their 42a Supertacky compound and dual ply carcass, why?….decent grip on wet stuff (although roots will be a problem whatever your tyre) and the thick walls of the dual ply allow me to run silly low pressures without risk of pinch-flats (I still run tubes)….can be a bit draggy on long climbs but worth it so far for the grip and confidence.