Looking at buying a set of 2.1 UST tyres for all year use. I have been told the Kenda recommend the Blue Groove front and Nevegal back. Has anyone any experience of this working better than just a nevegal back and front?

Any opinions and if there is a better all year UST tyre for the lakes, trail centres and the pyranees xc please let me know. It is for a Cotic Soul.

Nevegal front and back will roll faster, but in mud you’ll have less grip at the front.

I have a 2.35 Nevegal Stick-E on the front of my Soul and a 2.35 DTC on the back. No complaints at all.

I couldn’t get on with the Blue Groove, Kenda describe it as for use on hardpack(Remember they are a US company). When did you last ride that in the UK?! I never knew what it was going to do in mixed conditions and it dented my confidence big time. Nevegal on the front and rear is the way to go IMHO.

I’ve hard that about the blue goove, but not experienced it myself. I like it as a dry/intermediate tyre.

I like Blue Groove Front/Nevegal Rear combo. Not great in gloopy mud but in most conditions the front track well whilst the rear is defo slideable yet the outer tread will allow you to rail it. I dunno how good they are for a tubeless setup, i managed to rip through a couple of sidewalls on the Nevegals, but they weren’t UST. Justridingalong doesnt recommend Kenda.

I’ve just gone tubeless and moved to maxxis high roller fr/ignightor rear & so far so good. feel equal, if not better than the kenda’s. tubeless is miles better! 🙂

Blue groove up front in 2.35 is the perfect trail centre/stoney trails tyre all year round (never happy on anything else) – it’s brilliant in the wet too. It doesn’t like excessive mud but only gets out of hand when it’s thick and really sticky.

I run it all year round even locally because it’s really good on wet roots which are more of an issue locally than the admittedly bad mud…

I don’t like Nevegals on the rear, they do work but being a lightweight I tend to run skinny and fast (either SMB8 if dry and HR2.1 if wet).

Is the blue groove any good on the back ?

I’ve just taken off my Stick-E Blue Grooves because they’re soooo damn draggy! Awesome on loamy technical stuff but on fire-road (and hardpack I suppose) they’re horrificly slow. Specialized Enduro Pros made a world of difference to my speed!

hardpack. When did you last ride that in the UK?! I

that would be tuesday. mmm – hardpack. 8)

2.35 Blue Groove DTC on the front and 2.35 Nevegal DTC on the rear, both folding bead, both run ghetto, good and predictable grip in everything bar gloopy mud, found they roll well at ghetto pressures too (28 front and 35 rear), have swapped to 2.35 High rollers 60 or 62a (whatever they are available as can’t remember) wire bead single ply casings, been on for about a month now and compared to the Kendas my current experiences are they are very draggy, they grip ok but not as well as the kendas, not as good in general muddy conditions, not gone ghetto yet so not a truely fair comparison, current thoughts though are when they wear out I’m going back to the kendas (also used to like cinders but when run back to back with the kendas I found the cinders to be pap)
Forgot to say I found an improvement when I changed from the factory fitted nevegal on the front to a blue groove

Highrollers all round for me after the previous Blue Groove / Nevegal combo. Nothing really against the Kendas, but the Maxxis tyres just seem to be better on most things i’ve ridden to date…

I’ve been running Blue Groove/Nevegal combo in 2.1 with tubes for a couple of years. For Lakes, trail centres and Spain it’s probably a very good set up. Have gone through a couple of Nevegals on the back partly due to not having the bead sitting correctly.

Blue Groove is great for rocks and hardpack and general speedyness in the dry. Be warned though it is a TERRIBLE mud tyre, just washes around and clogs up in the gloop. The penny dropped when I switched to Nevegal DTC Lite 1.9″ (i think) for the winter mud, front and rear.

My Blue Groove will come to Spain with me again this year (though it is getting to the end of its natural), to answer your question, for a general fire and forget all round tyre I’d go 2.1 Nevegal front and rear.

I found the nevagals great as a general winter tyre but they’re far to draggy for “Summer” use. I do rate them though, very confident feel.

I like Nevegals front & rear, I find the Blue Groove not quite as confidence inspiring in anything other than hard-pack. They roll brilliantly well, especially in DTC flavour.

I’ve just taken a set of 2.35 High Rollers off my hardtail as it felt like I was riding around with the brakes on, although I am otherwise a big fan of the High Rollers. I was using a Super Tacky on the front.

Anyone else noticed drag with the ‘Rollers?

I’ve been using Nevegal rear/Blue Groove front in 2.1 for a while. Just stuck a 2.35 Blue Groove on the front for a trip to Glentress and oh my word, the draaaaag. I’m not exactly fit but usually we do the red but climb back up to do spooky woods twice and either falla brae or the bottom of the blue twice. Last night, I thought my legs were going to drop off before we even got to the top once. Won’t do that again for a while… I’m not even convinced the extra grip was massive, the 2.1/2.1 combo has done me proud before.

I ran nevegals at both ends for a while but I found the 2.1 nevegal on the front doesn’t have very good side grip for getting out of ruts, while the blue groove is a lot better for that.

I’ve run Nevegals front and rear for the past year and have just swapped to a Blue Groove up front. Despite what people are saying up there, it looks as though it wouldn’t clog with mud as much as a Nevegal . . . yet to try it in the gloop. I have to say though I’d rather the Nevegal/Nevegal combo as the 2.0 Blue Groove has quite a round profile as opposed to the square profile of the Nevegals which I prefer.