…swapped the HRII 2.4 3C for a DHRII 2.3 3C on the front, Found the HRII to unpredictable when leaned over. The side knobs seem to fold under way too easily, they’re ripping badly at the base so this backs my feelings up. Also find it wanders on greasy stuff, great on loamy trails though.
Interesting how much it varies from rider to rider – I think I’m fairly light on the front and heavy on the rear tyre, so the DHR2 on the back holds up well when I really stand on the side knobs (I noticed a clear improvement with how positive it felt going from the softer 3C to harder Dual compound), and I’m not asking the side knobs on the front to handle heavy cornering loads. And because the HR2 2.4 side knobs are tall and relatively narrow they really dig in and track the way I ride.
The HR2 is fairly intolerant of a lack of lean compared to any of the Minions so after my first lazy and thus sketchy turn on a ride it reminds me to corner properly, which I like!
We didn’t have to mention rim widths in the past because 20-25mm was pretty standard on non-XC rims but if you’re getting into 30-35mm territory then tyres will behave differently, sometimes better, sometimes worse, to narrower rim handling. I don’t see the HR2 or Minion SS liking really wide rims (I’m on 25.5mm Flow EX) but the other rounder Minions probably will, as will bigger Schwalbes, etc.
And another thing – 26, 27.5 and 29 versions will behave differently for two reasons, one being the contact patch shape but the other being that the tread patterns are rarely identical. The HR2 27.5×2.4 has thicker side knobs than the 26×2.4, presumably because they found the original version was folding over too easily, so when they tooled up the bigger wheel they improved it a bit.