So off to sunny Spain in a couple of months. Been advised sharp rock and thorns are an issue and I don’t like punctures! Currently running British set up of Magic Mary and DHR2 on the back. Thinking Exo at least or even double down/similar,but unsure of tread. I like lots of braking ability and grip…..

I used Rubber Queens, tubeless with no issues.  Tubeless is a must….

I did Ciclo and didn’t find it that technical.  It’s fast, rocky and flowy.  Super nice.

Its mostly dry sand so any short/blocky tread should work well, minion, butcher, etc.

I took dual ply soft compound high rollers tyres, I think I was the only one not to puncture but this was before the days of tubeless. I don’t remember the rocks being as sharp as I’d expected but then I rode in the Peak at the time so was used to a lot of rocks!

I regretted my choice though, what goes down must go up and they made the fire road feel like I was riding through mud!

This has go to be a job for ardents… no rain!

No, Sierra Nevada has lots of shisty rock. Its a laminar and crumbly/rubbly and although I guess it depends on the season, when I’ve been  it’s been so dry it doesn’t have any cohesion.

There are more sharp rocks than the peaks, less than North Wales and way more blown out pebbly rubble.

Decent chunky tread to stabilise it it what you want, at least at the front. Anything shallow like an ardent will be fast rolling and let you down in every corner IMO. I found my DHF ok, but it would have been nice to have something a bit more open. My mate ran a magic Mary there and had no complaints.

have run all sorts out there. started years ago on ignitors which were great, but fragile. Ran conti trail kings which were superb a couple of years ago. I ran high roller IIs last october which were good, but suffered from a lack of grip when not fully committed.

As ScienceOfficer says, all my mates on Magic Mary’s had it sorted.

Matt @ ciclo’s rule of thumb is pretty good: if it weighs less than a kilo it won’t work.

DH Minion it is then!

Went a few years back with RideSierraNevada holidays, I ran Hans Dampfs f&r with no problems all week.

Sounds like a magic Mary / dhr2 might do the job as long as they’ve got a decent casing and are setup tubeless.

I’ve been to that region a few times and tried various different combos.

The best I’ve found so far is a MM front and Rockrazor rear. Both in Supergravity.

Though a Shorty on the front was also pretty good in the loose dusty/rubbley/crumbley stuff.

Choose your compound on how much you can put up with a draggy tyre on the climbs.

Cheers for all the advice – got an MM on at the moment – the Soft Addix but not the supergravity version. Is it worth the extra weight for the puncture resistance? Always running tubeless so also treated myself to a dynaplug set!

Is it worth the extra weight for the puncture resistance?

I think so yes.

You’re on holiday, just cruise on the climbs and enjoy the view.😀

Sound advice! Shall hit the credit card right away!