A few rides in and I thought I’d do a wee post since the Mary’s been quite popular. I’ve been comparing the 26 inch versions – Maxxis maxterra TR EXO vs Mary Trailstar- and basically, buy a Shorty if you want a tyre like this.

It’s a little narrower which is a shame but doesn’t really seem to matter, performs similiarly on hard stuff, similiar rolling speed, better in mud, much better on really low grip stuff… I can’t think of a single reason to buy the Mary now. Wear rates might be different but not enough to justify using a tyre that performs so much less well (and when did schwalbes ever wear well anyway?)

So yeah, that is all really. Shortys are blimmin brilliant. I’ve not used the other similiar tyres like the vigilante. It might actually be that the Shorty replaces my lovely Barons too, not sure about that yet as they’re less good allrounders.

YMMV, as ever, but for me it’s open and shut.

What tracks have you been riding on? I was up the golfie yesterday and the trails themselves seemed to have plenty of grip, getting up past the reservoir was the issue.

Surely the Shorty is direct competition to the Muddy Mary though rather than the Magic?

Do the muddy mary even come in single ply? I didn’t like them on my dh bike for similar reasons I don’t like the magic mary.

Agreed. I was out yesterday and was trying to ride every wee off camber slippery part of the trail, willing the shorty to fail, which it didn’t.

Brilliant tyre, perfect for my local (SW Scotland) trails.

Northwind How’s it compare to the baron size wize?
I’ve binned off the Mary as its a joke with mud and 26″ forks/mudhugger

Is a shorty an official maxxis version of cutting spikes?

The tread blocks on a shorty are bigger than those on the scream, so cope better on roots, rock and when its drying. Much more versatile tyre than the scream.

Mate was trying out a Shorty today, he was loving it.

much better on really low grip stuff

Where, Andrew? I imagine I ride most of the same stuff as you, not found any fault in the Mary, apart from it, like almost every tyre, being a bit skittery when braking on slabbed rock at high speed.

Have to agree with northwind. I wanted a mary but couldn’t get one anywhere so went for a shorty. Just lean on it in wet/loose turns and the grip is amazing

OK couple of questions…

It’s been mostly tweed valley stuff which has been pretty varied over the last month, on and offpiste to see how it does with that, also some orrible Pentlands rides to try it out for that. So not a huge wide range but probably a good test of the conditions these are best at. Also quite a lot of snow and ice and snowmelt mud to make things slippery (and also some stickymud)

It’s definitely doing the same job as the Magic Mary is supposed to do. Skwabbly’s range is pretty confused now- they announced that the Magic replaces the Muddy but they still do both. TBH the Shorty kicks the arse out of both of them so it’s not that important imo.

@jam bo- it’s the same idea as the Spesh Hillbilly- doing the job of a traditional cut spike, but designed for it rather than bodging it.

@Soap- probably very similiar sizewise from memory, 2.3 vs 2.25 officially but they’re both a little undersize. I’ve got a Baron on another wheel just now so if I remember I’ll stick the calipers on it, though it’s a narrower rim it doesn’t really make that much difference.

Any opinions on conditions it wouldn’t work well in?

My winter combos have been a Shorty front, Vigilante rear for when it’s loose (the Vigi is great under braking on the steeps and rolls slightly better than a Shorty) and when it’s really loose i go for a Warden front and Shorty on the rear. If i wasn’t a serial tyre swapper i’d stick with a Shorty on both ends for winter.

@jwray It’s not ideal for hard stuff. Not appalling, just slow and not as grippy as a highroller 2 or similiar would be. I won’t object to riding it on hardpack sections of enduro stages etc but it’d not be on the list for trailcentre rides. And obviously it’s overkill for a lot of rides. Might be OK in dry dust, there isn’t any of that to try it in though. I wouldn’t call it an allrounder but I don’t totally believe in allrounders tbh

Oh… I meant to add my general disclaimer- I’m not a riding god, I’m just a normal dude. If you are a riding god, ymmv and you might want to use worn out bling blings or something 😉 But I think I’m fairly representative of the average buyer really, that wants grip and skill compensation.

Normal bloke looking for skill compensation seems about right this end also. Thanks for thoughts and review, much appreciated. Tempting to replace my HR2 on the front for the rest of winter.

Oi! 👿

that top one in da LEG’s pic would be the one.. looks like it was actually designed with some vague attention payed to the edge knob shape/spacing 😉

also some orrible Pentlands rides to try it out for that

Overbiked much?

Keen to try some, will wait till I’m through the current stock of Mary and Vigilante first.

On the Vigilante front, I was recommended it (29er) and am very very impressed by it grips but compared to the Spesh 2.3 purgatory I took off, it seems quite narrow.

Dougal – Member

Overbiked much?

Oh hell yes 😆 You need 160mm travel for maiden’s cleugh 😆 #Pentlanduro. But it’s still good to know how the tyre deals with that sort of stuff unless you’re a total tyre shuffler. And it was alright.

Looks like this is another tyre for the list.

Can’t wait to try out the Minion Semi Slick.

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/spotted-prototype-maxxis-minion-semi-slick-tire-2015.html

Frosty, i am a big fan of the Rock Razor and that looks like a good version. A couple of lads i know ran them in the Trans Savoie and they not only lasted the week they lasted well. One lad came 3rd and really rated it.

I need to get over this tyre fetish i have, its so so so sad 🙂

minion semi slick?
non non non…
That Proto side knob design is nothing like a minion’s (they may be similar shaped actual blocks but are spaced much further apart so won’t work the same at all).
there already were minion semi slicks in production… sadly no longer made 🙁

Kenda BBG is a close contender if you are looking for such awesomeness in a tread design.

Fitted a Shorty to the front of my Whyte T-130 Works yesterday, swapped the front Ardent to the back. Seems to now have loads of front end grip, due to injured neck/shoulder I wasn’t exactly pushing it really hard but I could feel the difference on some local loose/leafy singletrack.

Only issues are it made a horrible noise with the front mudhugger mudguard and it’s a bit buzzy on the road. TBO my old Trailrackers on the HT are just as noisy and not as grippy but that’s probably because there 26″ so totally obsolete 🙂

Not a surprising conclusion to come to really.. The 3c maxterra is a much better compound than the trailstar… The vertstar compound is better than the maxterra though… The magic mary verstar is a fantastic tyre

Holy thread bump batman, Northwind, are you still loving the Shorty, more than Mary? Especially with an eye on the drier trails of summer approaching.

Think I need to pull the trigger on a gnarly 29er front tyre.

As good a tyre that the Shorty is, I feel that it starts to struggle on dry dusty trails but not as much as the Magic Mary, i’m thinking of changing back to my HR2 for the summer months

Taken the Shorty off the front to put the DHF back on now the Hills are drying up. Do have a DHR2 to try on the front too at some point..

@bigjim- it was pretty crumbly at ae the other week and on some of the golfy trails, it digs in well into loose dry stuff as long as it can get some penetration. On hard stuff, it still works alright, but it’s kind of unnecessarily hard work and it’s not as grippy as a more dry conditions tyre. (and yeah, I still reckon better than the Mary though to be fair it’s ages since I rode a Mary in the dry)

I reckon if you wanted to ride round here all year on the same tyre, it’d be fine and a better choice than most but I’ll not be doing that.

cheers buddy. Was considering a Mary for general inners/golfy duties, might stick with the Butcher for the meantime. Not feeling the love for it in 29 that I did in 26, though I can’t think why.

Love my Magic Mary front, only now as things properly dry out have I gone back to a High Roller front. The Maxxis Shorty looks good but too similar to a Mary to justify swapping just out of curiosity.

When things are dry I love my Super Tacky High Rollers.

In tyre threads Northwind is always coy about the fact he weighs a mere 8 Stones. Surely this must have a bearing on things.. 😀

The problem I have with comparing tyres is that when you change tyres its usually because the old tyre is worn out.

When Schwalbes wear out they’re down to the stupid 70a compound and feel sketchy as. Comparing new Schwalbe to new Maxxis would be very interesting.

I say that, as coming off a worn out minion 3c to a Magic Mary Trailstar, the Mary feels massively better and grippier. However, I felt exactly the same coming off a worn out Hans Dampf Trailstar onto the minion.

I got shorty to replace a nearly new TrailKing , which was sh*te. Shorty is great , very pleased . It’s no mud tyre but you can’t have it all. It’s great on rocks and roots so super happy with it

Bugger off Chickenman, I weigh in at a mighty 10 stone! All of it string and gristle.

rickon – Member

The problem I have with comparing tyres is that when you change tyres its usually because the old tyre is worn out.

In my case, it was pretty new- barely looked worn.

So for Tweed Valley non TC trails, would you match up the Shorty front and rear or go for something a little less aggressive on the back end? Just curious as I rode the Shorty up front at a recent muddy-death Enduro (Vallelujah) with a part worn Mary on the rear and it was ok, wondering whether a second Shorty is worth having in the armoury…

personally I prefer a slightly less grippy tyre on the back, this may be a stupid idea though so don’t listen to me. Going to give a Vigilante a go on the back, if it fits in my frame.