What works with what? And what conditions are the suited to?

I run Maxxis Advantage 70A 2.1 front and rear the front grippy, very grippy just not in mud. But I find the rear drags a lot unless it’s dry.

Do maxxis have a good all rounder that I can fit and forget?

High roller 60a but if you find a 70a advantage
a drag then good luck.. 😉

Ardent lust FTW!!

minion 60a front but i like a fast rolling tyre on the rear like an ardent. some guys run high rollers on the rear too

Minion front…2.35 for trails (Ignitor 2.35 backup option), 2.5 (ST) for mountain stuff. Rear…Advantage or Ardent. Having said that, the cheaper option for the rear is Smorgasbord for trails, Chunky Monkey for mountain stuff

Hang on, he’s after less drag not more. I’m still running the much-derided Crossmark on the rear (HR front for me) in the winter. It’s fine most of the time, and certainly never slows me down. Every now and then I swap it for a Mud-X and then wish I hadn’t.

There must be other slightly better options out there – Saguaro perhaps? Might try one when the Crossmark eventually wears out.

Or those new fangled Ikons?

I’m running Ardents on the front AND rear of my El Mariachi and they seem to cope with almost everything. I’m vaguely considering Beavers though if things don’t start to dry out a bit!

bwfc4eva868 – Member

I run Maxxis Advantage 70A 2.1 front and rear the front grippy, very grippy just not in mud. But I find the rear drags a lot unless it’s dry.

Not trying to be funny but by most folks’ standard, the 70a advantage isn’t an especially grippy tyre, and certainly not a draggy one. I honestly can’t think of anything faster rolling that doesn’t have major drawbacks.

ardent and ardent race for less grip drag
despite looking like an Advantage it’s a world away

Nothing hugely constructive to offer but if you want a laugh stick a supertacky high roller on the front and a crossmark on the back and let that bike DANCE!

stick a supertacky high roller on the front and a crossmark on the back

Winning combo right here.

Beavers front and rear. Lots of grip everywhere and roll well too. Love them.

Got ardent front and crossmark rear as standard on mine. Been pleasantly surprised, way more grip in wet sloppy conditions. (Not thick mud) than I thought.

Terrain is a mixture of a muddy sloppy field just the one, your typical fireroad material gravel mixed with leaves and pine needles mushed, gravelly bridleway type paths.

The advantage fine on the muddy grass field, feels a bit slow on the fireroad mush climbing but fine going down and on the gravel wet or dry its very fast.

Used to run highroller front and rear and found them better rolling but they slipped on wet climbs, well the back did.

Two bikes have Ardent- front and ikon – rear, One single speed ikon f & r and other f & r aspen. All a mixture of sizes, larger front, but all 60a compound….

Ardent 2.4 Exo front, Ardent 2.2 Exo rear. Fitted to two bikes, perfect compromise for all conditions.

Crossmark in the winter….madness surely?!

Pump it up more lol I run minion front highroller rear great combo

I use a 2.35 Minion DHF Front 60a and then go for a Medusa 2.1 rear. Its a mud tyre but I use it all year round and its been good as gold, don’t feel like I need extra rear grip or its draggy so its a win win for me

HR II front and ardent rear for summer.

HR II allround for winter

Wide Ignitor up front with a wide Larsen TT out back. Rolling resistance is not a problem, but a bit of care is needed when it’s muddy.

I ran a Crossmark rear all last winter.
Great fun, certainly teaches you how to ride muddy downhills – you can’t use the rear brake so you just have to try a bit more.

But my favourite Maxxis tyres are Ignitors, superb all rounders.
Can’t stand High Rollers, can’t cope with the lack of grip when partially leant over.

However, given the current ridiculous price of Maxxis, I’m now using One One Smorgasbords.
Good tyres.
Buy some whisky with the savings.

Or try some Bontragers – I think the XR4’s are brilliant.

stick a supertacky high roller on the front and a crossmark on the back

I have this combination on my enduro, theory being I’ll always lose the rear end before the front, with an added advantage of looking cool as I skid round corners

First ride out on it lost my front wheel on a root and cracked my ribs. Not been out on it since. Make of that what you will…

DHF 2.35 on the front, Advantage 2.2 on the back when I had 26inch wheel biked. Sadly can’t get that combo on 29er. DHF 2.35 is now available thankfully which I run on the front and an Ardent 2.2 on the back of my FS29er. Good combo for all condition, ardent is a bit sketchy when it’s really muddy and I’m not brave enough to run it on the front!

I loved Ignitors (2.25 LUSTs) but they were mildly terrifying in the FoD mud and again they don’t do a decent 29er size.

I guess it depends where and what you ride but I used a 2.4 exo ardent up front in the quantocks this week and it worked well.

Used a kenda slant six rear mind you.

Crossmark in winter is ‘madness’ in a fun sense of the word. If you know what to expect it can be great fun having the front end nailed to the ground with a grippy tyre whilst the back slews and skitters around. Really good fun for a ‘play’ ride. Long grassy or muddy climbs are no fun, though.

I may keep the advantage on the rear and run it with a High roller 2 as I really liked the High roller all round was just a bit stuffy on the back. I found Conti rubber queen run faster but I had a massive brown pant moment when the front let go never had that with my Advantages so I think I’d rather live with slightly slower rolling and not lose grip.

I’m the same as Kayak

Ardent 2.4 Exo front, Ardent 2.2 Exo rear

But I might try those Crossmarks as so many approve them,
and I struggle to find the Ardent 2.4 at 26″

I’m running HR II 2.3 front and 2.25 ardent on the back. Seems to work pretty well so far.

Ikon 2.35 rear / HR II Max Terra front nice 29er combo

At the moment I’m running an ikon up front and a custom crossmark out back for xc racing at newnham and general riding on the quantocks. On the crossmark i chop off all the little round side knobs for a more aggressive cornering ability – still spins a bit on muddy climbs but I prefer less drag to grip – but does clear surprisingly well. The ikon does pack out a bit in claggy mud but is manageable.
Come summer I’ll leave the crossmark on as it gets faster as it wears, and probably run an aspen on the front for dry or the ikon if it’s a summer like 2-3 years ago. All 3 are decent big volume for low pressure.
When it’s really claggy and sticky mud then medusa front and back