New front rubber

I’d already decided I wanted to change the stock front tyre on my Enduro, but was pretty happy with the rear. So, when I ripped a sidewall yesterday at Brechfa, I was a mite annoyed that it was the rear one!

So, I’m going to swap the front tyre to replace the back one and buy a new front tyre. Am thinking around the 2.3 to 2.5 mark, primarily for use at trail centres and bigger rides. So, looking for an all mountain rock/hardpack/slate/root/mud tyre ideally (not a lot to ask is it?)

Needs to fit under the low arch of a Spesh E150 fork though, so it would need a pretty rounded/flat profile. Am running wide(ish) rims, DT 24mm wide jobs.

What’s the rubber flavour du jour then, folks?

High Rollers.. or the Advantage

Maxxis Ignitors (29″ x 2.1″) have been my tyre of choice for the last 18 months. Fantastic on the shale and rock of the welsh centres (I regularly ride Afan, Glyn, CYB, Penmachno etc) as well as here on Mount Malvern (similar terrain).

Hook up really well and not draggy IMO. Come up at about 51cm nobble to nobble.

I found the enduros realy struggle for cornering grip and washed out on every corner, currenlty running 2.1 swampthings, survived cannock chase with hardly a slip which was nice, didnt feel too draggy pumped up to 35psi on mavic en321’s, they are very round though if you run them on anything narrower than that (eg 717’s). And they do come with a warning not to use on environmentaly sensitive trails!

Avoid 2.1 high rollers, they’r very narrow for a 2.1 and the grip was consistent, but not spectacular like the swampthings, did roll quickly though. Got some 2.35’s but not tried them yet, fitted they look slightly wider but not as tall as spesh 2.2’s.

Tempted to cut down some 2.35 swamthings for the front come the summer and run the 2.2 enduro on the back as its quicker rolling.

These look pretty good to me, but I’m really not sure I could ride a “Rubber Queen”!

Maxxis minion 2.35 in 60a or 42a (if you want extra grip). A really good grippy tyre that rolls pretty well and is very predictable. Works well on rocks, roots, mud. The minion front also works well as a rear tyre (better than the minion r in my opinion).

2.1 Advantage seems oddly good all-round in a relatively hard compound. Surprised you want uber-grippy, larger volume tyres for trail centre XC – most faster tyres seem to work on the groomed stuff. I’ve currently got 2.1 Nevegals* which grip great on slippy, natural stuff but feel rather OTT at trail centres. At least they are relatively light. My mate has just swapped the front from a Panaracer XCPro after ripping the sidewall, to a Specialised “The Captain” and swears it’s faster and still OK for trail centres.

*but they were puncture-tastic with tubes and the reason I went tubeless.

super tacky minion, amazing tyre,

spesh Captains are doing very well on 2 of my mates’ bikes, and you’d nearly have your own signature tyre… 😀

😆 @ Julian!

To be honest, I’m not that impressed with Spesh tyres, as the sidewall on the stock ones (Eskars) went at the weekend. Haven’t had a sidewall go on anything other than loony tunes old school XC race tyres before, so am not too keen!

Conti mountain Kings are doing it for me at the minute. Pros: really good grip, fairly low round profile, so fit everything, cons: bit draggy on the road…