It’s taken a while, but am fast coming to the conclusion that there really isn’t a substitute for Maxxis in most situations (possible exception of Bontrager Mud X for winter XC). On one of my bikes I’ve got Specialized Roval Traverse EL wheels, with 26mm wide rims that have a rim strip inside them, and are to all intents and purposes very similar to a Stan’s Crest in width and intended use. My non UST 2.25″ Maxxis Crossmark went up on one after lots of lubrication and a little swearing, but once it was on it has stayed up no problems.
My other bike has Mavic 819’s on. Even with a Stans Olympic Rimstrip in them to pad it out a bit, I could not get the folding bead 2.25″ Crossmark to get even remotely close to inflating. Proper UST tyres go up with the merest of pumps, but the Crossmark is pretty loose.
Is there a remedy?
Is this the same with all Maxxis tyres? I remember setting up some dual ply High Rollers on some DT5.1’s years ago, but DT5.1’s are the tightest rims known to man, and I also had the Eclipse tubeless kit in there too.
Ideally I’d like to run a 2.35″ Kevlar beaded Minion on the front, and my 2.25″ Kevlar Beaded Crossmark on the back, which I suspect I could probably just about do on my hardtail with the Spesh wheels on, but on my full sus with the 819’s???