Specialized Vs Maxxis tyres for Alps tour. Grid Trail Vs EXO+ and gravity Vs DD.

Hi, anyone have any experience of specialized Vs Maxxis tyres?

New bike has grid trail, how tough are these? Same as EXO+? Doing a 6 day Alps trip with lots of pedaling up, so don’t want to go up to gravity/DD unless I need too.

Planing on running a insert in the rear. Will they survive a week?

Yes.

I’ve done exactly this swap, Exo+ to Grid Trail with Cushcore and they’re fine. So much so that I’d even consider going down to Exo or Grid on the front in future.

I do think that Cushcore give more side wall support than some other inserts though.

This year in the Alps the only person in our group who had problems with punctures was running inner tubes with quite lightweight tyres.

I’ve not had much luck with Specialized grid in the lakes. Loads of sliced sidewalls but that was before I fitted an inser.  However  many of my friends rave about them.  I use exo with an Rimpact and that has been pretty robust.  I think the insert is the key, not the tyre so you should be ok.

I’ve run EXO, EXO+, and DD Maxxis and Grid Trail Spec.

Grid Trail is similar in terms of weight/protection/feel to EXO+ (new EXO+ not old).

How much descending per day and where in the Alps?  It’s a big place and the higher you are the rockier it is (in general).

@gkeeffe I think that Specialized “Grid” and “Grid Trail” casings are different?

I’d say the Grid Trail is somewhere between the Exo & Exo+ in terms of protection.

Sidewall support however is significantly less though. On my trail bike I run 25psi on an Exo+ rear tyre, if I square a corner off with a Grid Trail I’ve pulled them off the rim at that pressure. Experience dictates I need 30psi in the rear tyre to stop burps.

I tend to only run them on the little bike for that reason. Maxxis/Conti casings & compounds are much better at the tougher end of the scale.

I think that newer Spesh tyres have improved. I had a set of the previous iteration and as other’s have said, weak sidewalls were not confidence inspiring. I’ve always been fine on EXO plus. I think I’ve had a couple of punctures, but nothing that wasn’t fixed by a worm. Totally depends on the riding you’re doing though

Thanks, as always some conflicting opinions! Doing the stone king rally touring club. So pretty rocky I think. 1000m up and 3000m down a day.

Might look to see if I can find an EXO+.

One thought was can you move to DD and drop the insert or  is EXO+/grid trail with inset better?

Always used normal casing tyres in the alps and have got away with it. But feel like I have been pushing my luck!

Cheers

As mentioned earlier I’ve done 3000m + days in the rocky Alps on Grid Trail casing with inserts and they’ve been absolutely fine. The new Specialized tyres are really good and half the price of Maxxis IME. The tyres that I’ve got on at the moment have done three weeks of mostly natural/enduro riding in the Alps as well as a bit back in the UK and they’re holding up

I’ve also used Double Down without inserts and they’re also fine. I prefer Exo+ and Grid Trail with inserts, just because they feel plusher to me, but YMMV.

I do think that the Specialized tyres are a tiny bit more squirmy than the Exo+, so I do run them a PSI or two higher.

Sounds encouraging. Will go for it and see what happens! Cheers all.

Sounds encouraging. Will go for it and see what happens! Cheers all.

If you can, take spare tyre(s) anyway.

Will do, mullet bike makes it tricky! Will take a spare rear!

I’m running Grid Trail Butchers front and rear at the moment. No inserts (hate the things)

T9 compound front, T7 compound rear, both 2.3

I’m about 93kg kitted up and run 20psi front/25 psi rear.

Theres a little bit of squirm when loading up in berms and also on some bigger jumps, but as mentioned above, just need a few more PSI.

I did kill a Grid Trail Purgatory after 2 rides…not sure if the Butcher Grid Trail is a little bit more robust as no issues yet.

Its quite dry in Dublin at the moment, so the trails are dusty, as soon as this changes i’ll be back to Cannibal Grid Gravity front and rear.

Also have a trip to Dyfi booked in for the end of September, wouldn’t want anything less than Grid Gravity or DH compound there.

The Grid Gravity casing also feels more settled in the rough stuff, they do make pedaling up fire-roads a chore though.

When it gets really mucky i’ll swap the front Cannibal out for a Grid Trail Hillbilly.

Specialized Grids are the only tyres I’ve ever taken to the Alps which haven’t even survived the trip. Most tyres come home thrashed, they went in the bin in France somewhere.

People keep saying they’re much improved but they were back then as well so I haven’t tried the new ones yet.

Very happy with my Continental’s.

Running Butcher Grid Gravity on my Turbo Levo and Butcher Blck Dmnd on the Enduro. Run them all year round in the UK and the Alps. Never had a problem with them and don’t run inserts.

I’m not a fan of Specialized tyres having had a Purgatory not survive it’s first ride years ago and recently following a friend at 417 and seeing him put three holes in another Purgatory on a bit of rock that didn’t look like it should have been a problem.  Some people love them and the prices often appear good value…..but I think I’d rather spend more on tyres I had more faith in.

I wish I could get the Specialized tyres that Tracey uses. She must have a factory connection to get the stuff you can’t buy in the shops.

There’s a lot to take in to consideration when talking about the survival of tyres. Some people will pick their way down a descent and others will just hang off the back and smash through. Then there is the obvious stuff like rider weight, tyre pressures, types of trail they ride etc etc.

Personally speaking I’d go with Maxxis DD or Conti Enduro casing but then I’m heavy and unskilled but I’d also rather pedal a few hundred extra grams of tyre weight than have to deal with repairing/replacing tyres on a 6 day trip.

Personally I’ve never used anything tougher than an Exo+, usually an Exo, on over a dozen week long trips to the Alps, Pyrenees etc, and had a total of 4 punctures, and suffered no more than any other riders on those trips running DoubleDown or equivalent tyres. I think the key thing for me with lighter tyres, is running a decent insert. I’ve used Rimpact Pro since their launch, and found them to be very beneficial in preventing the tyre from bottoming out against the rim, which I’ve always found the most common cause of flats.

….and others will just hang off the back and smash through.

I’d run a double down in the back, nothing worse than fixing punctures. Always end up running more pressure as the speeds are higher, never pinch flatted a tyre, only ever had cuts to the carcass and sidewall.

I’m on exo+ front and dd rear with no inserts as my goto for the alps

I gave up on inserts when i sliced a tyre and couldn’t plug the hole. It took an hour of faffing and bloody thumbs to get the tyre off and insert out. Everything was covered in sealant and i had to ride out with the insert wrapped round me like some kind of jizz soaked hula hoop.

If i run lighter tyres (like the Butcher GTs), i now carry an emergency lightweight tube. Can be back up and running in 10-15 mins.

Just think yourself lucky that tyre tech has moved on anyway, i remember sitting in Chatel bike park about 13 years trying to wrestle a DH casing Minion off a Sun Double Wide rim with no tyre levers….

The Specialized tyres have changed so many times over the last decade – I think they’re on their third or fourth factory now, so casings and compounds will have changed unless they’ve kept the exact same processes and material vendors (which would be very unlikely with typical OEM processes).

Think I might swap the rear for eco+ and insert. I am a clumsy rider rather than light or hard charging.

The Specialized tyres have changed so many times over the last decade

And yet, a couple of weeks ago I was in a gondola with 2 Specialized sponsored riders who were both running Assegai/DHR combos with all the graphics sanded off.

They might get it right eventually.

And yet, a couple of weeks ago I was in a gondola with 2 Specialized sponsored riders who were both running Assegai/DHR combos with all the graphics sanded off.

Interesting….i thought the Specialized lads were using Cannibals now and getting decent results out of them

The lads I was with were very fast Euro kids, not the factory team. I’ve noticed Bruni and co running Cannibals and various prototypes after years on blacked out Maxxis.

Interesting….i thought the Specialized lads were using Cannibals now and getting decent results out of them

Rarely. Mostly found on Conti, occasionally DH22’s & Maxxis when it actually counts.

I won’t run them on anything more than my Tallboy as they just arnt reliable enough. They are the only tyres I have punctured in the last 2 years, even on that.

And I’m also never running a thinner carcass with an insert. I’d rather just run proper tyres at appropriate pressures. I’ve witnessed enough trail side faff when it’s all gone wrong to avoid it at all costs.

Interesting….i thought the Specialized lads were using Cannibals now and getting decent results out of them

Rarely. Mostly found on Conti, occasionally DH22’s & Maxxis when it actually counts.

This is one of my pet hates. Sponsored riders should be using their sponsors kit. If they aren’t it’s false advertising imho

I may be able to offer relevant experience OP.

Last year I did the Tour of Mont Blanc on an enduro bike, using a Michelin Wild Enduro rear with Rimpact Pro insert, and a Spesh Butcher Grid Trail with Rimpact standard insert on the front.

The front was deflating occasionally, but I think it was the valve working loose rather than a hole which then sealed.

Otherwise all good – and I’d strongly recommend using good inserts, to ward off holes in the first place but also to protect the rim from catastrophe as you’ll also no doubt be riding some pretty gnarly terrain blind.

I think you have the right idea about lighter casing tyres rolling better on those long climbs. It really does add up when you’re doing back-to-back 2,000m days in the sun, with a heavy pack.