Am looking for a new front tyre have Maxxis ardent 2.25 ust on at the min- do lots of trail centers and peaks rides
Ardent are a bit sketchy so am looking at
maybe high roller 2.35 ust
has anyone tried lots of different tyres combos ??
looking for the best all-rounder
Any help please!
Thanks

Spesh Butch Control’s are my ‘new’ High Roller USTs 2.35s. They’re bigger, lighter and nearly as grippy as 42a. They’re also about half the price. Have survived rock Spain so far.

I think it’s Freeborn who do a pair for the price of one HR.

2.4 HR2 is good.

2.4 Ardent
2.4 Rubber Queen
2.35 Minion

all good IMHO

Minion DHF here. Great tyre.

Stick with Maxxis! Try a 2.35 Minion DHF in 60A folding.

Advantage is the next aggro tyre in the Maxxis range. Same carcass/dimensions as an Ardent but with a full set of Minion-esque shoulder blocks and a grippier but slightly draggier centre section. Works very well in loose rubbly stuff and is a bit more gnar than an Ardent without going to a HR

Butcher control is a better trailbike tyre than any of the highrollers and minions IMO- but it’s a fair bit slower than an equivalent Ardent or Advantage so there’s a tradeoff. Most of the time the grip is excessive tbh but I leave mine on because it’s worth it for the occasions where it’s not, and the drag isn’t too bad.

Purgatory ?

smorgasboard.

£12.50

they’re ace.

(want something a bit chunkier? – how about a chunky monkey?)

gone from a high roller to a butcher control, most excellent tyre.

60a Minion DHF here. Very happy with it 🙂

On One Chunky Monkey 2.4

It’s a big tyre, not particularly heavy (mine’s 800g ish) and the 55A “Enduro” version is ridiculously grippy without being too draggy……

Another vote for the Chunky monkey. At £14.99, its a bargain. Basically a Maxxis carcass with an On-One designed tread pattern. It works a treat tubeless too!!

rubber queen 2.2 UST black chili up front – all year round

On the front of my bikes:
Patriot = 2.5 Dual ply Minion DHF 42A
Five = 2.35 Single ply Minion DHF 42A
Rockhopper = 2.35 Single ply Minion DHF 42A

… call me lacking in imagination if you like …

High Roller:
The work of the devil – big gap between bimble and full on. Slides otherwise & no grip ‘inbetween’. Hate them.

ADvantage:
Tramlines. OK grip, but a bit draggy and feels, well, odd. And floaty.
Good rear tyre.

Purgatory:
Designed by the same bloke as the ADvantage, but with the benefit of experience – Better & cheaper. Still prefer it as a rear.

Ignitor:
Superb – great grip at all angles, apart from parallel to the ground – Predictable. Fast. Safe. Expensive. Probably my favourite tyre.
Good on the back too.

Minion DHF Supertacky:
Actually makes me laugh out loud how far you can push these and how many stupid risks you can take. Sooo much confidence and grip.
Some people will be along shortly to say that all tyres are the same.
Try one, you find yourself riding silly things because you know you can trust the front.

XR4’s:
The best compromise out of the lot – predictable, grippy, not too slow, used to be cheap.

Panaracer Cinder:
Pretty much the same as an XR4, but cheaper and feels slower, somehow. Softer rubber? No idea, but a great overlooked tyre.

Just my opinion, I’m an XC bimbler, but I do like to mess about with tyres.

Great riders can use owt, but I think the rest of us need all the help we can get.

Have Advantage 2.2 on spare bike and seem ok but only make 2.1 or 2.35 ust so maybe try black chili or 60a Minion DHF if there i ust
love Maxxis so will see
Thanks everyone 🙂

the Minion DHF Supertack do sound good but come in ust at 2.5 !!!!
can only go to 2.3 rims are only 19mm
Thanks for all the good advice 🙂

I like minions on the front and love the minion 2.5 ST Exo I have setup tubeless on the front but that is more my big mountain/Alps setup. For trail centre and general trail riding its an Ignitor 2.35 60a…fantastic tyre. No fan of HR on the front (or rear). Advantage is better but still prefer to use on rear.

:edit:

can only go to 2.3 rims are only 19mm

Not a problem IMO…ran 2.5 ST minion on 19mm 719 rims in the Alps all fine. 2.5 minions don’t come up massive. Also the Ignitor 2.35 is fine on 19mm rims

I’ve been loving the Rubber Queen 2.2 UST BC for a while now. But when it’s looser and muddier (I would say ‘in winter’ but the seasons don’t seem to work like that now…) I wonder if something with bigger side knobs would be better up front? Baron? Butcher?

The specific black chili compound used in the Rubber Queens is quite incredible. I have no idea how it can wear so slowly, roll so fast (on dirt, it’s rather gluey on tarmac), and grip so well, particularly on wet rocks and roots.

What I’d really like would be a Rubber Queen F variant, with the side knobs made about 3mm taller and thicker. Dear Continental, no-one knows who I am but can I have a signature tyre please? 😉

Designed by the same bloke as the ADvantage

Alison Dunlap?

bigjim – Member

Designed by the same bloke as the ADvantage

Alison Dunlap?

No, not Alison 😀

There was a great tyre thread on here a year or so ago with contributions by some of the people who have designed these things.
There was a link to an interview with the bloke who designed both.

Genuinely great thread, might have started off about the Smorgasbord, but I actually learned something aout tyre design and why I prefer the tyres I do.

I’ll try and link later.

boo01 – Member

the Minion DHF Supertack do sound good but come in ust at 2.5 !!!!
can only go to 2.3 rims are only 19mm

I haven’t used the UST DHF, but usually these older maxxi come up undersized- my 2.5 Highroller is almost exactly the same size as a 2.3 Butcher. Maxxis make their rulers out of soft rubber as well as their tyres, Specialized use more accurate M4 tubing rulers 😉