Viewing 39 posts - 1 through 39 (of 39 total)
  • Tyre Geeks – Please help me find a trail tyre
  • Lofty
    Free Member

    dear tyre geeks……

    i am looking for a largeish volume agreesive but not too heavy tyre for mainly trail use. My experience / preferences are as follows:

    I love 2.35 High Rollers but they are heavy, draggy and limited availability now.
    ive tried….
    Continental Mud Queen – Hated them, too tall in section and therefore bouncy and prone to folding over, plus heavy too
    Continental Mountain King 2.2 – All round awful
    Maxxis Aspen 2.25 – Nice but too dry focused. I need an all rounder
    Maxxis Ardent 2.4 – Grip OK but too big and even heavier then the high rollers

    I was considering Schwalbe Nobby Nic but im not convinced yet. I dont want to spend a fortune so around £20 each idealy

    any suggestions??

    mboy
    Free Member

    2.2″ Continental Rubber Queen Black Chilli’s

    Expensive, but they are very very good.

    Or when it dries out a bit (which it did, then April came!) try a 2.25″ Maxxis Crossmark on the back for a bit more speed.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    £20 an end tough call

    2.35 Minion – though if you dislike HR then maybe not
    2.4 HR2’s?
    2.4 Fat Alberts (not sure on price)

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    continuity
    Free Member

    Advantage 2.25’s?

    Doug
    Free Member

    Larsen TT front and rear or with a Minion up front covers me for trailcenter and rocky riding year round. Add a HR on the rear for muddy riding when the drag isnt as important.

    mboy
    Free Member

    Larsen TT front

    😯

    VERY VERY brave, unless you only ride BMX tracks! On the rear fine, but up front… No thanks!

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Depends on your “all round”. Conti Baron is a genuine do-anything… Grips well on hard stuff, works very well in mud. Bit draggy but no worse than some tacky trail tyres. Not as outright grippy as a big sticky dry-conditions tyre but then, it wouldn’t be. But kinda expensive. Wear rate seems very good though so I reckon it’ll work out not too expensive in the long run.

    Nobby Nic I have a love/hate with… They’re fast for their grip, but they cost too much and the sticky compounds wear ludicrously fast (they seem really dependant on the knob shape to grip, and all the edges rounded off the knobs on mine in maybe 10 rides tops) They’re a wee bit delicate too. But if they just lasted longer, I’d be a fan.

    I like Kenda’s NEvegal myself but that’s a bit of a vanilla tyre- nice and neutral feeling which is good, but doesn’t respond as well as a Highroller or Minion to more aggressive riding which is bad. The 2.35 stick-e on the front is draggy but will do anything I ask of it (Fort william dh one day, XC on the west highland way the next…) and they’re light for their size. But some folks find the sidewalls fragile.

    The new Slant 6 is fantastic- phenomenal grip for such a fast tyre. Wouldn’t put one on the front though.

    Pair of those should probably come under £50.

    Pawsy_Bear
    Free Member

    LUST Ardent 2.25 is faster than HR both excellent tyres. Advantage also. Schwalbe stuff way too thin thanks.

    Doug
    Free Member

    VERY VERY brave, unless you only ride BMX tracks! On the rear fine, but up front… No thanks!

    .
    Most trailcenters are just big BMX tracks.

    continuity
    Free Member

    Most trailcenters are just big BMX tracks.

    Doug
    Free Member

    Exactly. Hardpack surface, suspension and technique deal with the bumps.

    pinhead
    Free Member

    minions

    mttm
    Free Member

    Based on what you said you liked / disliked above, you would probably find a apir of Maxxis Advantage 2.25″ 60a folding tyres spot on. But you won’t get them for that price. Next Day Tyres have them for £32 – that’s a good deal at the moment, and NDT are excellent to deal with.

    http://www.nextdaytyres.com/Tyres/Maxxis/Advantage.aspx?ID=361

    mboy
    Free Member

    VERY VERY brave, unless you only ride BMX tracks! On the rear fine, but up front… No thanks!
    .
    Most trailcenters are just big BMX tracks.

    Whilst I’ll agree partially (Llandegla in particular), when has riding mountain bikes been solely about trail centres? If you only ever ride man made trail centres, then you’ll not understand what difference a good tyre can make in less than ideal surfaces, or on a multitude of different surfaces all on the same ride.

    RustySpanner
    Full Member

    Cinders are really underrated, IMO.

    Very grippy, totally predictable but a bit slow, with the bonus of being unfashionable and cheap.

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    Specialized Purgatory Control 2.2? I’ve heard good things about the new Bontrager XR4 but they’re more expensive than the old ones.

    fairhurst
    Free Member

    panaracer fire xc

    Ming the Merciless
    Free Member

    Dry to damp, Bontrager FR3, damp to wet Bontrager FR4

    jonnyrockymountain
    Full Member

    Either 2.25 ardent or advantage

    jonnyrockymountain
    Full Member

    Either 2.25 ardent or advantage

    Maddydog
    Free Member

    I’ve been riding Maxxis Advantage now for 2 yrs and love them. I’ve had Rubber Queens and they are bullet proof but heavy, Mountain Kings are ok but are very poor on roots. I doo like my High Rollers on my Crush but Advantages are better.

    matt_outandabout
    Full Member

    Ardent 2.25’s or Nobby Nics will do, find em hardly used on classifieds…

    mactheknife
    Full Member

    Im using a 2.35 Bontrager XR4 on the front and a Specialized The Captain Control 2Bliss on the rear. Seems to work for me in most conditions. Fits your budget as well 🙂

    fudge9202
    Free Member

    Just had a three hour run in the Mourne Mountains,(Northern Ireland) singletrack rooty and slightly muddy, some fire roads and rocky singletrack, had an Advantage on the front 2.25 and an Ardent 2.25 EXO on the rear, they were absolutley faultless and aswell as awesome grip they gave good feedback of the trail and were not draggy on the climbs.
    But you will struggle to get these for £20 an end.Best advice buy used before spending loads.

    the_lecht_rocks
    Full Member

    Fat Alberts if 26″. sublime tyre……….

    nobby nic on 29″ seems almost as good………

    grum
    Free Member

    I used to use HRs but I’m now a big fan of Bontrager Big Earl Wets. My last few were £20 each but all on some kind of offer.

    mboy
    Free Member

    Fat Alberts if 26″. sublime tyre……….

    I’ll agree with most of the other advice on this thread so far to an extent, but I can’t agree with this. Fat Alberts (and I had the expensive triple compound, snakeskin version) was perhaps the worst tyre I’ve ever used. No grip on any surface that I could detect! Not even that fast rolling for such a non grippy tyre. After I’d ridden it a few times, I googled reviews of the tyre (maybe should have done it before I bought!) and lo and behold, pretty much everyone else who’s ridden it said the same thing! Hateful hateful tyres.

    Will agree with what Northwind says above about the rest of the Schwalbe range, only to add they don’t grip all that well as well as wear out fast and they’re expensive.

    I’ve had Rubber Queens and they are bullet proof but heavy

    Which version did you have? The Black Chilli 2.2″ Rubber Queens are far from heavy for their size (about 650g iirc), if anything they could do with being slightly beefier for more sidewall protection, they do grip on just about anything and everything though, best tyres I’ve used in a long time.

    the_lecht_rocks
    Full Member

    horses for courses.

    work lush in north east scotland fwiw…………

    steve_b77
    Free Member

    Specialized Purgatory 2.2″ control up front and a The Captain 2.2″ control out back

    Will cope with pretty much anything, relatively light and fast enough too

    Kiril
    Free Member

    and if cost is an issue; buy from Germany

    Suggsey
    Free Member

    I was using single ply Ardents last summer and Minnions (both run ghetto)this winter but have just switched to proper Tubeless Rubber Queen 2.2 in black Chilli compound as the sidewalls of single ply Maxxis just aint lasting long (well I know they aint actually designed to last run tubeless).
    They grip almost as well as a Minnion with the same predictablity when they do break away and the ability to recover the slide before it becomes a lay down moment but without the weight and drag and have the bump absorbtion volume of the Ardent without any risk of the front tyre washing out when its wet or muddy and it will be my year round choice from now on (and decent price from Ribble).

    Doug
    Free Member

    If you only ever ride man made trail centres, then you’ll not understand what difference a good tyre can make in less than ideal surfaces, or on a multitude of different surfaces all on the same ride.

    Larsen TT front and rear or with a Minion up front covers me for trailcenter and rocky riding year round. Add a HR on the rear for muddy riding when the drag isnt as important.

    Hence the Minion up front for pretty much everything else and a HR out back for natural winter riding. duh! Find the Minion is overkill much tyre for most trailcenters on the Prophet.

    Tend to run a combo of Screams/Swampies and HR’s on the DH bike but that wasnt the OP’s question, the way I read it he wanted something that sat between Aspens and Ardents which incedentally is the combo I currently have on the 456.

    justatheory
    Free Member

    I’ve found Cedric Gracia AC 2.35 to be a good all rounder. I mainly ride in the Dark Peak.

    pedlad
    Full Member

    Another vote for specialized purgatory on the front here having recently fitted as a way of getting more volume at a reasonable budget for last weekend’s trip to CyB. More grip than the pana fire xc pro it replaced albeit a bit draggy on tarmac if thats an issue for the op. It worked perfectly in Wales but coincidentally the picture posted above is I think the one section (Abel) which caused me real problems both on sat and Sunday. Combination of big steps and exposure to the right with the trees gone ended with a painful hand-rock interface!

    Definately can’t blame the tyres though!

    turbo1397
    Free Member

    bontager xr4’s.. great tyre for the money..not let me down doing anything yet. 😀

    deanfbm
    Free Member

    I’d say if you like high rollers, maybe try minions.

    I find minions faster than high rollers, clear mud slightly better, grip well on hard pack where i find high rollers can get a bit skittish. The blocks are stable enough that when you push hard it doesn’t feel squirmy.

    This past winter i have manned up to the mud, was riding swampys (ST front, 60a rear) at the beginning, then HR2 (which is exceptional, but not what you’re after), now minions and not finding i’m lacking grip in the wet. My technique/confidence has developed such that i don’t find any reason to use proper wet weather specific tyres (maybe apart from racing to eek out the seconds). I guess what i’m trying to say is that tyres for me made a little difference in performance, but technique made massive impact on performance, so i learnt that i could runner faster, more efficient tyres without making any real compromise in the mud. Also there’s lots of threads of what tyres will grip in mud and not compromise on rolling, im saying there isn’t a tyre that can do that for you, but technique can achieve it.

    Single ply minons are an acceptable price too.

    BillOddie
    Full Member

    Wetter: Front – WTB Stout 2.3 (fat though for size) Rear – Maxxis Minion F 2.35. My winter combo of choice.

    Dryer: Front – WTB Stout 2.3 Rear WTB Mutano 2.4 (small for the size) This combo works well at the trail centre, dyfi enduro and anywhere you want decent front grip but fast rolling at the back.
    Schwalbe Fat Alberts 2.4 F+R – bit scary in the wet to be honest but will be ace in in the peaks after a decent spell of dry weather (stop laughing at the back)

    All Round: Bontrager XR4 2.35 F+R (last years version) Using this at the moment for my mixed local riding. Reasonable in the filth, rolls well, hooks up well in the corners on the tackier better draining stuff. Genrally very impressed for 12 quid and end. Come up a nice size too.

    Can’t go wrong with a Minion F front and rear too if you’re not a tyre swapper.

    cloudnine
    Free Member

    Ive just been looking at those bonty XR4.. the last years ones are only £12!! How do they measure up width wise?? Are the 2.2s way bigger than most or are they accurately sized?? Also anyone know if theres much difference between the newer 2012 tyres and older ones (apart from £3 each)

    http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/m/2_Wheels%2Band%2BTyres/17_Tyres/195_MTB/37_Bontrager/

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    The old XR4 2.2 are accurately sized – however that means they’re v big compared to most 2.2s – bigger than a HR or Minion 2.35. I really like them for everything – bargain at £12!

    New ones are different tread pattern, compounds, carcass, etc – very well reviewed, though I think the new 2.2 is a bit smaller and quicker but apparently even better at cornering.

Viewing 39 posts - 1 through 39 (of 39 total)

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