Basically the softer the compound, the gripier the tyre. The trade off for this extra grip is rolling resistance and from one end of the spectrum to the other the difference is very noticable. If the hardest compound is like swimming through water, the softest is like swimming through treacle.

Another downside is that they wear much faster too, hence why your mate was reluctant to ride them on the road (though he was probably clutching at straws, and needs to MTFU)

The reason for gripier fronts is that if you lose grip at the rear at speed, its easy to control (and looks orsum…) and you aren’t going to crash as the rear will just follow the rest of the bike. Lose grip at the front and you lose teeth.

Another reason for harder rear compounds is lower rolling resistance, as you dont need as much grip, so why burden your legs with the resistance?

If you are losing traction when putting power down, thats technique, not tyres.

And why have more grip on the front than the back – surely you need more traction on the back to stop the wheel spinning ?

Depends on rider style and the kind of riding you do. I like a rounded, slidey rear tyre to help with rear wheel steering. But then I race enduro so it’s not about speed up the hills, more getting there in a preset timeframe and then being fast downhill, and the grippy front/fast rear setup seems to be growing in popularity for it.

🙂

I’ve been using a very low grip rear tyre (Spesh fasttrac LK) on the back with a vaguely grippy front (Spesh capatain) for most of the year. The back is fast rolling, but prone to slide a bit while the front is OK in most conditions. Makes it a lot of fun to ride, rather than plain scary if you swapped them over.

honestly..

whatever is in cheap/internet popular sweet spot of £15 an end at the time, I don’t really mind sliding about much and won’t change tires until they’re worn out.

Usually bought from the serial swoppers on here so carry on the good work!

All very subjective, as it depends on the rider and bike.
5 bikes and 5 different sets of tyre
HT Spesh Fastracks
AM Maxis Advantage
XC full suss Spesh S-Works Roll X
Summer road Pro 3s
Winter road Spesh Roubaix 25/23s

I wasn’t that aware that compound made much difference

On hard surfaces (roots, rocks, baked dirt) grip comes from the compound.

My philosophy on trail tyres is

Tubeless for lower pressures (24 to 26 psi) and puncture resistance.
Bigger volume (2.2 to 2.4) for cushioning and grip.
Softer compound for front.
Squarish edge.
Wider rim, ie Stan’s flows for even bigger, squarer profile.
Easy to inflate (going off Schwalbe, Maxxis are sooo easy)
Mix and match with gripier tread pattern on the front – as someone posted, front does a different job to rear.

Current faves for wet/intermediate are 2.3 Dampfs front, 2.2 Ardent Lust rear. Might get a Minion 2.3 for the front as the Dampf is difficult to re-fit tubeless and a bit draggy. Excellent grip though.

For dry(ish) I have the Ardent on the front and a 2.3 Larson 60a on the back. The Larsen never seems to wear out, it’s on it’s 3rd summer.

christhetall – Member

By “Grippier” are people refering to knobbles or the compound or both. Actually I wasn’t that aware that compound made much difference

Try an oem-fitment Continental compared to the high quality black chili version of the same some time- look the same, couldn’t be more different.

I’ve always gone with big nobbly thing on the front (Fat Albert currently) and slightly smaller nobbly thing on the back (On-One Smorgasbord currently), purely because that’s what folk have told me to do. I’ve gone through Racing Ralphs, Kenda Nevegals, Fat Alberts, Maxxis Advantage and Nobby Nics both tubeless and otherwise.

I can honestly say that I’ve never ever noticed a difference in grip, wet or dry, between any of them.

I like simple plain block pattern knobbies.

I like the right tyre for the conditions, ie a swampthing in mud, an SB8 in summer.

My favorite tyre is not made any more 🙁

if it aint broke don’t fix it

smoke/dart combo 🙂

The Flying Ox – Member

I’ve always gone with big nobbly thing on the front (Fat Albert currently) and slightly smaller nobbly thing on the back (On-One Smorgasbord currently), purely because that’s what folk have told me to do. I’ve gone through Racing Ralphs, Kenda Nevegals, Fat Alberts, Maxxis Advantage and Nobby Nics both tubeless and otherwise.

I can honestly say that I’ve never ever noticed a difference in grip, wet or dry, between any of them.

ride harder?

I have 2.3″ barons on my Meta 5.

I go for more rounded tyres, I find square-profile ones are less confidence inspiring for me. I care about grip more on the front than the back. If the back goes on a decent you stick a foot down and hold the slide. If the front goes you break your face. Based on that logic I spent the extra and got a black chilli baron for the front, tenfold better than the standard ones.

As I use the same rubber front and back when the rear tyre wears out the front one will be moved to the back and the new one will go on the front. Makes the rear roll slightly faster and keep maximum grip under the front.

ride harder?

Hehe. Hook, line, sinker and copy of Angling Times.

Don’t get me wrong, a road tyre won’t cut it in 6″ of slop, but the rest is all just a massive con, isn’t it?
I can pay £80+ for a set of High Rollers, or £25 for a set of Smorgasboards. They both do the same thing. They both feel the same under the bike. Until I’m ushering for a front spot at the MegAvalanche or the UCI MTB World Cup, I imagine I’ll continue to feel the same.

Schwalbes because they usually go up nice tubeless on Stan’s rims and I’ve never seen a burp.

Mostly a 2.25 Nic on the front for a bit of trailsy grip and a 2.25 Ron on the rear for a bit of XCish push. But that could be nonsense.

Sometimes a mud tyre on rear (Maxxis Beaver at the mo), leave the front alone.

Living in the Shadow of the Ochils I don’t remember the last time I didn’t have mud pluggers on my bikes…

Spesh HT = Bonty Mud X
Giant FS = Maxxis High Rollers

the OH has

Nobby Nics on both her bikes.

The Flying Ox – Member

They both feel the same under the bike.

Perhaps they feel the same to you- in which case, I guess you’re lucky! But there’s differences, and not small ones, it’s certainly not a con. You don’t have to be a great rider to feel them either, I’m not but I could tell you within, oh, 10 metres of trail whether I was using my Butchers or my Nevegals, as long as it was the right 10 metres.

Agree with Northwind; I tried some standard compound, cheapo Rubber Queens and they were one of the worst tyres that I have ever tried. No grip whatsoever, even in kitty litter trail centre surfaces.

I don’t change tyres much, I tend to find something I like and stick with them. Currently a big fan of my Hans Dampf’s because they’re big volume, seem to work well in most conditions and were easy to set up tubeless. When these ones are dead, I’ll buy another set.

Previously I ran High Rollers and was really happy with a super tacky up front and a 60a on the rear however they are a bit small compared to the RQ’s and Hans Dampf’s.

Like others have said, I like a grippier front tyre with a faster rolling one on the rear.

Agressive on front, a bit less so on the back. Slight not-quite-OCD means same brand both ends.

Currently on Purgatory/The Captain, previously Rubber Queen/X-King and Wild Grip’r/Wild Race’r.

Trailrakers for when it’s proper sloppy.

I chuck on whatever is cheap I dont like paying more than about 20 quid and pump them up hard to avoid pinch flats .I use them until they are knackered ,then they are summer tyres!

Grip front, hard wearing/fast rolling on the back.

This is it really.

The back gets more of a hammering and rolling resistance is more important given it carries the bulk of the weight so cheap and fast on the back.

Bigger grippier one on the front and more expensive too as it will last a lot longer / can be moved to the back when the knobs are half gone.

+1 Brand matching in an ideal world.
Edit = Also prefer rounder profile to square ones.

Buy tyres,buy lots,use what you like & throw the rest in the shed………

That is so close to the truth………… 😳

Perhaps they feel the same to you- in which case, I guess you’re lucky! But there’s differences, and not small ones, it’s certainly not a con. You don’t have to be a great rider to feel them either, I’m not but I could tell you within, oh, 10 metres of trail whether I was using my Butchers or my Nevegals, as long as it was the right 10 metres.

Maybe so. I think what it may be is that I can tell within that theoretical 10 metres what the limits of adhesion are for whatever tyre happens to be on a bike, and I then ride within those limits (with a couple of notable – and calamitous – exceptions). I certainly don’t subscribe to the idea of timing myself on various tyres, and I seem to have as much fun every time I go out.

My philosophy?
Buy many, use not many.
Roof of workshop looks like the underside of a starting line.

Most of my riding is in swamps, so I rock a 700c aero disc wheel up front with 28c cyclocross tire for steering duties, and a 4″ paddle tyre out back for putting down the powah.

The Flying Ox – Member

Perhaps they feel the same to you- in which case, I guess you’re lucky! But there’s differences, and not small ones, it’s certainly not a con. You don’t have to be a great rider to feel them either, I’m not but I could tell you within, oh, 10 metres of trail whether I was using my Butchers or my Nevegals, as long as it was the right 10 metres.

Maybe so. I think what it may be is that I can tell within that theoretical 10 metres what the limits of adhesion are for whatever tyre happens to be on a bike, and I then ride within those limits (with a couple of notable – and calamitous – exceptions). I certainly don’t subscribe to the idea of timing myself on various tyres, and I seem to have as much fun every time I go out.

Pfft I can close my eyes & tell by just the smell of the rubber as to how good the tyre will be…………

Schwalbe Fat albert evo ust 2.4 front and 2.25 rear for trail wheels.
Nobby nic front 2.25 evo ust front and 2.1 ralph evo ust rear on ‘race’ wheels
Nics on the 650 and 29er wheels

Use a matching pair on front and back, they don’t get changed regardless of weather. It doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to my riding.

People are waaayyy to anal about tyres in particular.

Ralphs here, in 2.4 size.

Tyres do have a bit of character but ultimately as long as the balance is about right i.e. you have the faster one on the back and the better cornering grip on the front and they are half decent (a good amount of volume and grip v’s rolling resistance) then it’s all good.

A good ride will involve the bike going a bit sideways and the rear locking up at some point, if the tyres do this in a reliable and manageable way then that is the essence of a good tyre.

The Flying Ox – Member

Maybe so. I think what it may be is that I can tell within that theoretical 10 metres what the limits of adhesion are for whatever tyre happens to be on a bike, and I then ride within those limits (with a couple of notable – and calamitous – exceptions).

Perfectly reasonable… But I find better tyres reduce the incidence of calamities 🙂

two rigid bikes. one setup for wet weather, one for dry (ie when it hasn’t rained for day or two). wet = mud round here. wet tyres are mud biased xc rear for drive/climbing (2″) and a fatter, knobblier wet/loose conditions tyre for steering (2.2″).

dry bike has lower profile treads for speed. 2.3 to cushion big bumps up front. 2.2 with soft compound and texture between the treads for traction. climbing is about more than just technique when it comes to wet stone, roots and cobbles (witton weavers way – even when it’s dry it can be wet)

Larger, grippier tyre on front, narrower, faster tyre on rear for me (2.3 Purgatory Control 29er front, 2.1 Ground Control 29er rear

I’m still getting thru a bulk purchase of cheap WTB Velociraptors…

I’m with Schroedinger. As my tyres are currently locked away where no one can see them, there is a very real possibility that I don’t actually have any right now.

I’m still getting thru a bulk purchase of cheap WTB Velociraptors…

Worst tyre I ever used

I’ve operated a ‘wet season’ and ‘dry season’ tyre rotation for a good few years.

Generally, the wet season tyres are a little knobblier and sticker than the summer ones. The last few years have seen a kind of convergence, in the I”ve run the same fast rear and grippy front combo for about 18 months, but I’ve noticed as I’ve become a more experienced rider I’m happier to run a much less grippy tyre on the rear. The racing Ralph on the rear does ridiculously well in the winter for what it is, and I forgive it its failings in deep mud because it rolls so well everywhere else and I change between a pace stair Hans Dampf in the summer and a trailstar Hans Dampf in the winter.

Currently being lured by maxxis ardents for the summer though…

Been on Advantage F+R / Advantage F + Ardent R / Ardent F + Crossmark R as my wet to dry for the Peak cycle for ages. Feeling the need for a better on wet peat and brown earth on the front over the last few months. I suspect the answer is minion but what tyre for the highlands?

Duane… – Member
Grip front, hard wearing/fast rolling on the back.

This is all you need to know.

Hd NN combo on my 29ers. Tubeless, great.