What tyres? The Ultimate Tyre Thread

Lucky raffle winner of an eMTB, getting a ‘23 Orbea Urrun 30, already have a ’21 Rail 5 which sports WTB Vigilante 2.8 front/Specialized Eliminator 2.6 rear. According to the spec sheet the Urrun comes with Maxxis Rekon 2.40" 120 TPI 3C MaxxTerra Exo+ TLR front and rear. Surfaces I ride on (NorCal coast) are generally dry, range from hardpack to loose dust/dirt, gravel, rocks. I’m debating whether to get a different tire, front or back, not sure if I want more grip in back (especially if I remove the governor from the motor) or in front (my four falls have been plowing out on loose surfaces).

Any ideas? Or stick with the Rekons for now?

markloch said:

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Any ideas? Or stick with the Rekons for now?

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Try it first, only way you'll know for sure.

Biting ma tongue

Any love for Hutchinson Griffus?

I've had a Shorty gen 2 on mine since back end of last year when it got really sloppy in the UK and especially so around where I live and its been great for me. It's not the best as things dry out though or on hardpack etc.

When it was in for a motor replacement in March I bought a short term replacement hard tail and it had a Hutchinson Griffus 2.5 on the front. I'd never really heard of them but we had a few weeks where things began to harden up and I was quite impressed with the grip. Given they're avaliable much cheaper than some of the Maxxis stuff rather than put an Assegai on I've decided to go for the Griffus for the summer at less than half the price.
Given its the UK the summer will probably only last a few months and the Shorty will be back on anyway.

Hey all, can anyone offer some advice,
I've been running a magic Mary (super trail, soft) and big Betty setup over winter and found it a good set up in the mud.
Now things are drying out, and riding on a lot of sandy hills I'm finding the Mary not so grippy.

I have a spare big Betty to put onto the rear but wondering to get another magic for the front or if there is something else worth considering?

Some of the new Michelin tyres look interesting, check them out. Not tried yet but have been running DH22’s over winter. Not for summer, probably the DH16 or ebike Racing Lines.

Specialized Cannibal is a good buy, I’ve got one to try out. They are around £45 each.

Otherwise the old favourites, DHR/DHF.

Hattori-Hanzo said:

Hey all, can anyone offer some advice,
I've been running a magic Mary (super trail, soft) and big Betty setup over winter and found it a good set up in the mud.
Now things are drying out, and riding on a lot of sandy hills I'm finding the Mary not so grippy.

I have a spare big Betty to put onto the rear but wondering to get another magic for the front or if there is something else worth considering?

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You can always just swap to ultra-soft Mary (though not sure if the ultra-soft/supertrail SKU is already in retail, otherwise you'll have to get supergravity..), which roughly equals Assegai in Maxxgrip in terms of tackiness. Assegai/Maxxgrip does exist in Exo+, but it's actually 1250 grams in 29", I have multiple copies, nothing light-weight about it :- ).

The stickiest, tackiest, best-rebound front tyres right now are Assegai-Maxxgrip, Mary Ultra-Soft, KryptotalFR-SuperSoft, Cannibal T9, etc.. Some of those come in trail casings, but most don't.

It really doesn't matter which one of those you get, they all offer top performance to best DH riders on planet in mixed conditions.

hi everyone.
apologies if there is a topic.
DOT mtb tires? does anyone have information on how old mtb tires can be?

I have two 26" x 1.9" Maxxis Medusa mud tyres somewhere in the garage. I don't have a wheel for them to fit. I bought them for my Kona Dawg Supreme in 2011. Only 14 years old though. They were covered in cobwebs when I last saw them.

They didn't get much wear as I bought a Norco Sight in 2014 (another 26er) and on the recco of a mate, I fitted a pair of Continental Trail Kings 26" x 2.2" (with the very important Black Chilli Compound). I kept riding them as winter approached waiting for the bike to start sliding about and it never did. Those Contis were the first tyre that I rode all year round.

I've got a couple of Specetyres. I'm the garage. Still in the box. Blck Dnmd compound. Must be 6 years old and the feel no different to a brand new butcher on the finger nail test.

Ok, that's not riding them but I'd be happy to fit them to my bike today and ride them tomorrow.

II reckon a lot of the discounted tyres you see online must be 5 or more years old. So long as they're stored properly (not to hot or cold) and kept away from UV I can't see them degrading too much.

Best bet would be to speak to the manufacturer and see what shelf life they give if your worried

I've played with bike tires quite a bit. By played with, I mean spent thousands!

It's addictive because on pedal bikes you are working with so little power that you can get some really significant improvements by tweaking the tire set up. I lean towards fast rolling tires on my pedal bike and as long as I have pretty good grip up front, I'll be faster overall on fast tires, even on heinous terrain.

But e-bikes are a different thing because one can prioritize traction and durability a lot more because the rolling resistance is less critical.

My terrain is dry and rocky (where I ride my ebikes is anyways). On my current mid power e-bike I run the Mazza Enduro 2.6 x 29 up front & in the rear I'm pleased with the Dissector2 Double Down 2.4 x 29. This bike really doesn't have much power so I still give some consideration to RR, just not as much. as I would on my pedal bikes.

It's worth noting that for me, I find in a full 29er, you want a faster more narrow rear tire so that the bike remains balanced. But on a Mullet, the rear just has less traction so I try and go wider/ a bit more aggressive on the rear tire than I would with a 29er in the back.

I prepared some new mullet wheels for my my full power e-bike (that never showed up) as I broke my last rear rim recently. I've never tested this specific tire but I decided to try the Mazza RACE 2.6 x 29er up front and in the rear (have tested and loved it) the Albert 2.6 x 27.5 Gravity Soft. They are mounted on a new set of CF Crankbrothers Synthesis DH wheels and hopefully I'll have a new frameset here soon to mount them on. Clearly I don't care at all about matching tire brands.

I got a pair of Schwalbe Shredda’s out of curiosity, put them on as I was in a pinch and I truly love them! Went back to an Albert on the rear and will be swapping back to a shredda when it wears out

Suns_PSD said:

I've played with bike tires quite a bit. By played with, I mean spent thousands!

It's addictive because on pedal bikes you are working with so little power that you can get some really significant improvements by tweaking the tire set up. I lean towards fast rolling tires on my pedal bike and as long as I have pretty good grip up front, I'll be faster overall on fast tires, even on heinous terrain.

But e-bikes are a different thing because one can prioritize traction and durability a lot more because the rolling resistance is less critical.

My terrain is dry and rocky (where I ride my ebikes is anyways). On my current mid power e-bike I run the Mazza Enduro 2.6 x 29 up front & in the rear I'm pleased with the Dissector2 Double Down 2.4 x 29. This bike really doesn't have much power so I still give some consideration to RR, just not as much. as I would on my pedal bikes.

It's worth noting that for me, I find in a full 29er, you want a faster more narrow rear tire so that the bike remains balanced. But on a Mullet, the rear just has less traction so I try and go wider/ a bit more aggressive on the rear tire than I would with a 29er in the back.

I prepared some new mullet wheels for my my full power e-bike (that never showed up) as I broke my last rear rim recently. I've never tested this specific tire but I decided to try the Mazza RACE 2.6 x 29er up front and in the rear (have tested and loved it) the Albert 2.6 x 29 Gravity Soft. They are mounted on a new set of Crankbrothers Synthesis wheels and hopefully I'll have a new frameset here soon to mount them on. Clearly I don't care at all about matching tire brands.

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I haven't tried the Race casing but the Mazza is a great tyre. Similar feel to a Butcher. I had the Graphene 4c which maybe felt a bit less sticky than T9 but the tyre was a really good all rounder.

I only took it off when it got to Hillbilly weather. Itll go back on in the spring.