"Do you need to change your tyres for winter rinding?" Bro, you live in the UK, your question should be "Do you need to change your tyres for summer riding?":)
I used to ride really” aggressive “ big knobs, but found small knobs and medium size xc tires to work way better. In summer I’ve even ridden bmx and beach cruiser tires and outrun my brakes.
Just switched my tyres for the winter. Was on some very knobbly wide treads. Have now an ardent exo TR 2.4 and dhf 3c exo TR 2.3 on the rear. Rode in lots of slop and wet roots today. Had no issues at all. 20psi front and rear. Great clearance and mud shedding. Much lighter and quicker. Very impressed with an agressive xc tire up front. Dhf for safety in the rear.
Attention FL riders the difference is Amazing. I live in FL and just replaced my Stump Jumper tires to Maxxis tubeless XC racing tires. Last weekend I was able ride and increased my mileage by 30% from DH tires. Guys I now really really enjoy my bike. I love speed in the trails. Please note that now my suspension also needs to be adjusted. Great video Gracias
I ride natural trails, and in muddy conditions, aka autumn, winter and spring I ride Minion DHF 29x2.4. In Summer I switch to Vittoria's Mezcal 29x2.25. I think season specific tyres is something everyone should consider, even cross country riders.
Dear Henry, I enjoyed your Christmas prayers and I wish we could join you for some caroling. LOL :) And I really appreciated you informative/making me think about Winter Tires for my 29" Hardtail MTB. I chose Maxxis Crossmarks for my everyday tires. We live in Oregon which, like England/UK, has the possibility of mud year round. But I also ride my favorite bike to work each day (bring it inside my office & change into professional clothes) and longer pavement and off-road distances on the weekend. Some of my friends drive their bikes to the mud, but I ride mine on various surfaces to get to the trails. Some are "logging roads" which can be a mix of hard gravel and mud. This videos really demonstrated to me how inadequate my tires would be on muddy trails. Today I was riding a mixture of highway and off-road gravel/mud/leaves and across grassy areas where my Crossmarks were just perfect as a less aggressive tire would have been stuck on the "shortcut". Watching you, Henry, I see what will happen to me, someday soon, when I sink in the mud. Thank you again Henry for this great informational video. Merry Christmas!!!
In Florida it's either super hot/sunny or rainy year-round. I don't ride trails (I just commute), so all I need is a fast-rolling XC tire that also has some extra grip for when it rains
What happened to XC mud tyres? Now most mud tyres seem to be trail tyres. Like in Cyclocross, you would get a range of xc tyres - dry (particularly after the original green Michelin file tread mtb tyre), general condition tyre, and then a mud tyre. Back when I did a bit of racing, most brands had an XC mud tyre often a bit narrower for mud clearance e.g Panaracer had a mud version of the fire.
Was my setup until the side knobs on the hans dampf gave way! So, i've had to go double magic mary to ride the off piste FOD stuff. Great on the downs, shit on the climbs and pedally sections. I never had so much traction
Next time try 2.1 or 2.0 width. I riding this size mud tyres in winter season (today i've done 31km in totally mud wet trail) Less rolling resistance when leaving wet, soft section. And different brand at each wheel doing some magic - front for Michelin Wind'n'Mud (softer) rear Specialized Storm Control. At summer season, switching for 2.35...
This seems so foreign to me. It'd be very taboo to even consider hitting the trail in the first place in this kind of condition, here in the arid desert climate of Colorado due to the massive trail damage it causes. Looks fun though!
I've tried mudtyres once, but I found them to draggy in everything apart from real deep mud, they also don't shed mud so much as xc-tyres so after the muddy sections they were still full with mud and very slippery! So now I keep my XC-tyres on whole year round, also good for learning!
Fun video, I have limited tyre clearance in the forks, I use to run all year Magic Mary on the front and a 2.4 Mountain King on the back. I found that the Magic Mary was wider that 2.35 and rubbed on the fork but great all round tyre. The Mountain King was also great but no great if mud over hard service and not a good tubeless tyre. Now I run Minons DHF 3c on front and just put on a DHR on the back, they work well and grip everything,have not run theDHR yet in summer.
I bought some for a summer trip to the alps and I’m keeping them on all year round and even taking the rolling resistance and weight penalties. I guess the time to buy a mud tyre is in the summer to get a better price.
Gonna be a condition/region specific thing. These days I am using my fatbikes in the winter for pretty much all off road riding and they handle everything. Gonna do a tire review of the Surly offerings on my channel soon!
I have Continental Trail King (all year round)... For Winter, I installed a Schwalbe Magic Mary soft compund 120 TPI on the front and Nobby Nic on the back... Going Downhill was awsome, but going Straight or Uphill was really a super draggy and slow nightmare. My overall strava stimes were slower. So I switch the front tire for a Maxxis High Roller II 3C EXO (medium compound and 60 TPI) and things where much more balanced and fast for the Winter.
Dry summer - Spec Renegade All around - Ardent Maxx Speed, Rocket Ron’s Mud - Knobby Nic Snow - Knobby Nic Ice - Not a Knobby Nic! Of course you should change tires for conditions/seasons! Most important... learn the individual characteristics of your tire and slowly learn their limits.
That is what i am constantly waiting off. Natural Stuff in the woods with Cross Country Tires / like Maxxis Ikon 2.5 or Rekon 2.5 ... VS ... Massive Front Tires / like Maxxis DHF, Assegai or Dissector ! Pls do a add on test
I'd rather see a good all round tyre vs mud spikes to see how much difference there is. I can't see many UK riders choosing an XC tyre for year round riding.
I thought that the cross kings would do better in the mud. Great video. I'd love to do this experiment myself to really see how much of a difference it makes.
10:10 I have Maxxis Shorty Maxx Terra C3 EXO 2.3 on 23mm rim, and I don't experience the folding known thing described here. But I do notice the rolling resistance. this December the weather is similar to Uk weather, looks like it's gonna be brown not white X mas. I run Cush Core.
I have a 2018 Spectral and during the summer and on the less difficult trails in was riding Vittoria Mezcal 2.6 but i went riding yesterday and it was kind of wet so Today putting on a set of 2.6 Trail Kings with protection
i run HR2 27.5x3.0 front and rear on a hardtail. when its dry and it fills a little skittish, i just ride faster and lean more. when its muddy out, i just ride faster and lean more.
Have been running Maxxis Forecasters, roll well, but no good cornering or climbing in severe mud, and hopeless on smooth wet rock. Have ordered WTB Vigilante/ Trail Boss combo for something a bit more aggressive but still versatile, as I ride both trail centres and natural trails.
@@rascott1970 went for lights with slash guard - am not a particularly aggressive rider, not too many sharp rocks or thorns on my trails, and still running tubes.
I have tried the budget version of continental tires( Mountain and trail king ) and they both developed wobbles after a short time riding them and fairly sever . Continental would not even warranty them as they needed to see a physical defect . I guess a wobble in not a physical defect according to continental . I wont purchase them again
Try riding here (central Canada) without gloves in winter, you'll have less than 10 fingers! Coldest day I've ridden (1.5 hour ) the high temperature was -21 C.
Has anyone mentioned Tioga Farmer Johns? Original mud plugging tyre from the early 90s. You could also get Farmer Johns nephew, which was a narrower xc version.
You concider a mountainking as XC tire? In the Netherlands we ride (in conti terms) with racekings and X-kings! That's an XC tire, MK is all-mountain to me
I’m riding a Magic Mary 2.6 addix soft in the front and a Nobby Nic 2.3 speedgrip in the rear. Our Trail conditions vary from slightly sandy in the summer and muddy in the winter. So far I’m happy with that combination, but I would like to replace the back with a Hans Dampf, sadly only available in 2.6, don’t know if there is enough space in my frame and normally I’m a fan of slightly narrower tires on my backwheel
We seldom get muddy conditions like that where I ride here in NZ! I run Minion DHR2 on the front, Aggressor on the rear. Now we're into summer I'm keen to try an Assegai on the front.
Well done, I'm sure the camera doesn't do the conditions any justice at all. Is the trend still for narrower tyres with mud? I remember the good old days with the likes of 1.9s... Now they would be a ball to scoot around with now. Until the novelty wore off and you got a grip of yourself and just said no. Not at all...
So I just (today) changed my rear 70-584 Rocket Ron for a Magic Mary tire, mainly because the rocket ron had 4 holes in the sidewall (and didn’t puncture the innertube) I am hoping to use the Magic Mary all year round (I live in NL so similar wheater as the UK) What do you think @gmbntech? Is it going to be a good one for me? Or will I want something else instead?
man, I wouldn't believe if I did not see - the difference in tyres (that actually, for not advanced rider look so much the same) - that is so IMPORTANT not only for fun but also for SAFETY! Thank you for showing this differences live.
Lol, I used to work for Continental. I know too much, I can't use their tires. When things get that slippery, icy and snowy it's time for me put put the double suspension trail bike away, and break out the fat bike. On that kind of riding they give more then they take.
x doubt in theory wider tires are worse for muddy conditions because they wont dig in as much as a narrower one and instead float on top of the mud. Making them less predictable.
“Digging in” may in some situations improve steering response, but for everything else it's counterproductive. It slows you down when you want to roll fast, but doesn't really help with braking when you want to go slow, and it's completely disastrous for traction when you need to climb. A wider rear tyre is _much_ better for muddy conditions; on the front it's more a matter of taste.
The exception is when there's only a thin layer of mud and the narrow tyre can cut all the way to hard ground beneath, but that is nothing you can rely on in general. Normally, below the soft mud there's just another layer of slightly firmer mud, or slippery rock on which you don't get traction either, or roots that throw you off track.
You have no idea. Fat tires in mud like this doesnt work at all. You need spiky tire. Look at world cup riders. They never ever use fat tires. Maybe on very slippy rocky trail fat tires would have advantage but that is rare.
yesterday i ordered cross king shieldwall 29x2.2 for commuting in city. i hope they are decent on wet asphalt and concrete, maybe some thin layer of mud. this year already rained alot (in Romania).
What's the best rear option if I'm running an Ikon 2.35 in the front. I've currently paired it with a Crossmark 2.25 at the rear. I actually need a new tyre combo for my Cannondale Rush 29. Mostly ride dry, loose over hard trails. Thanks.
@GMBN Tech, I'm wondering why you're calling the Mountain Kings "cross country tires." Continental markets these as "trail tires" not very suited for hardpack, and they recommend the Cross Kings and Race Kings as "XC tires".
Not same conditions when testing the mud tire. The conditions on testing the xc tire is evidently more wet than testing the mud tire. Also the xc tire looks more like a trail tire too lol.
