Help me pick a new front tyre?

sanchez89

Hi everyone, i no what your thinking, yet another tyre thread.

i have trawelled this forum and the rest of the internetz and still i get conflicting views.

Im after a new set of rubber for my nice Stans Crest rims. Will be purchased in the early months of next year.

Iv decided on a 2.25 ADvantage 60a folding for the rear, lots of good reviews and comments from users saying its quick yet still grippy.

But its the front im undecided about. Iv narrowed it down to a few choices;

1. a 2.25 ADvantage
2. a 2.35 High Roller Single Ply
3. a 2.35 Minion Front Single Ply

all tyres in folding 60a compound.

Bearing in mind this is mainly XC bike but will be venturing in the Peaks, Lakes, hopefully Scotland, Wales etc. for my definition of 'all mountain' riding. I understand that you should ideally go for grippy front with quicker rolling rear. The previous combo i had followed that flavour and it worked well.

i keep getting drawn to the High Rollers, but have read many many things about the dead zone between centre and shoulder treads and dont fancy ending up on my faces when cornering hard. The Minion whilst apparently very grippy, is it a bit OTT, its quite heavy compared to the others?

the ADvantage iv read is a great all rounder, but some say its no good as a front.

any advice you wonderful group of people could give would be appreciated. personal experiences of this dead zone on the High Rollers or anyone running the choices i have mentioned would be great, i.e HR front ADv rear.

Thanks in advance

widge34

High roller. Used them back and front all summer. Love them, can't wait to get them back on the bike.

bellys

I like ADvantage on the front found it to draggy on rear. I use it all year round on front high roller very good. Have you looked at kenda nevergal for the front ? Very good tyre.

widge34

Had nevegals on my bike as stock tyre when purchased. Hated them. Too skity on fast singletrack.

sanchez89

bellys wrote:

I like ADvantage on the front found it to draggy on rear. I use it all year round on front high roller very good. Have you looked at kenda nevergal for the front ? Very good tyre.

my mate has nevegals on his Giant, decent grip, but very slow rolling. They are the DTC compound.

sanchez89

widge34 wrote:

High roller. Used them back and front all summer. Love them, can't wait to get them back on the bike.

how do you find the High Rollers then matey? do they roll slowly like iv read, and whats that dead zone in the tread actually like?

jonnyashworth

I have used all three of the tyers in your shortlist and would say that a minion dhf 2.35 60a kevlar bead will work best as a front tyer however I am looking at swapping mine out for a 2.4/2.2 continental rubber queen supersonic ust but cant say how this will be as i havent used it yet

widge34

sanchez89 wrote:

widge34 wrote:

High roller. Used them back and front all summer. Love them, can't wait to get them back on the bike.

how do you find the High Rollers then matey? do they roll slowly like iv read, and whats that dead zone in the tread actually like?

I don't find they roll slow. As for the dead zone you mention, can't say I've noticed.

sanchez89

widge34 wrote:

sanchez89 wrote:

widge34 wrote:

High roller. Used them back and front all summer. Love them, can't wait to get them back on the bike.

how do you find the High Rollers then matey? do they roll slowly like iv read, and whats that dead zone in the tread actually like?

I don't find they roll slow. As for the dead zone you mention, can't say I've noticed.

hmmmm, tempting. can i ask if you've used any of the other tyres in my list.

the thing with slow rolling is my fav tyres are Kenda Small Block 8's and they absolutley belt along, so any sort of knobbly feels slow rolling. but if i get immense traction up and down i may consider them. just dont want it to feel like im pulling someone else up the hills aswell!

so you would recommend i use them all round, or just on the front with the ADvantage out back?

widge34

I haven't used any of the others on your list, but when I was initially looking for a tyre to replace my nevegals it was a toss up between the high rollers and the minions. I would still like to try the minions to see what they are like. I went for the high rollers because of the great reviews and the fact that a lot of the Dirt Mag boys ride with them when we go out.

sanchez89

widge34 wrote:

I haven't used any of the others on your list, but when I was initially looking for a tyre to replace my nevegals it was a toss up between the high rollers and the minions. I would still like to try the minions to see what they are like. I went for the high rollers because of the great reviews and the fact that a lot of the Dirt Mag boys ride with them when we go out.

ok thanks for your help

sanchez89

so minions are out of the question as bit to OTT i thinks.

so choice is either;
1. HR front, ADv rear
2. ADv front and rear
3. HR front and rear

What people reaconing to that?

High rollers all round should give immense traction on any surface i reacon, but will i be slightly quicker with and ADvantage on the rear?

might order a High roller to experiment with.

but would still like to hear other peoples thoughts and experiences.

kenan

I found the minion rolls and grips better that the high roller. However Maxxis has just released the high roller 2 which is getting good reviews.

jonnyashworth wrote:

I have used all three of the tyers in your shortlist and would say that a minion dhf 2.35 60a kevlar bead will work best as a front tyer however I am looking at swapping mine out for a 2.4/2.2 continental rubber queen supersonic ust but cant say how this will be as i havent used it yet

I run the rubber queen black chilli in a 2.2 (bigger than a minion 2.35) on the front of my HT and have never run out of grip and rolls very well.

davewalsh

I wouldn't write off the Minion as OTT, it's 10g heavier than the HR and 60g lighter than the Advantage. It also rolls really well on the centre knobs and gives tremendous grip when leaned over in the corners. I run one on the front all year round with a 2.25 Ardent on the back from March to October (they're shyte in mud) and a 2.1 Advantage during the winter.
Also, bear in mind that the advantage uses a different carcass to the HR / Minion and the 2.25 Advantage is actually bigger than a 2.35 HR / Minion.

kenan

davewalsh wrote:

Also, bear in mind that the advantage uses a different carcass to the HR / Minion and the 2.25 Advantage is actually bigger than a 2.35 HR / Minion.

I can see this on Inbred1, is the carcass of the advantage enought to take the sting out the rear end?

sanchez89

davewalsh wrote:

I wouldn't write off the Minion as OTT, it's 10g heavier than the HR and 60g lighter than the Advantage. It also rolls really well on the centre knobs and gives tremendous grip when leaned over in the corners. I run one on the front all year round with a 2.25 Ardent on the back from March to October (they're shyte in mud) and a 2.1 Advantage during the winter.
Also, bear in mind that the advantage uses a different carcass to the HR / Minion and the 2.25 Advantage is actually bigger than a 2.35 HR / Minion.

hmmm, looking at the Inbred1 pic in your sig. i can see what you mean. i think the fact your front rim being white makes it look a bit worse but there is defo a slight difference.

from the weights iv looked at on JustRidingAlong, the Advantage is the lightest. But looking at nextdaytyres what you say is correct, they've got the adv at 760g? JRA have it at 670?

Its hard to decide. im starting to consider something other than an Advantage on the rear. i really like things to match, and if there going to be massive volume rear and a piddly front is going to look well saft.

Dirtydog11

sanchez89 wrote:

so minions are out of the question as bit to OTT i thinks.

OTT?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... n-11-37730

Have a look at the user reviews on Chain Reaction Cycles.

davewalsh

kenan wrote:

is the carcass of the advantage enought to take the sting out the rear end?

I find the 2.1 advantage is a good compromise between volume and traction in mud. It isn't as comfy as the Ardent but still bearable on long rides with lots of rocky sections.

sanchez89 wrote:

hmmm, looking at the Inbred1 pic in your sig. i can see what you mean. i think the fact your front rim being white makes it look a bit worse but there is defo a slight difference.

Yes, the Ardent is slightly bigger and it has the same carcass size as the Advantage.

sanchez89 wrote:

from the weights iv looked at on JustRidingAlong, the Advantage is the lightest. But looking at nextdaytyres what you say is correct, they've got the adv at 760g? JRA have it at 670?

Maxxis' own site has it at 700g, same as the Minion (I got my weights from nextday tyres).

sanchez89 wrote:

Its hard to decide. im starting to consider something other than an Advantage on the rear. i really like things to match, and if there going to be massive volume rear and a piddly front is going to look well saft.

If I had to run the same front and back, it would be Minions