Maxxis Minion's - bewildered by choice

Jawa

Hi all, I'd appreciate a bit of guidance please. I'm looking to buy some Maxxis Minion's but having looked at the different options available I've been left totally confused. If I explain what I want to use them for I'm hoping you'll be able to tell me which version to go for. It'll be mainly trail riding at Cannock Chase in all conditions plus a little road use going to work and back. I want to have confidence in the tyres in the dry, mud and wet if that's possible and don't mind sacrificing a bit of speed for it.

I'm thinking I possibly need the Super Tackies, but I've no idea whether I need the Single Ply, Dual Ply, UST, 3C or even what they mean! Or whether I need 2.35 or 2.5 width! Help....

Dave_P1

There not an ideal tyre for any road work and the super tackies will make for a slow rolling tyre.
Perhaps try a 2.35 using a harder compound like the 60a

Clank

I run the Dhf and Dhr in 2.35 and 60a compound. They work quite well at Cannock in this weather. For drier times I'll go back to the Nobby Nics. The minions aren't comfortable on tarmac, but they do grip ok.

Softer compounds will drag badly. Great for the 'gravity assisted' crowd but a real PITA for anything else. And a spectacular wear rate!

jay12

single ply and dual ply are quite obvious, the dual ply is thicker and stronger and less prone to punctures but also heavier

super tacky, maxxpro and 3C are the compounds. maxxpro being the hardest and 3C being the softest meaning 3C tyres will grip better but also wear down really fast. they are generally used for races only

UST is the tubless version

anyway, minions are downhill tyres so for trai land road use they are no good as they will be draggy and wear down very fast. i would suggest something like the maxxis advantage instead for what you plan to use. but it might be an idea to run a maxxpro minion on the front on your bike in wet and muddy conditions

Mark909

Do you suffer from ripped side walls very often? If you dont know what i mean just go for single ply. UST is tubeless. 3C are top end tyres.

If you're just riding trails centres try single ply maxxis minion on front and highroller on back. 60a should do on both but go 42a in front if you're riding on trails with slippery roots and rocks

Jawa

Thanks for the advice everyone, the road use is very minimal to be honest. It's a 5min ride to work and I only do it maybe 2 times a week, and for the sake of saving the tyres I'll gladly walk! Other than that it's mainly Cannock Chase and I'm hoping to make a few trips to Afan Valley in the summer as I have relatives there.

No, I've not had a side wall tear, only been riding since last summer and still got the tyres that came with my bike, Geax Barracuda's (see my sig). However, I've had a few hairy moments on wet rocks and roots at Cannock and seem to be constantly fighting for grip in the wet. Also had a nasty crash on the road to work where I lost the front wheel in the wet and ended up on my back in the middle of the road, hence why I'm happy to walk now!

So yeah I don't mind if they slow me down a little, I'm looking for lots of grip to get my confidence up. I do want them to last though as they're not cheap so would probably want the dual ply, or is that overkill for what I'm doing?

jay12

Jawa wrote:

Thanks for the advice everyone, the road use is very minimal to be honest. It's a 5min ride to work and I only do it maybe 2 times a week, and for the sake of saving the tyres I'll gladly walk! Other than that it's mainly Cannock Chase and I'm hoping to make a few trips to Afan Valley in the summer as I have relatives there.

No, I've not had a side wall tear, only been riding since last summer and still got the tyres that came with my bike, Geax Barracuda's (see my sig). However, I've had a few hairy moments on wet rocks and roots at Cannock and seem to be constantly fighting for grip in the wet. Also had a nasty crash on the road to work where I lost the front wheel in the wet and ended up on my back in the middle of the road, hence why I'm happy to walk now!

So yeah I don't mind if they slow me down a little, I'm looking for lots of grip to get my confidence up. I do want them to last though as they're not cheap so would probably want the dual ply, or is that overkill for what I'm doing?

you won't need dual ply unless your riding full on dh tracks. single ply and maxxpro(60a) should be good for what you want to do

Jawa

Ok thanks, another noob question, what are the Folding versions?!

jay12

Jawa wrote:

Ok thanks, another noob question, what are the Folding versions?!

just means that they don't have a wire bead which means they are lighter

delcol

i run a dhf and dhr but you can run the dhf on both front and back..

i have single ply super tacky 42a on my hardtail they a great tyre real good all rounder i not had any issues with traction with these tyres on..

they not the fastest rolling tyre they do drag a bit...

tom_howard

jay12 wrote:

super tacky, maxxpro and 3C are the compounds. maxxpro being the hardest and 3C being the softest meaning 3C tyres will grip better but also wear down really fast. they are generally used for races only

IIRC Isnt it Maxxpro is the hardest (60a) then super tacky (42a) then slow reezay (40a) being the softest. Then the 3C is a triple compound tyre, hard down the centre for fast rollin', getting gradually softer toward the edge of the tyre for better grip on corners, giving the best of both (and justifying is £50+ per end price!)

But I might be wrong?

ilovedirt

jawa - dual ply has nothing to do with the rate at which the tyre wears out. Dual ply basically means that the tyre has two layers of casing, as opposed to one. This is really only for gravity (downhill/freeride and maybe all mountain) riding, as what it means is, you can run the tyre at a lower pressure for grip, but it provides more support so that you don't get loads of pinch flats all the time.

Jay12 is wrong when he says they're downhill only tyres. They were developed for downhill, however so were disc brakes and pretty much any other mtb innovation from the last 15-20 years. Minions are great for XC if you get the right one. I would suggest getting the single ply maxxpro compound (60a i think) minions, as you don't really need the supertacky compound or dual ply casing. As for the size, the 2.35 comes up fairly skinny, so maybe go for the 2.5. The DHR (rear) isn't really that great either, it doesn't roll much better and it has less side-tread. Get two minion fronts and you'll be dandy.

Tom Howard wrote:

jay12 wrote:

super tacky, maxxpro and 3C are the compounds. maxxpro being the hardest and 3C being the softest meaning 3C tyres will grip better but also wear down really fast. they are generally used for races only

IIRC Isnt it Maxxpro is the hardest (60a) then super tacky (42a) then slow reezay (40a) being the softest. Then the 3C is a triple compound tyre, hard down the centre for fast rollin', getting gradually softer toward the edge of the tyre for better grip on corners, giving the best of both (and justifying is £50+ per end price!)

But I might be wrong?

Pretty sure you're spot on there, and they don't sell 40a over here anyway.

bjj.andy.w

If your worried about ripping a sidewall but don't want to go down the 2ply route they also do an exo version which has remforced side walls:
http://www.easylaces.co.uk/Tyres/Maxxis ... spx?ID=396

Jawa

ilovedirt wrote:

jawa - dual ply has nothing to do with the rate at which the tyre wears out. Dual ply basically means that the tyre has two layers of casing, as opposed to one. This is really only for gravity (downhill/freeride and maybe all mountain) riding, as what it means is, you can run the tyre at a lower pressure for grip, but it provides more support so that you don't get loads of pinch flats all the time.

Jay12 is wrong when he says they're downhill only tyres. They were developed for downhill, however so were disc brakes and pretty much any other mtb innovation from the last 15-20 years. Minions are great for XC if you get the right one. I would suggest getting the single ply maxxpro compound (60a i think) minions, as you don't really need the supertacky compound or dual ply casing. As for the size, the 2.35 comes up fairly skinny, so maybe go for the 2.5. The DHR (rear) isn't really that great either, it doesn't roll much better and it has less side-tread. Get two minion fronts and you'll be dandy.

Thank you, that's really helpful. Is it always best to get the same width front and back, or could I get a 2.5 for the front and a 2.35 for the rear to reduce rolling resistance? Or is that crazy talk?

angry_bird

Jawa wrote:

ilovedirt wrote:

jawa - dual ply has nothing to do with the rate at which the tyre wears out. Dual ply basically means that the tyre has two layers of casing, as opposed to one. This is really only for gravity (downhill/freeride and maybe all mountain) riding, as what it means is, you can run the tyre at a lower pressure for grip, but it provides more support so that you don't get loads of pinch flats all the time.

Jay12 is wrong when he says they're downhill only tyres. They were developed for downhill, however so were disc brakes and pretty much any other mtb innovation from the last 15-20 years. Minions are great for XC if you get the right one. I would suggest getting the single ply maxxpro compound (60a i think) minions, as you don't really need the supertacky compound or dual ply casing. As for the size, the 2.35 comes up fairly skinny, so maybe go for the 2.5. The DHR (rear) isn't really that great either, it doesn't roll much better and it has less side-tread. Get two minion fronts and you'll be dandy.

Thank you, that's really helpful. Is it always best to get the same width front and back, or could I get a 2.5 for the front and a 2.35 for the rear to reduce rolling resistance? Or is that crazy talk?

No that's not crazy talk at all.

dockersDH

i run 2.5 DHF and DHR minions in their supertacky form and after a week of (very hard) DH in Les Gets the rear was shot. i would recommend getting 2.35 DHF on the front and rear as that will offer more grip in the corners (the DHR allows the rear to drift a little bit). as for the compound get the 60a maxxpro, yes suppertacky tires offer noticeable increase in grip but at a staggering wear rate. the folding tyres will make it easier to fit but on that point it is a case of 6 of one half dozen of the other.

The Northern Monkey

I run minion ST on the front and maxxpro on the rear.

I do find the 2.5 a bit too big though, even for DH... Its very wide and I have to ride to my own limit to get to the edges of such a fat tyre!
I've always previously used a 2.35 (which comes up a similar size to other 2.5 tyres as they're large anyway!) an they're spot on.. very easy to change direction on and much easier to get on the edge of!

Jawa

Ok I think I've made a decision. I'm going to go for the Minion DHF on the front and rear, in the 60a Maxxpro compound, singly ply, 2.35 width for both, and see how I get on. I can always swap the front for a 2.5 if I feel I need to and keep the old one as a spare for the rear.

That works out at £24.99 each from CRC which is nicely in budget. Thanks for your help everyone, very much appreciated.

ilovedirt

Sounds fair, in muddy conditions it can be best to go for a skinny front tyre, so it digs in more, however for the majority of riding conditions, i'd go for fatter (or grippier) front tyre, and skinnier faster rolling tyre for the rear.
(fyi, i use 2.25 advantage in maxxpro compound front and rear for the majority of my XC riding)

ben - you must use really skinny tyres! My 2.25 advantages come up about the same size as my 2.5 minions!

jay12

well, for xc i found a suitable xc tyre like advantage, crossmark, nobby nic a much better option. although minions are very grippy i would rather get something with less rolling resistance, but thats just my opinion.

but they are mainly a dh tyre, there's a reason why it says "minion dhf"

and i delibratly missed out the slow reezy as you can't get them here. no point saying what it is if you can't even have it.ahha

ilovedirt

Well not really, I wouldn't say the single ply minions are at all suitable for downhill, more suitable for trail riding in wet conditions. Like I said, they were developed for downhill, and they make versions that are suitable for XC/AM now, like pretty much most tyres available.

Anonymous

Whilst they were designed for downhill races Minion DHF are fine on trails. That's why they sell them with single ply which aren't ideal for DH, because they've become popular on the trails. Though if you're going to run dry dusty smooth packed kind of trails all the time there's less benefit to them. Main thing is they cut through everything I find.

I ride stuff that's a mix all year round of loose, dusty, sandy, gravelly, muddy, smooth, rocks, leaves, snow. Minions are great for all this. Especially as my riding is not about climbing up hills. I climb them sure to get to the top, but I'm not looking for anything that gives awesome climbing performance. Down is where it's at.

Minions on tarmac - yuck. If it's a short hop between car and trail, trail and trail, etc. Fine. If road is a key part of the ride, forget it. Look for something else.

My mix though for any kind of trail use is Minion DHF on front and High Roller on the back (2.35s). I just go with 60a folding single ply stuff. Easy to fit (easy to get in the post too) and copes fine with most stuff running at 30psi with tubes.

Other stuff, wired, super tacky, kevlar, etc. Never quite sure on all the options but if you were to do more serious stuff with a DH leaning then maybe look at these. Super Tacky especially for rooty/rocky DH runs for grip I think, but don't expect them to roll well on trails. Wired - erm, used to run wired before folding was cool but not sure what benefit it really gives me. They're more of a pain to fit and heavier. For DH stuff I assume they're more of an option being thicker walled, sturdy and maybe they'd be better as tubeless, don't know.