Narrower tyres...

The Northern Monkey

Currently have big 2.5 minions on the Canyon, but I'm not sure about them I almost feel as though the rolling section is too wide and it takes an age to get onto the corners.

Is 2.35 too 'narrow' for DH? Talking maxxis here so their tyre's come up fairly wide anyway.. What differences will it make?

I've always used the 2.35 for everything, but never DH so i'm in 2 minds.

I was thinking about taking advantage of the CRC tyre sale and picking up a 2.35 single ply DH supertacky for the front and maxpro for the rear.

Looking at around a 300g each end drop in weight, which is pretty huge for £40 (I have a £10 off voucher).

Northwind

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Talking maxxis here so their tyre's come up fairly wide anyway

Eh... Point a ruler at your Minions, the older Maxxi all come up small. The 2.35 is (on a wide rim) about 2.15 across, the 2.5's closer to 2.35 than the 2.35 is.

But nah, no minimum size or anything. I personally found the 2.35 Minions seriously lacking for dh but other folks extract more grip from them and get on fine.

delcol

i been running maxxis ardent 2.25 on my then heckler now butcher for 2 years now,, both frames have been used in whistler bikepark and gnarly xc trails.. i never had any issues with them,,

The Northern Monkey

Hmm, as I was typing that I was trying to remember what I was comparing too but couldn't remember.. probably bs!

How did you find them lacking? Grip wise or just how they felt in comparison to the the larger tyre?

I just feel that the wider tyre is really slow and lazy.. and heavy and draggy. So I was wondering if it was more of an 'image' thing rather than a practical one..

The Northern Monkey

delcol wrote:

i been running maxxis ardent 2.25 on my then heckler now butcher for 2 years now,, both frames have been used in whistler bikepark and gnarly xc trails.. i never had any issues with them,,

Cheers fella...

I guess I should look at it in 2 ways too... The Canyon isn't a dedicated DH bike, its a rather aggressive AM/Enduro bike tbh!

delcol

kinda like my butcher,, i would defo stick 2.25 ardents on it again,,

i run minions on the hardtail 2.35 i find they are a slower tyre compaired to the 2.25 ardent.. but the minions are supertacky and the ardent are'nt....

Northwind

The Northern Monkey wrote:

How did you find them lacking? Grip wise or just how they felt in comparison to the the larger tyre?

Outright traction mainly, but also the smaller volume takes away some of the bump absorption/tracking, I found they got kicked around a lot more at speed. The 2.5s are a fair bit draggier though, no denying that. I think it's a matter of taste and approach but I just found them troublesome.

Ardents are mint btw (and the 2.25 is bigger than a 2.35 Minion ) Personally, I switched to the SX carcass 2.3 Clutch from Specialized- it's like a better, lighter, faster Highroller. Not quite as tough, but tough enough for me. But I think you'll probably find those give you the same basic issues.

1mancity2

I use 2.35 Minion/ High roller and the grip is fine, I do everthing on the same bike, done gisburn DH not much of a comparison but never find grip lacking, go for a High roller2 on the rear.

.blitz

2.35 Minion is a weird tyre - a strange combination of scaled-down DHF tread on a feeble XC carcass. Have used it f & r on two bikes and it's just 'meh'. Specwise it should make a great semi-aggro tyre for people who don't want the lard of the 2.5 but for me at least, it has all the disadvantages of a DH tyre but none of the advantages.

HRs/Ardents feel much better they do pretty much what they say on the tin.