Maxxis Ardent Tyres ... good or not?

kevinharley

Hi all,

I've recently bought the On One 45650b Hardtail, which comes fitted with Maxxis Ardent tyres, in this flavour:

Maxxis Ardent 60A EXO Wired Tyre / 27.5 Inch / Black / 2.4 Inch (front), and the same (but in 2.25 width) for the rear).

First impressions are that the tyres are pretty good ... although I intend to do more riding to test them out properly! They seem to size up pretty well; certainly the 2.25 on the rear looks a little more voluminous than the 2.25 NN I've got on the other bike.

But I just wondered how people rate them, particularly the spec outlined above.

I've not had Maxxis tyres before (I've Nobby Nic Snakeskin / Evo folding trailstar on my other bike - which have been good except in mud!, and Panaracer's before that)

I presume the wired bead means it is a cheaper and heavier version, and I also understand that the 'EXO' implies some sort of puncture protection? Does the 60A refer to the tyre's compound ... and is this any good? Presumably its a single compoud, but would I be better with a dual and / or softer compound, especially on the front?

My riding is mostly a mix of singletrack / woodland / roots / some stony sections, and a fair bit of mud at this time of year, with occasional forrays to trail centres, and natural stuff in the Lakes, Wales and southern Scotland.

I'm not looking to change the tyre particularly, and I'm not after advice about "what tyre should I go for", but more looking for some reassurance (or otherwise) that these are a decent tyre, and that I'm not going to come a cropper on the first rocky / slabby / techy / wet-rooty descent I do in the Lakes or Wales.

Thanks

lostboysaint

Ardent are good and fast. Not great in mud but for your usual st/woodland/rooty/stoney they'd be fine.

kevinharley

Cheers LBS ...

I'd found them to roll pretty well too (better than my NN's), but also pretty reasonable in the mud (again, better than my NN's!)

Are they going to be up to the job on the Wales/Lakes trail centres (eg CyB),or something like Snowdon, which is a forthcoming trip at the end of next month?

lostboysaint

They're perfect for CYB.

.blitz

Quite like the 60a folder as a back tyre works great with a Minion on the front

jimothy78

.blitz wrote:

Quite like the 60a folder as a back tyre

Ditto here - got one as a freebie with a secondhand wheelset (it was on the front, with a Crossmark on the back), swapped it onto the rear (mostly running it behind an Intense System 5 on the front) and I have been pleasantly surprised with it - Fast rolling on harder surfaces, and has coped better than expected with the muddy conditions we've had recently. Large volume, but the sidewalls are pretty thin, so watch out for pinch flats if you run 'em at low pressures.

When things dry out a bit I may try it on the front, using either an ADvantage or the Crossmark on the rear, but we're a long way from that yet.

warpcow

.blitz wrote:

Quite like the 60a folder as a back tyre

+2. Better than I remembered after a winter running High Rollers.

dempsey1

Luv em, use on all my bikes all year round, set up-tubeless and normal at different times. Grip well and roll fast too

dusk

I have the same combo on my BFe, and I always wondered why people say the Ardent is fast rolling, turns out it's because it isn't in 2.4 width but is in 2.25

kevinharley

Thanks for the replies people ...

2 specific questions tho ...

1. Is the EXO some kind of puncture protection (and if so, how good? I'm thinking not very, as I got a thorn puncture in only my second outing!)

2. Does the 60A refer to compound? How does that rate in the Maxxis range of compounds? Are there softer compounds?

Thanks

Thewaylander

60A is indeed the compound and is the harder one they do, When i run maxxis 60a on the rear and 40a up front for the tacky goodness.

.blitz

kevinharley wrote:

1. Is the EXO some kind of puncture protection (and if so, how good? I'm thinking not very, as I got a thorn puncture in only my second outing!)

EXO is sidewall protection. Reasonable protection against rock scrapes and that sort of thing but blackthorns are blackthorns and of course it adds some weight

kevinharley wrote:

2. Does the 60A refer to compound? How does that rate in the Maxxis range of compounds? Are there softer compounds?

As above 60a is the compound. IIRC there's a harder 70a Ardent which is fast but kind of sketchy/smeary/pingy on anything other than hardpack. Not sure if there's a softer compound Ardent but a 40a Minion on the rear feels like riding through glue

kevinharley

Hmm ... had thought that maybe the 60a compound was not the lovely tacky stuff. Overall, it seems OK, but was a bit pingy on some off-camber roots on my way home yesterday ... but I might need to just play around with the pressures a bit more before I fork out on a more tacky tyre.

Haven't been able to find the 27.5 Ardent in a 40a flavour, although Wiggle do a dual compound (so suspect this is 60a for the centre / 40a for the shoulders?), but its £43!!! :shock:

fizik

60a isnt a bad compound, I have an exxo advantage in 60a up front and a dual compound ardent lust out back, and the 60a seems pretty good even on wet roots and rocks, so dont worry too much and just enjoy the ride! I am tubeless, but generally 20 psi in the front and 25 in the rear

fizik

kevinharley wrote:

Hmm ... had thought that maybe the 60a compound was not the lovely tacky stuff. Overall, it seems OK, but was a bit pingy on some off-camber roots on my way home yesterday ... but I might need to just play around with the pressures a bit more before I fork out on a more tacky tyre.

Haven't been able to find the 27.5 Ardent in a 40a flavour, although Wiggle do a dual compound (so suspect this is 60a for the centre / 40a for the shoulders?), but its £43!!! :shock:

Not many tyres will feel great on wet off camber roots btw, not even super tackys

peter413

Ardent's used to be available in the 42a Super Tacky compound but haven't been for a while now since Maxxis dropped the dual ply versions. The dual compound is probably the LUST version which is a 70a centre tread and 62a side knobs IIRC.

They are quite good tyres but don't suit everyone, they are one of those tyres that needs to be ridden aggressively or they just aren't very good.