Thoughts and suggestions of front/rear tyre combinations?

foxinthebox23

Its time to buy new tyres and I'm trying to decide on a combination. I do cross country/all mountain and trying to keep the price sub £20 per tyre. So far I've looked at the following, any comments/recommendations welcome..

Front:
Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.35"
Michelin Wild Rock'R 2.25" / 2.4"
Schwalbe Hans Dampf 2.35"

Back:
Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25"
Continental X-king 2.2"
Continental race king 2.2"

buddy_club

First of all, i would look to be spending a bit more, the base rubber compound on the cheap tyres isnt often brilliant. For the record i run a Conti Rubber queen BlackChilli 2.4 front with a X-King 2.4 on the rear.

JBA

Front - Specialized Purgatory 2.3
Rear - Specialized Ground Control 2.1 or 2.3
Both in Grid flavour if you can get them.

It's a great combination (IMO) and the tyres are on offer HERE and HERE.

The Rookie

If you buy a cheap tyre you get cheap performance. Doesn't matter how good the bike is all the grip comes from those two small contact patches.

For example the Schwalbe Performance line tyres (dual compound) which you'll get for sub £20 are not a patch on the triple compound Evo (other names depending on model/derivative) tyres (they can just creep to about £20 with some luck).

I've never found Michelin that great on wet root/rocks, OK in mud and tend to be fast rolling.

I use Nic's both ends in winter and a Ron/Ralph combo in summer and have a Gatestar (super sticky) Nic for the front when it's for more aggressive riding, it does chew up in the dry though.

fat daddy

The Rookie ... what size wheels you got ?

I absolutely love the Racing Ralphs on 700c and need rubber for the MTB, but that's a 26"er and reviews are not favourable in the RRs on a 26" ?

The Rookie

26" The compound and tread is basically the same for 29er, 700c (CX), 650B and 26".

I'm always careful how much weight I give reviews, Ralphs are a good tyre but not in mud (they aren't designed to be), so if its a 1* review saying its rubbish in mud, I ignore the buffoon writing it!

Danieljephcott

Got to say Schwalbe Hans Dampf Evo on the front with a Racing Ralph Evo at the rear has been blumin awesome.

also both are on offer at chain reaction and as they both total about £65 on chain reaction. spend another £10 on clearance items and get £10 off.

bluemoon81

I liking the minion dhf and minion ss combo

LimitedGarry

Really depends on what you ride and how.

For me, Maxxis Ardent and Ikon combo works very well. Both can survive the horrendous amount of tarmac I have to ride on in order to get to my favourite trails and both behave respectably almost everywhere save for full on mud. They're very versatile and that's what I need from them. OEM Ikon lasted me way over 2000km on the rear and I'm a heavy guy.

If anything, put a bit more money into your front tire. It lasts longer than the rear and it's the one that absolutely needs to bite. If you want to save money, get a cheaper version of some good tread for the rear. You can get away with that in most situations.

Things get difficult with some brands though. Continental, for example, makes their performance rubber in China and India, while the Protection series are made in Germany. They're not different just in performance, but also quality control. People are getting tires with beads that never seat properly, treads that are off a bit, defects in the structure of the tire apparent after a few miles... It's like a cheap Chinese knock-off blessed by the original manufacturer and sold as the real deal. Probably not all of them, but there's been plenty of negative feedback to warrant caution.

mattyfez

fat daddy wrote:

The Rookie ... what size wheels you got ?

I absolutely love the Racing Ralphs on 700c and need rubber for the MTB, but that's a 26"er and reviews are not favourable in the RRs on a 26" ?

I like a ron on the front and a ralph on the back.

I find the ralph a little bit too sketchy for a front tyre.

Evo version though, not performance.

rockmonkeysc

I've been using Specialized Purgatory & Butcher (grid 2bliss) combination for a few years now. They're excellent value compared to Schwalbe & Maxxis and great year round tyres. Wear is also very good on them. I've found Schwalbe tyres to wear extremely quickly and some of tread blocks tear off long before they've worn.

swod1

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I've been using Specialized Purgatory & Butcher (grid 2bliss) combination for a few years now. They're excellent value compared to Schwalbe & Maxxis and great year round tyres. Wear is also very good on them. I've found Schwalbe tyres to wear extremely quickly and some of tread blocks tear off long before they've worn.

Not found that to be the case on some evo compound schwalbe nobby nics I've used in the past. however I do not like continental tyres too tight bead to get on my mavic rims and have had two black chilli compound tyres split from the tyre bead this was on the rear never happened to my front tyre.

Specialized tyres I do like must get some more ground controls to pair up with a butcher or purgatory for my mega tr. Maxxis high rollers that people go on about, a 2.3 size I was looking at yesterday in a bike shop was massive and more like a full on downhill tyre.

Crazyjenkins01

I'm using Ardent rear and High Roller II front, both tubeless and had no complaints yet!

LimitedGarry

Just put Maxxis Ardent on the rear and have to say that it is an awesome rear tire. Compared to the Ikon, the Ardent accelerates ever so slightly slower, most probably due to the higher weight, but gets to pretty much the same speeds. On off-road and technical climbs, it so so much better than the Ikon. Now I'm just stuck in the terror of having Maxxis Ikon as my front tire, so can't afford the same speeds on some descents.
With the 2,25 Ardent on the rear, will be putting 2,4 ardent on the front. Should arrive this Thursday hopefully. Now I'd normally advocate having considerably more aggressive front that the rear, but I didn't want to get into the High Roller territory and nothing else really speaks to me. So just a wider Ardent at a lower pressure.

Danieljephcott

LimitedGarry wrote:

Just put Maxxis Ardent on the rear and have to say that it is an awesome rear tire. Compared to the Ikon, the Ardent accelerates ever so slightly slower, most probably due to the higher weight, but gets to pretty much the same speeds. On off-road and technical climbs, it so so much better than the Ikon. Now I'm just stuck in the terror of having Maxxis Ikon as my front tire, so can't afford the same speeds on some descents.
With the 2,25 Ardent on the rear, will be putting 2,4 ardent on the front. Should arrive this Thursday hopefully. Now I'd normally advocate having considerably more aggressive front that the rear, but I didn't want to get into the High Roller territory and nothing else really speaks to me. So just a wider Ardent at a lower pressure.

I love the Ardents but you should have took the leap for the high roller on the front. the combination of the ardent rear and high roller front is excellent.