Minon DHF Front and rear question

lemonenema

Im currently using a Minion on the front and aggressor at the back, which is pretty good all round, but the aggressor isnt as good when it gets wet dirty and cold, I find it lacking in climbing traction on tech stuff. Would a DHF be better on there? I did run a DHRII for a while on the rear and although it climbed well I found it too draggy for general riding

steve_sordy

The Aggressor is a very good all round rear tyre. In fact, it was voted best all-round rear tyre in a poll I read (see end). You can always find a tyre that is better in the wet and dirt than an all-round tyre, and there are lots to choose from. But a superb mud tyre that delights you when the conditions are dire can be pretty awful when conditions are better. The longer knobs can squirm badly on rocks and hardpack for example.
Maybe all you need is a different all-round rear tyre. That same survey I referred to earlier put the WTB Trail Boss in second place by one point. But I dived into the detail and the Trail Boss did one point better on grip than the Aggressor but 2 points worse on tyre fitting. (All scores out of 10 and we are talking 9 vs 7, so the TB was still very good). All other scores were identical. In my book the Trail Boss wins!

I have the Trail Boss on my emtb and I replaced the Aggressor that was on it before because the Aggressor was not getting me up the steep soft climbs. The Trail Boss does that easily, so I'm happy.

But when I was on an mtb, I used to put mud tyres on at the start of the mud season, but I soon became unhappy with their overall performance. Then I discovered the Continental Trail King 2.2" (you MUST get the "black chilli" version). The TK is that miracle of a tyre that grips really well and yet rolls well too! (but only with the black chilli compound). I ended up using a set of these TK's F&R all year round. The mud season came and went and I left the mud tyres in the garage. I still have two hardly worn 26 x 2.1 Maxxis Medusa tubeless mud tyres, if anyone is interested!

The survey is by Outdoor Gear Labs and it looked at 28 different mtb tyres. There is a mass of data and they also summarise them by "best overall", "best rear", "best front", "best..... etc"
https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/biking/best-mountain-bike-tires?specs=n&n=15&sort_field=#compare

lemonenema

Oi oi, long time no read Mr Sordy, and welcome advice as always.
I looked at the Outdoor gear lab reviews too, quite useful on all manner of stuff fair play to them. The Conti Protection / Black chilli are pretty pricey for me, but Ill bear that in mind, I think Ive got a mountain king racesport somewhere which is BC but weak sidewalls.
Ill have a look at the Trail Boss thanks.
Anybody have any thoughts on Minon minion?

mully79

I like minion dhfs on the rear. The only downside is the blocks don’t clear very well if it’s soft and muddy. The flip side to that is they wear well if you end up on hard pack/roads regularly.

Higher rollers clear nice but wear out faster on hard surfaces. Slightly more draggy than a minion but you’d hardly notice.

dabber

I run DHF on the front and High Roller 2 on the back. Pretty happy with this combination. Most of my riding is loam and roots with not too much gravelly stuff.

steve_sordy

I have ridden with a Maxxis HRII triple compound on the front and an HRII single compound on the rear, both 27.5 x 2.4 and liked it very much. The bike started off with single compound at each end from new but the front end kept drifting when cornering. I just lost confidence in the tyre and felt that I couldn't corner as hard as I wanted to. On the recco of a friend, I switched the front to the 3C and the problem was solved; the bike felt as though I was on rails! I kept the 1C tyre as a spare for the rear.

dabber

I'm running on a 29er 120/120 Kona Hei Hei with a DHF 29 x 2.30 3C Maxx Terra ExO on the front and a High Roller II 29 x 2.30 3C Maxx Terra ExO on the back.