High Roller 2 - real world experience?

They're OK enough, but conditions now are not their forte as they're more a reasonable tread/mid-year tyre than a slop tyre. They were for years many people go-to tyres

I found them great in the dry, horrendous on any wet earth, compacted or sloppy.

They are my grippier tyre over really xc tyres in the summer. I have a feeling I should get something a but grippier up front in the winter. But it does depend where you are riding, as ever trail centres are fine. They do like you to give the big a very deliberate lean in corners

ok as a rear tyre, not on the front for me. like the DHF, they seem to have a bit of 'blind spot' between the centre and side nobs, so tends to break away a little when leaning the bike over before it catches on the side nobs. not great in the slop either.

not lethal, but not confidence inspiring for me

assegai is a better all round choice or MM for the winter

I've still got them on the Five.
I wanted an all rounder and can't be doing with all the faff of changing tyres constantly.
Many of my routes have tarmac sections so also didn't want anything too draggy.
These fitted the bill.  Yes, there are better tyres for certain conditions. But work well enough for me as a less 'modern deay agro' than some.
I've not died using them yet.

I got one on the rear of a recent bike. Good cornering grip in a variety of conditions, pretty good braking as well, but the knobblies have long smooth ramps so pedalling/climbing grip on anything slippy is not great.
I keep a rear wheel with it on for natural trails that retain grip, and trail centres. for that it is great. (MaxTerra DD)

HR2 is fine on the back, but sketchy on the front. That big gap between the center and shoulder tread make them feel too vague when cornering, IMO.

Assegai and Mary are both great front tires, the Assegai being slightly better in the dry, the Mary better in the wet.

Edit: just read SofaBoy73’s response, same opinion.

I’ve used them as back tyres, found them to be fine. They’re a decent all rounder. I wouldn’t be replacing them on spec.

talk of a blind spot when cornering is overblown imho

they clear mud better than dhf or assegai too and while that doesn't make them a winter tyre, theyre good for all year round if youre lazy!

fine in the summer

not so much in anything muddy, wet roots on the front isn't nice IMHO

do not rate it as a rear tyre at all, absolutely horrible, DHR is much nicer IMHO i swear it is way less draggy and probably more grippy.

Ive run a hr2 front ardent rear for trail centre tyres and they work there

also hr2 and minion ss as my summer set, and they too were fine until the conditions above. which ruined a ride, if id have just stuck with the traditional setup dhr dhf etc etc it would have been better lal round

Yeah I've always found them to be OK. If you're just using them as 'general XC circle in the woods' type riding, then they're fine, not too draggy, OK grip wise. Get them in slop or start pushing them a bit (especially on the front) and you'll soon find their limits though. I'd leave them on if they're on a kids bike. 

talk of a blind spot when cornering is overblown imho

they clear mud better than dhf or assegai too

Agree with this, but they still don't have tall enough edge knobs to bite in the wet IMO.

Get Jr to try them out, if he doesn't like it maybe get a Shorty, Hillbilly, Verdict, Mary etc for the wetter months and the HR2 is a perfectly good summer tyre.

2.3 or 2.4? The latter is way more knobbly, not bad as an all conditions tyres but you really have to commit to the lean if you’ve got it on the front.

Thanks for the feedback.   They are 2.3’s, and the bike will be used most in Epping forest which is slop / roots this time of year and hardpack / dust May to Sept, then Swinley or Hadleigh.  

Re kids bike, it’s a Mythique VRX and he’s a 15yo whose pushing Ardent races on his race bike fast enough for me to have my heart in my mouth trying to keep up behind him!

Sounds like it might be worth getting an Assegai in the sales.

Interesting comments about the transition; I’m not a leaner and years ago rode a HR1 on 26 and hated that, but get on well with the 2.4wt DHF on my Occam.  That’s kinda why I asked the question - I’d prefer him to be confident and upright and wasn’t sure of the “2” for general riding.  

High Rollers are a fine tyre. I'd be more than happy to ride them until they're dead then choose something else. If Junior starts hitting jumps and drops he'll want more than an Exo casing.

I ran a pair of HR's on a DH bike for years and loved them. There are better options now but there's nowt wrong with them.

ride them until they’re dead then choose something else

Would be my preference. Not a big fan of the HR2 but they aren’t that bad and tyres are pricey. (As an aside since you mention them the Assegai hasn’t wowed me so far, it may be an unpopular opinion but I think I prefer the DHF)

I run them front and rear for 7-8 months and swap the front for a DHR or Magic Mary for the dark/wet season on the Quantocks on my Xc-ish trail bike

“If Junior starts hitting jumps and drops he’ll want more than an Exo casing.”

Depends where you’re riding - gnarly rocky stuff you might need burlier casings or an insert but otherwise Exo is fine for landings. If you really rip turns then you could certainly need more sidewall support to keep the tyre on the rim.

I’d put something spikier on the front like a DHR2 2.4 or Hillbilly or Magic Mary or Shorty. I wouldn’t use an Assegai anywhere that’s got a lot of clay in the soil, as it’s not the best at clearing. Keep the HR2 off the front to replace the back one once it’s worn out.

I run them as a rear tyre with a Maxxgrip DHF on my hardtail as a sort of slightly more ‘budget’ downhill capable combination. 

As good as Assegai/DHR? Arguably no, but loads of grip and I find them quite predictable. 

A very good rear tyre, but lacking a little for wet and sloppy conditions as a front. 

I wouldn’t use an Assegai anywhere that’s got a lot of clay in the soil

+1

If you find the Assegai is fine at Epping then crack on with it Kryton, but I'd have thought it'd clog pretty easily in the clay

On the above basis it won’t be, hence perhaps why I’m getting on well with the DHF over there.  

Ok he has a couple of rides coming up so let’s see how he gets on first before shelling out.

Re kids bike, it’s a Mythique VRX

He'll have got the same white label 2.3s that came with my Mythique then.
I've never liked either the HR or HR2 on the front, so I stuck a WT DHF on the front of mine. I decided, as tyres are dear, and you can get away with more with rear tyres, to use the HR2s that came with the bike up. So they are seeing out their lives as a rear tyre for my Mythique. It's been fine. Usual worn Highroller vibe, now its wet. The centre nobs are pretty shallow and heavily ramped, so once they wear you can get a bit of fishtail action if you are pushing hard in the wet, but nothing lethal. Lean em over and they are fine.
Can't be that bad, as I bought a DD version to go on the back of the winter hardtail.

Still ride with a HR2 Exo on the back on one of my bikes. They roll well, corner well and are decent all round. 

I'd maybe fit a DHR or DHF on the front if you have the spare cash, there's plenty of deals about at the moment. Keep the HR2 for the rear. 👍

Exo with an insert is fine on my hardtail. 🤞

Try him with them and see how he gets on I reckon. Hopefully the front might be a 3c maxxterra version rather than dual compound.

For a 15 year old at the places you mention I can’t imagine exo casings being a problem really.

If you were to change the Merlin have some bargains at the moment - Wild Enduro front and rear for about £60 I think.

Or Magic Mary front for £22 and maybe stick a 2.3” dhr2 or continental kryptotal rear (trail / endurance) on the back. Assuming neither of you are concerned about matching tyre brands.

The Wild Enduro front is somewhere between a DHF and a Magic Mary for me. Better than the DHF in the wet and does ok on hardpack, not quite as good as the Mary in slop but a bit better on hardpack.

Or Magic Mary front for £22

Those are the Performance compound, of which I’m not convinced.  The HR’s are EXO TR, so duel compound, therefore not the best.

Pretty predictable tyre. Ok, but wouldn't buy another set.100% fine on a kid's bike, though!

Currently got a 2.5 WT HR2 on the back of my Stooge.
(Waiting for it to wear out a bit more before I replace it).

Honestly it's a pretty good all-rounder. It struggled today on wet leaves over sloppy mud, but tbh what tyre wouldn't?!

For my general riding, which is loamy, rooty, sandy and flinty it's not at all bad. I've got a 2.6 Spec Purgatory lined up to replace it, and if it's as good an all rounder I'll be happy.

Found them frustrating in mud / wet. DHR/F slightly better but I find Magic Mary is best for me.

For me, it's not that they're bad, it's just every manufacturer makes at least one better tyre, even poor bloody Kenda, and half of maxxis's range is better. They're not grippy enough for how slow they roll and that's just a hard thing to get past. But it doesn't mean they're terrible, I'd never buy another one but if I already had one I'd use it for less pointy-end stuff I guess.

IMO Maxxis only makes them now for the name recognition, the dhr2 is just better at everything. Probably they should have named that the highroller 2 instead.