[Closed] Lost down a tyre worm hole, help me out!

Big fan of the Maxxis Forekaster, pretty quick and seems grippy enough in the 2.35 size. Under 800g per tyre too even in 29. First tyre in a while I've actually worn out before I replaced it!

what were you running it with?

I ran them on Stan's Arch Mk3 rims, so 26mm ID and stans sealant, no tyre inserts. I did manage to slash one rear, but aside from that, they've been very tough for the riding I do around North Wales. I had two pairs, one on my old Whyte T130 and another on my Mk5 Cotic Soul, so both 27.5 bikes with around 130mm travel. Felt like a good middle ground between a proper race tyre and something like a DHF/DHR II. Rolled way quicker than the DHF and High Roller II I had on the Whyte before hand and didn't seem to give up too much in the way of grip. Perhaps not quite as invincible feeling on steeper, looser terrain, but for 95% of what I do, was plenty happy.

I initially bought the schwalbe racing ray/ralph combo (snakeskin) as it seems a pretty tried and tested xc setup but could only find it in 2.25 (29) and am now a bit worried they won’t quite be up to the more techy/rocky parts of my rides.

Superb XC combo, depends on how ham-fisted you are as to whether they'll be up to the job in rockier parts though.

Oh, and definitely available in 2.35" as well as 2.25"...

I can find the ralph in a 2.35 but not the ray so didn't want a larger rear tire.. maybe I need to look around a bit more, they're available on t'other side of the channel for sure, but they seem reluctant to sell to us now!

Thanks lawman, will bear them in mind, that was front and rear then? Sounds like the middle ground I'm aiming for. Kind of got my heart set on a rock razor now tho (slow mo powerslides in head)

I’m only 3 rides in with a Forekaster on the back of my new hardtail. Went exo / 2.6” - on 25mm Id rims. Wanted something fast rolling and with some padding as no rear suspension. I’ve been surprised the grip it finds in mud tbh - much better than I thought it would be.

My plan is probably to run it with a dissector or dhf on the front in the summer - currently got a whacking great 2.6” magic Mary on the front so I can actually steer in the bridleway slop round here.

On my full suss I’ve run a dhf / aggressor setup most years - but thought I’d try something faster than the aggressor on the rear this year. Picked up a Spec Slaughter Grid in 2.6” to try - it seems to have fairly chunky side knobs but what looks like a fast rolling centre tread. Might also be worth a look. If you wanted a front tyre in the same brand to go with that I guess you’re looking at a butcher or maybe an eliminator?

I just bought a Ray 2.35 29” from bikeinn last Thursday as I couldn’t find one here, it arrived today... couple of £ more expensive but it's in my paws now!

Wolfpack tyres?

This came up on my FB feed this morning, read it then googled a couple of reviews.

https://www.cotic.co.uk/news/2021/wolfpack-tyres-cotic

Seem to be what you want for an XC/trail tyre, am quite tempted myself. Seen to do 2.25/2.4/2.6 in both 27.5 and 29er.

Ray definitely comes in a 2.35 for 29ers but maxes out at 2.25 for 27.5 for some reason

My current setup for the riding you describe is a Nobby Nic Super Ground Speedgrip front in 2.35, and a Racing Ralph super ground speed 2.25 rear. Fast enough rolling for my xc tendencies and can still have a laugh going down.

Sounds like you want a tyre to do everything (road gravel singletrack and tougher stuff) so you are going to be making a major concession somewhere. The Racing Ray/Ralph may be as good as you'll get for all of that: something more is going to be nicer on the singletrack and more but then the gravel may immediately feel tedious.

In short, I'm saying you may have as good a tyre set up as you're going to get already.

I say this as someone who has obsessively changed tyres for years as I'm in roughly the same position of having my rides extremely mixed -- for example I recently changed my monstercross set up to knobbly 650b x 2.4" from semislick 700c x 50mm and it sapped the fun out of gravel riding far more than I expected, so I've gone back to the latter and now just deal with the extra work it takes on the tougher ground I head out.

Edit: if you want actual suggestions, I had good experiences with Rock Razors (the older ones may be in stock somewhere and are much lighter I think)

If you were expanding to other brands there's loads of stuff: Vittoria Mezcal are very fast and pretty tough, Maxxis Ikon, Ardent Race, Rekon Race

I can find the ralph in a 2.35 but not the ray so didn’t want a larger rear tire.. maybe I need to look around a bit more, they’re available on t’other side of the channel for sure, but they seem reluctant to sell to us now!

ANY bike shop can order them in from one of a dozen or so wholesalers, if that helps... 👍🏻

Full disclosure, yes I work for the company, but have set some of my fastest local descent times on my XC bike with Ray/Ralph combo last summer compared to a Mary/Dampf combo on my trail bike! That's on flatter local trails yes, but they give surprising amounts of confidence at speed for a relatively lightly treaded tyre I have found... 👍🏻

(image taken at Pembrey beach, NOT on my local trails)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I definitely want to feel some zippiness to make a big enough difference from my other wheel set so maybe I'll stick with the ray ralph combo, but might also get the razor nic combo to play with too. With the the ray/ralph, is there a noticeable difference between the 2.25 and 2.35? On paper it's bugger all size wise and about 80g difference a tryre, but does it equate to more comfort? Going on a hardtail so that would be nice.
I was pretty tempted with the vittoria offerings too, they look good, with the Maxxis ones there are so many I can't get my head around it.
I will also take a look at those wolfpack but have to admit I'm getting tyre fatigue!

Just had a quick look at those wolfpack, look like a good option actually

I find myself in the same predicament as the OP.

Purchased a Maxxis tyre which was totally the wrong one for my needs so will get sent back.

Got the Cotic email, saw the reference to Wolfpack here also so pulled the trigger.

the Wolfpack site linked in the Cotic email seemed to be German? So I purchased from here;
https://www.wolfpacktyres.co.uk/
Free delivery and arrived in a couple of days. Cheaper too.

With tyres you HAVE to accept there's always a compromise if doing varied terrain/conditions. There's no such thing as an XC tyre that's super fast, light and does BPW brilliantly in winter... In the same way a Minion DHF tacky won't win XC races. So work out which is your largest requirement and base your decisions on that.

For me, i run a WTB Vigiliante up front in a 27.5*2.5 and out back a Specialized Butcher in a 2.35 (these are on sale for silly money at the moment via Specialized). They work perfectly well for me in just about everything i want. Sure i could get a faster XC set for summer, but then again, i'm on a G160 and it's hardly a super light whippet anyhow.

The Nobby Nic comes in the "Super Ground" carcass, which is quoted at 890g in 29in and 2.35in format. Only in "speedgrip" compound though.

If we're throwing in other brands, one of my favourite faster front tyres is the Bontrager XR4 Team Issue in 2.4in. I've ridden that a fair bit in the Pennines and strikes a really good balance of grip & speed for the lighter side of trail riding.

Schwalbe 2.25 comes up at 57mm wide on my 25mm id rims. The 2.35 ones come up at exactly 60mm.

The thing is though, the 2.35's do look bigger in all respects, so I presume there's more casing going on and not just width wise.

Haha, I was in this position a few weeks ago so you're lucky and can profit from my learnings having studied almost every tyre on the market!

My journey started as my new bike came with stock Maxxis Forekasters and I (rather arrogantly as it turned out) assumed that they would be the first thing to be swapped out. The bike is a XC/Trail (Downcountry?) spec and so I also wanted a set of wheels and tyres that I could use in the summer months for XC which would save some weight.

I picked up some very reasonably priced new Mavic Crossmax and started to research tyres.

In the meantime, I rode the bike with the Forekasters and came to appreciate what an excellent set of rubber they are. As another poster has said above, they are a real fit and forget option which seem to live up to the marketing stuff about being good in all conditions except the heaviest must - although I've ridden a lot of that recently and they have been more than passable. I have been using the 29X2.35 version and would definitely recommend them as almost all-season trail rubber.

My research in to lightweight tyres for XC/light trail lead me to the Ray/Ralph combo. OK, this feedback doesn't give you a new option but it maybe confirms the choice you have already made. I am using the 29X2.1 version at about 28psi and have been very impressed the couple of times I have had them out.

Are they durable, well time will tell. Light tyres are light for a reason and that is generally because they have thinner construction or smaller knobblies, or both. I'm running the Evo version front and back but also bought a Ralph in the 'Performance' spec which also looks good and is only a little heavier.

In summary, try Forekasters, my extensive research also ended up with Ray/Ralph for XC/light trail so I'm not optimistic you will find better, and if you do, drop me a line and I might take the Ray/Ralphs off your hands!

That's good to hear about the Forekasters, I picked up a cheap new pair from a local lad - who'd removed them from a YT Izzo I think.

Planning on using them for the inevitably damp local XC races, if they go ahead this year.

@chakaping, are they the ones with White Maxxis logos?

I ran my 2.6 Forekaster a bit more yesterday on my new hardtail. Cheeky 35kms - although far too much was on the road on the way to / from the trails. More and more impressed with it to be honest - it rolls ok on the road / on hardpack trail centre and still manages to make a decent fist of the mud. Got a 2.6” Mary on the front as some of the local mud is massively gloppy (front wheel literally hit some mud on the weekend and stopped the whole bike - queue rapid otb journey for me) - but I’ve ordered a 2.4WT Dissector to try on the front once the need for a massive mud tyre passes. Hoping dissector / Forekaster is a good summer combo for trail riding with minimal roads (once we can drive to more interesting places)

I do like the Forekaster, some will claim it's no good but for the most part I really like it. It's hard wearing, grips pretty well and still rolls quickly. It's a shame that aftermarket they only offer the basic Dual Compound versions, if they offer them in Maxx Terra you sometimes see on complete bikes and maybe an EXO+ casing for the rear, it'd be a really good tyre!

Looks like there's some good options out there and it'll be a case of trial and error to find a good balance of speed/grip/durability. Have ordered the nic/razor combo as well as the ray/ralph and I'll take a look at them when they arrive to make a call which way to go. The forekasters sound good and I'll def consider them next time but got maxxis on the other wheelset so interested to see how schwalbes go.
Just one last thing on the 2.25 v 2.35, do people with experience of both feel a noticeable difference in comfort/grip? Is it a case you can run the pressure a bit lower because if the increase in volume?