So im lucky enough to have two full sus mtbs. I love riding them both, but im finding the Jeht (the shorter travel bike) harder to pedal when on the flat or uphill. The bikes and their tyres are as follows. Is the draggy nature of the Jeht purely down to the rear, or indeed either tyre?
Specialized Enduro carbon 2022, 170mm travel.
Fr Butcher grid trail T9 29x2.3
Rr Eliminator grid trail T7 29x2.3
Cotic Jeht 150/140
Fr Schwalbe Magic Mary super trail tl-easy evo 29x2.6
Rr Maxxis Minion DHR2 3c maxx terra exo TR 29x2.4
Any observations gleefully received. Thanks
Are the wheels interchangable, maybe with the swap of the disk rotors and/or cassette? That'd be an easy way to find out what influence the wheels and tyres have.
I had a Butcher on the front of my HT on road sections you could almost hear the tarmac being sucked from the road !
Oh and my mate found the same with a MM up front as well
I’d say those tyres are a going to be a pretty big contributor to that and if my personal experience is anything to go by the dhr will be the main part but of that- pretty sure i have the same model as a rear tyre on my Ripmo for winter and I can’t wait to take it off in the spring. The t9 hillbilly front on the other hand just doesn’t seem to sap energy in the same way.
If local conditions allow I’d change rear DHR2 to something else.
I’m currently running DHR2 front and Spec Ground control T7 back and it is quite versatile combination. There are loads of faster and more modern tyres out there but DHR2 is my favourite front tyre.
I don’t know for sure and you don’t say what compound the Magic Mary is but my suspicions would point at the 2.4 DHR. It’s quite a lot of tyre in that size. Could you try the Eliminator on that bike as a tester?
Definitely a factor, a mary is draggier than a butcher, but the eliminator is significantly faster than a DHR2, at the major expense of grip. I usually run a dhr2 year round but have an eliminator I swap to if doing the occasionally natural ride or big trail centre loop.
Thanks all, i will experiment with a wheel swap over to see if the perceived effort follows the tyres. I do have an unused wheelset that i may just dedicate to some faster tyres for whats left of summer here in N Wales....
So, any recommendatiins for what i should use as a faster set. I like to think im rad and gnarr....but really im a wobbling around old boy.
Is it really as linear as more grip = more drag? Is there a sweetspot where i beat this equation?
I had Hans Dampf out back on my full suss and hard tail. Made a huge difference to drag when I changed both for harder compound and less nobbly tyres.
DHR... sucks the fun out of everything other than steeper downhill sections.
Some interesting reading here.
I'm looking for something similar for my current trail bike as the current set up of Minion DHF on the front and Dissector on the rear feels pretty draggy but grips well on the downs.
I've got a pair of Purgatory 2.4 T7 in the garage so might give them a try instead.
This is a while new world to me as I'm used to XC tyres and know what works well for me with them.
Enduro mag did a pretty useful giant tyre review including rolling resistance measurements - they’re not perfect (fixed pressure on smooth rollers) but give a decent guide as to what’s faster:
https://enduro-mtb.com/en/the-best-mtb-tire-in-review/
I was surprised to see dual ply casings often coming out no slower than lighter casings - softer compounds adding the most drag, then bigger knobs.
