South East rider, think Surrey hills, hindhead, tunnel hill, swinley B1ke bikeparks. Mainly sandy, more likely to be soft than hardpack, well draining soil with a good chunk of loam in varying degrees of fluff to slop.
Heckler SL. I'm 92kg.
Was running tacky chans, trail ultra soft/super gravity soft, alright most of the time, did have to run 30psi+ in the rear to deal with burping on harsh landings. I like the behaviour of the tread, the cornering personality, the rolling speed, was getting into a battle in the rear between achieving enough support and not getting pinged off of every root/stone.
Had a hillbilly grid gravity laying around, chucked it on the rear and got a matching front, fun experiment, really like the planted feeling of the casing/rubber and the ability to run pressures that appear to be more in alignment with everyone else (24psi front, 26-28psi rear), they give me the support and calmness I'm looking for, however braking on the rear has dropped off the cliff relatively quickly, they don't actually deal with slop much better than a normal intermediate tyre, they're slow as too.
So, I definitely want a dh casing on the rear, just whether to go mid or soft on the compound. I think I want a dh casing on the front too to get a planted feel.
I want support, damping and speed in soft conditions.
I'm flipping between -
1.Pair of tacky chan ultra soft super downhill
2.Pair of dhrs, dh casing, maxx terra rear, maxx grip front
3.Dhr dh casing maxx terra rear, high roller iii dh casing maxx grip front
4.Continental Kryptotal, dh cassing ultra soft front and rear
I know I'll like option 1 and option 2. Think option 3 will be slow. I have no experience of item 4 but would like to try.
On the back down here in the south east I prefer a harder compound because the knobs stay squarer and taller for so much longer. However hardly any brands pair those harder compounds with heavy casings, which is so annoying. I think WTB do though. And some Maxxis but maybe not the DHR2 (which would be my tyre of choice).
I can lend you some Kryptos or an Argos/Krypto combination for a day/weekend. I'm in West Berks and would like them back after.
DH and super Soft
Are you using an insert?
If it wasn't for the fact that I like to get as many miles in as possible, I'd say a DHR would be perfect for the mix of surfaces in the Surrey Hills. I only took mine off because it was a ballache trying to pedal it around. It was super consistent in the sand, slop and slithery bits in the north downs.
I tried a few alternatives hoping to find something that could match it for grip but gave me a slightly easier time pedalling.
Still looking. I'm keen to try a Kryptotal to see what all the fuss is about.
MaxxGrip on the front has been great (DHF) apart from road sections. MaxxGrip on the back is a whole world of misery for me. It's better on hard surfaces in the wet but in soft/sandy/loose ground, it feels like it's slower but without having any more grip. The tyre may well stick to loose stones but the stones still slide around under the tyre.
I'd go MaxxTerra on the back if you go maxxis.
I have a Kryptotal on my spare rear, good but I don’t like it as much as a Tacky Chan trail soft across multiple conditions. Re pressures, 30 psi seems high, I use inserts as do friends who are >100 kg and we run much lower pressures, generally more around 20. We do lots of pretty big stuff that used to destroy tyres and wheels… but that just suits us I suppose, I know lots of people use higher pressures all the time and as do I if I’m doing big fast stuff at Bike Parks.
I recently and stupidly stuck a DHR on my rear wheel, replacing the Tacky Chan, I should have been patient and waited a bit longer and I now really want to swap out a pretty new tyre!
I love the ultra soft trail TC on the front too. 🙂
I'm not really an insert person, I believe the extra weight is better spent in a more supportive, better riding casing. Tyre squirm feels gross.
Tried rimpacts before, didn't notice them due to not really getting any extra support.
Are you sure this is the right forum? All sounds a bit extreme for this place. 🤣
Agree ref inserts, I cannot understand the supposed benefits, just run decent carcass tyres in the first place.
I had a left field choice of a Hillbilly DH and a Cannibal DH on my e-bike as I ripped yet another Conti to shreds in double quick time & I’ve been quietly impressed…
