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What's good?
Not happy with a Conti Trail King Black Chili on the front. I did like the old Rubber Queen though.
Didn't mind my old Michelin Wild Rock'R. Schwalbes are too expensive. Hated the High Roller.
Conti Der Baron looks good, not looking for super light , just more grip.
Isn't Trail King exactly the same as the Rubber Queen?
Standard answer is Butcher Grid. Cheapish. Not super heavy. Reliable and predictable.
I thought so too. Having a huge wobble in it, isn't helping. Not sure CRC will warranty something I bought a year a go as a spare.
Butchers might be an option.
+ 1 for the Butcher. We are running the Control on all our bikes, muddy Peak to Alps epics. Only time they come off is when they are worn out and then its replaced with another.
Butcher or Minion
Shorty or Magic Mary if it's muddy. Buy schwalbes from Germany, they're much cheaper there.
Butcher Grid is a good choice.
Funnily enough, although the Trail King Protection 2.2 27.5 should be essentially the same as the Rubber Queen UST 2.2 26, the knobs are more widely spaced on the 27.5 (same number of knobs on a tyre that is 3" larger in circumference) and the side knobs are smaller in length and less thick so it's a more gappy line of edge knobs and they distort a bit more easily. And the compound seems more prone to tearing. Not quite as good a tyre IMO.
Anyone actually used Der Baron?
Trail king is da awsumz - in summer. Guff in this lot though. Got a chepao geax datura on the hardtail pretty impressed for the money
Used to love spesh butcher, then I tried a shorty.....
Watching this with interest.
I'm used to High Rollers. I have WTB Wolverines on my new Cannondale - 650b tubeless ready but running tubes ATM. Still unconvinced about going tubeless. My instinct is to stick with HR but I've heard good things about Specialized too...someone mentioned elsewhere that it might be worth just changing the front as it's mega-twitchy in anything like moist conditions and keep the back as is. Any thoughts?
I've just put a 2.3 Purgatory with Control Casing on the front and so far it's been great. I tend to ride more rooty woodland stuff than rocks so can't comment for that but it's proved very grippy and when it does slide it seemed to be progressive and responds well to weight change - thumbs up!
Prefer the butcher to the purgatory, the tread on is 60a centre/50a on the sides, compared to the butcher which is 42a all over. There is a lot more grip and predictable handing with the butcher and the rolling resistance is negligible. Prefer the purgatory as a rear tyre (I swap between ground control, purgatory and slaughter, depending on time of year and what I'm riding)
I love my On One Chunky Monkey as a front tyre - bit heavy, but superb all rounder. Cheap too. My 2nd choice would be a Butcher.
Der Baron is a downhill tyre... pretty amazingly grippy but also weighs about as much as 2 tyres and rolls like a paving slab. Normal Baron is ace though.
Butcher is good but whether it's much grippier depends on your surfaces really- it works a lot better in loose stuff where the tread gives it miles more bite and doesn't clog as much, but it's about teh same/slightly worse on wet hard stuff because of the rubber.
Minion 3C probably.