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Winter tyres
29"
Narrow-ish as clearance not brilliant on the Camber
Suitable (as much as can be) for South Downs/Wiltshire Downs winter clag (clay/chalk nastiness)
Not too heavy
Preferably Tubeless ready (but I may run tubes over winter to facilitate putting fatter rubber on for trail centre type stuff)
Wheels are alloy Rovals so not ultra narrow.
Dry/summer/trail centre I run Spesh Captain and Butcher combo.
Suggestions and ideally agreement sought!
Storms
Main thing for South Downs is the tread has to be really open to allow it to clear. I run variations between Maxxis Shorty and Schwalbe Magic Mary on the front and Beaver and Storm on the back. Everything else just turns into mud hoops.
That sums up nicely the problem! My night riding is usually more bridleway battering and the captain/butcher combo just clogs and ends up looking like a 29+ slick!
I assume when you've both said Storm you mean Specialized Storm Control?
Spesh Hillbilly?
Or Bonty Mud XR if you want narrower.
I did yeah. Storms are the best pure mud tyre I've used but they are very narrow (which is partly why they work so well) so unless it's really bad I tend to use a 2.2 beaver. Or the road bike....
The hillbilly looks ace, but aren't they 1kg each? Storms (especially in sworks) are about half the weight
I looked at the hillbilly review and it's a meaty monster. Bit overkill for my talents/intended use.
Worried about 2.2 for clearance (running 2.1/2.3 now) so it might have to be the Storms or Bonty Mud XR if the Beaver doesn't have a 2.0 option.
Bonty mud is good, but narrower than the storms. Feels a bit more specific whereas the storms are slightly more of a muddy all rounder. Not that much in it tbh. Of the 2 I would pick the storms and in a control or standard 2bliss casing. It may have been updated recently too?
Thanks. Looks like a set of Storms when I can get to the lbs then (keep my accidental Specialized addiction going a bit longer!).