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I am looking at getting magic Mary and big Betty tyres for my full sus for winter, what are everyone's thoughts, setups?
For riding around scout moor, lee quarry, Holcombe moor etc
I currently have an assegai front and dhr 2 rear
DHR 2 rear and a Dirt Wizard front (similar to a DHF but even grippier 😁)
On my mountain bike I am probably just going to keep the maxis minion tyres on there. For my road bike I might change to something less slick
It's funny in the past I used to change tires and now I really can't be bothered 🙂 most of the trails I ride are well drained gravely rooty mud and so I don't ever really need to put on a full blown mud tire. I might put something else on the gravel bike though as it's currently on semi slicks and they were absolutely lethal in muddy conditions last year
For now on the full suss I'm going to put the Judge back on the rear instead of the trail boss.
Been endlessly looking at tyres which are 'ideal' and have largely come to the conclusion that everything is a compromise. So the Judge goes back on until I can't take riding with a boat anchor out the back any more and get something a bit quicker. Then I'm currently looking at F: Mary / R: Tacky Chan...
On my big bike, I've currently got brand new Tacky Chan's Super Trail Ultra-soft / Soft. But depending how the next few weeks go, may put the MM back on the front. MM/BB is a good combo (just removed a worn BB from the rear), TC a bit faster rolling.
On the HT, I've just put a worn Tacky Chan and a worn Wolfpack Trail back on (felt the conditions for Bonty XR2/3 were no longer optimal!) That'll probably do me for the kids cal trails over winter
I've just put a High Roller 3 maxxgrip on the front of my hard tail, replacing a Magic Mary super soft. I have a Vittoria Mazza enduro on the big bike which is very good. On the back I'm running Specialized Eliminator and Purgatory because they are cheap and less draggy and the Eliminator is a 2.6 to take the sting out of the hard tail.
I’ll be putting Surly Lou, 4.8”, on the front and a Surly Nate, 4.8” on the rear…
well you did ask!
I don't change tyres until they wear out so will be sticking with 2.6" Hans Dampf Super Trail Soft front/Speed rear on the hardtail and 40mm Michelin Power Gravels on the gravel bike.
Albert comes off the back of the eeb, on goes a Mary, trails at the weekend were a bit wild in places on a slick albert!
My go to winter setup for riding mostly the south wales steeps is a DHR2 MaxTerra DD rear and either an ultrasoft mary or maxxgrip shorty front, whichever is cheaper really.
Sadly for me most of my tyres are DH Supersoft, which whilst i'm sure will be grippy, may well be on the slow rolling side.
I think i have some Krypto in Enduro Soft, some XR5s and i expect a few others lying round, but i think the XR4s may well be surplus to requirements until April now 😀
I've got Magic Mary front and rear and I just find them lethal on wet roots, was thinking about swapping them out tbh. Tried the Big Betty previously and didn't get on with that as a rear tyre.
Are there any tyres that grip to wet roots, rocks and slabs? It's the slippery stone slabs that get me on inclines/dh sections. For the most part I just grin and bear it.
I did have magic Mary's front and back on my first bike, but someone pointed out that this wasn't considered optimal, especially for braking apparently.
I also made the mistake of having an Assegai on the rear before.
I'm just trying to make sure I don't spend £100 and still look more foolish than necessary
Dhf/hr2 combo on most of the bike.
Shorty pair on the dh for shite weather
Forekaster 2 front and rear on the xc bike for the winter
The full sus has a DHR2 DD MaxxTerra on the rear year round, currently a MaxxGrip Assegai on the front, which will get swapped for the High Roller MaxxGrip at some point in the near future.
The hardtail will get swapped to a WTB Verdict/Big Betty combo at some point, just need to find the time. Should probably get something a little quicker rolling for the rear when the BB wears out.
Are there any tyres that grip to wet roots, rocks and slabs? It's the slippery stone slabs that get me on inclines/dh sections. For the most part I just grin and bear it.
Been endlessly looking at tyres which are 'ideal' and have largely come to the conclusion that everything is a compromise.
This.
Hillbilly/ butcher- big bike
Butcher/ butcher-trail bike
Butcher/ purgatory- dad bike/ hardtail
Butcher/ butcher- tandem.
I have a 2.4 shorty in the stickiest compound I could find bought after falling off for the third time in a month in mud. It has awesome grip but it sucks the will to pedal out of me.
Also specialized tires used to be 50% off fairly regularly. They are perfectly good but at full price I'd probably have some maxis in the mix.
(slightly worn) Hillbilly Front and Purgatory rear. Got a fresh set ready to go on should I need to...
I've just lobbed a MM Soft Addix on the front of the Fuel, which was handy as when i took off the XR4 front it had 0 tubeless fluid in it 😀 lol... not quite 0.... but pretty damn close.
I need to think about what's going on the back now as well.... Mmmmm
It’s not really winter tyres, it’s new tyres for my steeper techier commute on the Levo: Hillbilly Grid Trail T9 29x2.4 front, Eliminator (new version) Grid Gravity T7/T9 27.5x2.4 rear.
Damn good tyres, especially for the money!
I’ve been riding the Hillbilly for years, old style T7 2.6 for commuting, new version for proper riding - I really rate it as an all-conditions tyre everything I do, XC to uplifts.
Used the old Eliminator a fair bit in the past, the new one shares the name but not a lot else - it’s a while since I’ve ridden a DHR2 but it feels like it has that similar ability to brake and drive hard, and go back and forth between drifting and railing just by lean angle and/or braking.
Unfortunately I’ve changed too many things at the back at once - 29 to 27.5, rim width 30 to 25mm, Butcher to Eliminator, etc - to say what’s really contributing but this old bike is handling better than it ever has, which is nice.
I used to swap tyres in winter, but since I went tubeless years ago I just can’t be bothered and leave the Minions on (although currently have a Assagai on the front as that’s what came with the new bike’.
@zerocool That's another new thing I'll have to do as the tyres on it are tubeless and I've not had the joy of installing a tubeless tyre yet 😂
Haven't tried in winter yet but I'm really hoping the highroller 3 in maxxgrip might be a true "year round" tyre, just remains to be seen how it copes with real slop and with sticky mud. But it's bloody brilliant so far. Slow, sure, but fantastic grip and so consistent, it really inspires confidence which for me (and I think most less brilliant riders) is really as important as grip. Conti's Argotal in supersoft is in a similiar place I think, but I can't compare directly because I only have the dh version of that. I'm sure other brands have equivalents.
(I think it might pretty much make the Assegai pointless- testing says it rolls faster, and for me it's definitely grippier and doesn't seem to have the clogging issues)
Failing that, I will be back on the shorty. But it's an absolute sin that there's no exo or exo+ maxxgrip as there are for the dhr2 and highroller 3. maxxterra just makes zero sense for a tyre this aggressive. And whatever happened to the shorty 2?
On the back, dhr2in dual or failing that maxxterra. Not because it's amazingly grippy but because it works in anything, it's surprisingly fast for the amount of grip, and most of all because when it does slide it slides really nicely, which means you don't have to be too cautious with it. Like, it's in the same ballpark grip and speedwise as a kryptotal but the kryptotal just doesn't have those nice sliding manners, when it goes it can be snappy and abrupt and it's harder to get back. So in practice that means I don't like to ride it as hard, regardless of grip. Just a fantastic package. Even winter enduro racing in scottish slime I've never felt a need for any more, but it's fast enough to run all summer.
Are there any tyres that grip to wet roots, rocks and slabs? It's the slippery stone slabs that get me on inclines/dh sections. For the most part I just grin and bear it.
Only thing that really helps on rocks and slabs is really soft rubber. Lower pressures can help a little just by giving you a bigger footprint and slightly more compliance.
But for roots, schwalbe's radial carcass actually does help, if you run the tyres soft. (you can use the radial to either run a higher pressure and have it still feel nice and compliant like a lower pressure, without the downsides, but I liked to run it at my normal pressures, which gives it sort of SUPER MEGA SOFTNESS. It gloms onto stuff, finds the little bits of dirt between roots or even sometimes I think just conforms to the root and makes a little grip, where literally nothing else I've ridden does. Except it's a little bit like a fatbike tyre in some ways, without all the downsides of 4.8 inches of drag and float and blob. It really is like magic and I hope absolutely everyone else rips it off.
I hear the Shredda Pro rear makes for a really good aggressive front but I haven't tried it. I didn't think the Magic Mary Pro really cut it, not compared to newer designs like the HR3 and Argotal, they really show what a tyre this spiky should be capable of and set a benchmark the old MM tread can't match imo. I also wish their ultrasoft was actually ultrasoft, it just doesn't match competitors when it comes to outright gooey grip.
My solution is a spare front wheel with a maxxgrip Shorty 2 on it. Ride a lot of mixed conditions and wouldn’t want to commit to running one all winter. With a spare wheel I can swap it quickly between bikes if needed. Front wheels available for not much more than decent tyre. All my bikes have a 200mm rotor, so I have one on the wheel as well.
My solution is a spare front wheel with a maxxgrip Shorty 2 on it. Ride a lot of mixed conditions and wouldn’t want to commit to running one all winter. With a spare wheel I can swap it quickly between bikes if needed. Front wheels available for not much more than decent tyre. All my bikes have a 200mm rotor, so I have one on the wheel as well.
Deffo works well as a plan, i've got 2 bikes that are identical Fuel ex8 Gen6 and a spare set of wheels on top of that, so i can at the moment run any combination of
Krypto front and rear
XR5 front and rear
MM front and rear.
Until this winter I was using Shortys on the front of all bikes (mix of 2.5 and 2.3) with either a HR2 or DHR on the back. Shortys all binned after bad cracking around base of knobbles despite little use. Aiming to use the Assegai/DHR2 combo all year round on my big bike and accept the compromise in the really nasty muck. Really liked the Hillbilly/Eliminator combo I started using halfway through last winter.
Trail bike: Hillbilly T9 / Eliminator T9
Big bike: Assegai 3C MaxxGrip / DHR2 3C MaxxTerra
Ebike: Hillbilly T9 / Eliminator T9
I had planned to use another HR2 on the rear of the ebike and fitted it last night, only to discover a massive 'Maxxis Wobble'. I'm done with Maxxis now, at the price they are vs Specialized tyres I'll happily stick to Specialized.
Keep the DHR2 on the back, a Big Betty would be worse.
Mary is probably OK for the front, but I would get a Hillbilly T9 Trail 2.4 instead.
Going to re-fit mine this week in fact.
If you must have matching brands, the High Roller 3 looks really good. I'm also a big fan of the WTB Verdict (which is similar).
But the Hillbilly is right up there and usually way cheaper.
I used to have a spare set of wheels back in the day with a pair of Wet Screams (with the middle tread on the tyre cut down super short) that worked quite well. This was before the days of Shortys and similar.
Oh i love that 2.6 MM on the front... i'm a convert for sure.
Mine will be Mary Trail 2.6 Ultra on the front (my favourite tyre ever) and something on the back - it's currently a Hans but may swap it for another Mary 2.4 Soft. The Hans has been on all summer as it's pretty fast and I was loath to swap to the Razor in case it jinxed the weather (you can think me). The Hans isn't a fabulous winter tyre but it's good enough in most conditions - it can pack up a bit if it gets claggy though.
I have a Betty DH rear for uplift duties and also like that a lot. Pretty good for dry to intermediate conditions and plenty good enough for anything at a bikepark.
Don't want to change due to embedded thorns in both tyres acting as nature's anchovies and plugging the holes beautifully.
Rock Razor rear / Dissector up front on my hardtail.
On the gravel I've got Pathfinder Pros which aren't great in wet and loose, but that's what the hardtail is for.