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What trail bike tire casings don't suck?

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
Fair enough

Edit: The WTB Tough tires are what you're looking for in a casing, then. You'll probably lean past the side knobs while still braking on the Vigilante, but you'd still beat 90% of us down a hill on a treadless tire. Check out the Vittoria Goma in 2.4 TNT variant as well. It's 1100g and can a beating, albeit not quite as much as the WTB Tough casing. The rubber is harder than a Maxxis 3C, the side knobs are the opposite of a Vigilante. On an i25 rim, they're pretty far down there.
 
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HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
Edit: The WTB Tough tires are what you're looking for in a casing, then. You'll probably lean past the side knobs while still braking on the Vigilante
Or you could do one of the Wild Rock'R2s, and get a very burly casing in a tire with tread that isn't stupid. :D
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
It feels like a normal EXO casing to my hands and I've flatted a few of them as a front tire.

Need DD. Don't care about weight.
Seriously, you want a Wild Rock'R2. They're a DHF copy, only with bigger, better side knobs and a way tougher casing than an EXO. Nominally a 2.35, but they're way closer to a 2.5 DHF in size than they are to the 2.3. 1150g in wagon wheel form.

Their rubber compound nomenclature is stupid, but the Magi-X is the soft one, and the Gum-X is harder.

 

dcamp29

Monkey
Feb 14, 2004
589
63
Colorado
maybe i'll try one in gum-x.

I rode one of those in magic-x on a 27.5 bike- Unbelievably slow rolling but good at everything else.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
maybe i'll try one in gum-x.

I rode one of those in magic-x on a 27.5 bike- Unbelievably slow rolling but good at everything else.
Yeah, I don't run them in back because they're slow. But as a front tire they corner better than anything I've tried, ever, and paired with a 2.3 DHR2 or Minion SS in back they work great.
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
Yeah, I don't run them in back because they're slow. But as a front tire they corner better than anything I've tried, ever, and paired with a 2.3 DHR2 or Minion SS in back they work great.
The 2.3 DHR2 and SS are both now available in Double Down, 27.5 and 29, which sounds delicious for a rear tire.
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,699
6,107
in a single wide, cooking meth...
Where do you find these unicorns?
FWIW, I posed this very question on PB, and HAB is right that you can only get them through Maxxis at the moment. But a poster mentioned that in time, the big online distributors will get them and hopefully the price will come down a bit. But those are some bad ass tires, and it's awesome to see them in pico sizes.
 

SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
67,674
14,076
In a van.... down by the river
I shall wait patiently for distributors to get this mythical DHR-2 in DD and then IT SHALL BE MY NEXT REAR TIRE.

Thinkin' about maybe getting a 2.5 DHF for the front next, too. Rock'R2 will go to the back and hopefully last long enough for this DHR-2 DD nonsense to become easily-available.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
I shall wait patiently for distributors to get this mythical DHR-2 in DD and then IT SHALL BE MY NEXT REAR TIRE.

Thinkin' about maybe getting a 2.5 DHF for the front next, too. Rock'R2 will go to the back and hopefully last long enough for this DHR-2 DD nonsense to become easily-available.
Why not another Michelin up front?

I wouldn't want the grippier tire of my pair on the back.
 

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,884
450
I forget, has anyone brought up E13 tires? Sounds like they're grippy, any word on casing durability and support?
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,638
8,683
This thread will be highly relevant to my interests when I tear or wear out my current Minion EXO/Ardent EXO combo. I'm ripping off some Minion knobs but otherwise they look pretty good, even with the rocks of the Front Range and my fat bum atop the bike.
 

DaveW

Space Monkey
Jul 2, 2001
11,589
3,118
The bunker at parliament
I forget, has anyone brought up E13 tires? Sounds like they're grippy, any word on casing durability and support?
Yup crazy grippy, a bit more grippy in fact than the Crossmax Charge I have on the front.

I've been running the "durable dual" on the rear for the last 200km.
Zero issues other than climbing ability in muddy conditions, but lets face it you don't buy these things if your into sprinting up a hill.
Haven't come close to wearing it out yet which surprised me considering it's still a bloody soft compound tyre to have on the rear.
 

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,861
16,396
where the trails are
I have close to 2k miles on the 13 TRS+ and it still runs strong. I run it in the front as it is way too slow rolling in the rear. I would bang again.
I had them and aside from the slow roll thing, loved them. @Adventurous is riding them all summer on mostly smooth polished CO rock, i wonder how his are holding up.....
 
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Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,822
9,853
Crawlorado
I had them and aside from the slow roll thing, loved them. @Adventurous is riding them all summer on mostly smooth polished CO rock, i wonder how his are holding up.....
I still think the tread pattern is killer and I can corner way harder on this thing than any other tire I have run up front. Very predictable. I did tear a hole in the sidewall right above the bead after 100 miles or so, though I'm not totally convinced that it was my doing and not a manufacturing defect. I threw a tube in there and have been rocking it for a few weeks now. Cornering prowess is a tad diminished with the tube, but I'll just have to ride more and burn this one up so I can try again with the next one.
 

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,003
708
SLO
I have a WTB Convict in 2.5 have not mounted waiting for next bike the tread looks good and Tough Casing is good....
 

mrgto

Monkey
Aug 4, 2009
295
118
On a side note, what tape are you guys finding to hold up well when setting up tubeless? I'm putting some new wheels on my wife's bike and was gonna set tape them up this weekend.
 

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,784
5,601
Ottawa, Canada
On a side note, what tape are you guys finding to hold up well when setting up tubeless? I'm putting some new wheels on my wife's bike and was gonna set tape them up this weekend.
I think it depends on the rim. I have had zero problems with Stans tape on Stans rims (duh), WTB i23, and on Spank Oozy Trail 295. I've been using a friend's Derby crabon rims and he's got Stans on them too. Pretty much every one I know runs it, on a wide variety of rims.
 

Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,767
501
Gorilla 1in tape only now. The Stans tape is flimsy shit. If it doesn't squirm and allow leak through during use, it will do it when I pop the bead by hand when removing the tire. This is with Flow EX rims, among lots of others.
 

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,660
1,237
Nilbog
So I roll a chromag surface for my daily trail rides. Not a big fan of the 'plus' stuff but I am pretty psyched on getting a 2.6 27.5" butcher/slaughter combo on some carbon 33mm internal rims going. On my nomad I've been running DHF DD's 2.5 all season and they rule. It's funny how the gnarlier the terrain gets my tires get narrower.

Edit: Been a F/R DHF guy for about 8 years, change is hard.
 
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