Favourite Tires

[Martin]

Running winter tires and wonder whats your tire of choice for the spring / summer?


I know its personal choice, but interested to here peoples choice, width / make / psi you run them at and your overall thoughts?


Curious to see what works best for all the Madheads?

[Fergal]

Martin

you should know by now there's no such thing as seasons in Ireland

for me, tyres are either knobbly mud (those Panaracer XC Sport I got off ya are great when tubeless), or lower profile fast/race type (Maxxis CrossMark)

[diamondG]

yeah, I run the same tyres all year round, Maxxis advantage. Nobby nicks are great for the front too.


If I ever get around to it I'll go ghetto tubeless, for the low pressure.


But I've only ever punctured once while out on a spin (once in a blue moon I'll get a slow and find the bike flat in the shed).


Part of the credit for that definitely goes to the Advantage tyres, I find them great for puncture resistance.

Perhaps a tab heavier than other tyres but I don't mind.

And they're only €20 in cyclesuperstore.

[Karl]

The Nobby Nics I got off you are great Martin. I'm currently running one on the front and a Racing Ralph on the rear. Fast rolling setup with decent grip in most conditions

[TomH]

It depends what you want? More Grip=More Drag whereas Less Grip=Less Drag (amazingly enough).


Maxxis Advantage are great tyres that have the balance struck pretty well. I recently put a Maxxis High Roller DH tyre on the back and the level of grip it offers is amazing although it wouldn't be great for racing xc.

[Conor]

Just to muddy the waters a bit, I'm using Hutchenson Baracuda/Pirhana on my race bike and they grip well enough unless its quite muddy. Low drag and light too. I've Maxxis Advantage on the Trance since Wales last year and they are as tough as old boots. I run both sets hard enough as I have'nt gone tubeless.....yet.

[Richie]

maxxis advantage @ 32-35psi. Super grip, tough as boots.

[ryan]

Last year I raced on Bulldogs, Ignitors, Pythons, Jones XC (XC Nationals, UK/Irish Nationals and a ton of other races) and I think Crossmarks...


All of them grand. At the moment on the training bike it's a bulldog on the rear, ignitor on the front and it has dealt with the conditions over the last 3 months well.. Pretty versitle.


Next year, will probably be racing on the Specialized tires, Storm (really muddy), Sauserwind (kinda muddy) and Fast Trak SLK (fast and dry...). Also have a set of Kenda Karmas... Robin Seymour raved about them last year.


As long as it's tubeless, I'm pretty happy. Zero punctures all winter (and I ride a lot...).


Oh, and preasure for pretty much everything is 28-35psi... (depending on sidewall/conditions)

[shane]

well that makes a change to the 3rd k cap last year when you had more punchtures than anything else

[ryan]

lol, yeah - that was the last time I raced on tubes. And almost the last time I rode (outside of road bike) on tubes...


Dahhhh - I was pissed that day.

[shane]

kept me busy though that day


trying to get your wheels back up and running before you get back around


and


i ran panaracer cinders last year and they worked while the lasted which wasn't very long

then movered to ignitors last a bit longer but not much


but i think i will be sticking with my conti edges for this year as they are lasting quiet long

[skully]

Kenda K-rad's at 80psi for park and the dirt jumps, and maxxis mobsters at 65psi for anything in the woods.

[rob1891]

65psi! You must not get many wet roots.


I'm at 25psi on Maxxis Advantage with tubes. Just go light over the rocky rocks and you avoid the pinch flats. Might convert them to ghetto tubeless when I get a new set.

[Martin]

advantage seems to be winning the hard fecker stakes! great info there!


65psi? you'd be bouncing around like a basketball?


I'm running nobby nics and they are great at 30psi. They are not cheap but seem to do the business! 2.25 so are wide and take the bumps well............

[skully]

I have a good fork and strong legs to take away all the bounce.

and as for wet roots A) I try not to ride in the rain, I don't like being wet.

B) the mobsters are ridiculously grippe.

[Barrydanzig]

"I try not to ride in the rain, I don't like being wet."


good luck when you start riding in ireland!

[miguel]

"I try not to ride in the rain, I don't like being wet."


We have to types of trail here, wet & not quite as wet...


You get used to the rain & after a while it becomes great fun, I swear.

[skully]

is it always soggy? /cloud cover like depicted on TV or do you guys have nice sunny stretches for 7 or so days like here?

[paddyobrien]

actually we've just had a week or two of lovely sunny days ... but very very cold (by our standards .. down to about -3C overnight).


Last summer was a complete freakin washout with allegedly over 250% of our normal rainfall.


This summer .. who knows

[miguel]

We generally do get 7 days of sunshine - they generally fall between March & September and you never know when one will show up - so use them wisely!


TBH the weather here is fine and we get loads of nice days, but rain does happen & I find it best just to go out and enjoy it.

[TomH]

Miguels right, yes it rains but just get out there and enjoy it...wind is another story altogether, not all that common but when it's very windy you may as well stay at home...by and large we are surprisingly lucky on our spins, I have had much more nice weather spins than not,...

[Scrivo]

But when that really nasty day comes when there are gale force winds combined with horizontal sheets of sleet, scrivo is wearing shorts and a summer jersey :(

[skully]

hmmm I see, what about snow? I'm sick of all this white junk! I have only rode my bike like 10 times in the past 4 months :'(

[Barrydanzig]

it was snowing up in the mountains a couple of weeks ago, but that seems to have stopped, we generally get snow on our mountains between january and march so that should be all cleared up by the time you arrive.


as scrivo explained, the wind is your main enemy when its blowing.

[Martin]

we get down rain, up rain, rain from the side rain from the rear, rain in big drops small drops and rain that is like nails when is bounces off you! and to make matters worse the grey skies, ohhh the grey skies! but sure too much good weather is bad for you!

[TomH]

It hardly ever snows, some years not at all...

[skully]

sounds like the place to be.

[skully]

sounds like the place to be.