Believe it or not, the DHR2 has been the fastest rolling Maxxis DH tire for a long time, faster than the DHF, Assegai, HR2, HR3, Shorty...
Believe it or not, the DHR2 has been the fastest rolling Maxxis DH tire for a long time, faster than the DHF, Assegai, HR2, HR3, Shorty, everything. That's why Greg ran DHR2's front and rear (2.3 EXO casing, I think?) on his World Champs bike in Pietermaritzburg in 2013. It was a gamble to run such thin tires on the DH track, and he famously hit a rock and got a leak on the rear tire in his race run, such that it was completely flat within a minute of crossing the finish line.
That was 13 years ago, so the DHR2 has been the fastest Maxxis DH tread for at least that long.
I really like these tires after just one ride on them this past weekend. I live in the bay area of California, so read very dry conditions. I rode in Santa Cruz and they were so good. I was running HR3 and DHRII previously at 23 psi in the front, and 28psi in the rear. The DHX at 20psi in the front and 25psi the rear feels perfect. The new casing is so supportive and traction is all time. I'm no reviewer hence why I was saying the Brian Cahal review is the best I've seen on these tires. Everything he mentions aligns with what I've found.
Does it mention how this new casing strategy compares to radials?
very, very biased opinion:
Radials are typically a very linear stiffness tire vertically. They have low vertical and lateral stiffness. To get ridable lateral stiffness and keep away from rim strikes you typically have to crank the pressure which messes with the damping and rebound of the tire a bit especially at high speeds and high loads. Even at higher pressures the amount of sidewall support is typically limited. This typically results in a good slow speed tire, so for wet weather, natural roots, slower trail speeds are good, but this comes with the pretty significant penalties in high speed, high load.
This new Maxxis casing was developed for the race teams, and if you buy the new casing you are getting the team spec for the 25 / 26 race season which is fun. It really is a no compromise DH tire, where the gravity radials on the market have to cover pedal powered enduro as well so they likely had to make significant concessions, but thankfully we have DD for that. This casing is more progressive than the previous Maxxis DH casing, and way more progressive than radials. This lets you use a lower pressure to get a more “deadened”, slow rebound, planted tire feel that still has more sidewall support than anything else you can buy. It end up being much more predictable in high speed / load, but still gives you grip and that planted feel confidence in slower natural terrain.
very, very biased opinion:Radials are typically a very linear stiffness tire vertically. They have low vertical and lateral stiffness. To get ridable lateral stiffness and keep...
very, very biased opinion:
Radials are typically a very linear stiffness tire vertically. They have low vertical and lateral stiffness. To get ridable lateral stiffness and keep away from rim strikes you typically have to crank the pressure which messes with the damping and rebound of the tire a bit especially at high speeds and high loads. Even at higher pressures the amount of sidewall support is typically limited. This typically results in a good slow speed tire, so for wet weather, natural roots, slower trail speeds are good, but this comes with the pretty significant penalties in high speed, high load.
This new Maxxis casing was developed for the race teams, and if you buy the new casing you are getting the team spec for the 25 / 26 race season which is fun. It really is a no compromise DH tire, where the gravity radials on the market have to cover pedal powered enduro as well so they likely had to make significant concessions, but thankfully we have DD for that. This casing is more progressive than the previous Maxxis DH casing, and way more progressive than radials. This lets you use a lower pressure to get a more “deadened”, slow rebound, planted tire feel that still has more sidewall support than anything else you can buy. It end up being much more predictable in high speed / load, but still gives you grip and that planted feel confidence in slower natural terrain.
I definitely feel the radial benefits at slower speeds & natural terrain, but even at higher speeds I still think they perform well. I'm not a good enough rider to say for sure at higher speeds (I'm more sensitive at the slower, steep techy stuff) but Schwalbe did develop their radials for the likes of Amaury, and he has won a ton of races on them.
Brain Cahal DHX review for those who haven’t seen it. Good insight on the tread and casing in dry blown out bike park conditions.
Loved this review. Discerning how tires work is really hard, and then describing those observations is another challenge entirely. I think Brian killed it with his descriptions, analysis, and comparison. I'm excited to try them out. Two questions for you @notseanday:
How soon can we expect to have MaxxTerra or Dual Compound tires available in the DHX (or any other tire with New DH casing)? While I love having more grip, I don't have that ultra-soft-rear-tire sort of budget and my thumbs can't bear changing tires that often.
Are we not worried about rocks, sticks, and other offending objects in the tread portion of the 120 TPI New DH casing? One of the sales pitches for lower thread count casing has been puncture resistance, and the #1 weakness of high thread count tires is that they're easy to puncture. The sidewalls on the New DH casing seem to be extremely robust and protected, but it seems like the tread area would be more vulnerable than the old dual 60 ply DH casing. Asked diffferently, is the 120 TPI tread area on the New DH casing significantly more puncture resistant than the 120 TPI tread area on a current Double Down casing?
The new casing seems much more appealing to me than the radials.
Are we categorizing the Minion SS DH as a FAFO tire then
I really like these tires after just one ride on them this past weekend. I live in the bay area of California, so read very dry conditions. I rode in Santa Cruz and they were so good. I was running HR3 and DHRII previously at 23 psi in the front, and 28psi in the rear. The DHX at 20psi in the front and 25psi the rear feels perfect. The new casing is so supportive and traction is all time. I'm no reviewer hence why I was saying the Brian Cahal review is the best I've seen on these tires. Everything he mentions aligns with what I've found.
very, very biased opinion:
Radials are typically a very linear stiffness tire vertically. They have low vertical and lateral stiffness. To get ridable lateral stiffness and keep away from rim strikes you typically have to crank the pressure which messes with the damping and rebound of the tire a bit especially at high speeds and high loads. Even at higher pressures the amount of sidewall support is typically limited. This typically results in a good slow speed tire, so for wet weather, natural roots, slower trail speeds are good, but this comes with the pretty significant penalties in high speed, high load.
This new Maxxis casing was developed for the race teams, and if you buy the new casing you are getting the team spec for the 25 / 26 race season which is fun. It really is a no compromise DH tire, where the gravity radials on the market have to cover pedal powered enduro as well so they likely had to make significant concessions, but thankfully we have DD for that. This casing is more progressive than the previous Maxxis DH casing, and way more progressive than radials. This lets you use a lower pressure to get a more “deadened”, slow rebound, planted tire feel that still has more sidewall support than anything else you can buy. It end up being much more predictable in high speed / load, but still gives you grip and that planted feel confidence in slower natural terrain.
I definitely feel the radial benefits at slower speeds & natural terrain, but even at higher speeds I still think they perform well. I'm not a good enough rider to say for sure at higher speeds (I'm more sensitive at the slower, steep techy stuff) but Schwalbe did develop their radials for the likes of Amaury, and he has won a ton of races on them.
Loved this review. Discerning how tires work is really hard, and then describing those observations is another challenge entirely. I think Brian killed it with his descriptions, analysis, and comparison. I'm excited to try them out. Two questions for you @notseanday:
Post a reply to: Maxxis’ New Minion DHX Tire and DH Casing - Thoughts and Discussion