First ride on Maxxis Minion DHX front and rear

I had my first ride on the DHX today, front and rear. I’ve never felt more confident going waaay faster than I ever have before on the trail, than I did today! For reference, I’ve been riding the same trail at least once a week, 2-3 laps for the last 5 and a half months, only taking 2 weeks off. I ran the exact same pressure as I ran in my Assegai/DHR DH casing combo, 25/28. I’m riding a 50 pound eeb with 200mm travel front and rear. I weigh 180 pounds buck naked. 

I’ve got five bullet points. First, the rolling speed is instantly noticeable, I was going faster straight away. The second thing I noticed was the casing dampened the chunk much better. It didn’t squirm or deflect, it just felt good, like way thicker. I feel like there’s going to be a bigger window for air pressure adjustment. I didn’t feel the need to air down but I will at some point. The third thing I noticed was that the rear tire locked up easier than even my worn out DHR2. It doesn’t have the same stopping power as the dhr. Would I swap out the DHX for a DHR on the rear? I don’t think I would. The DHX worked so well as a pair. I could see a DHXR in the future that has the same side knob support with better braking. Make it happen Maxxis! The fourth thing I noticed was how fast I was cornering and not getting sketched out. Not one time did the tires try to slide out on me. Even on flat blown out corners with trees along the side that I would normally slowdown for I was hitting full speed, faster than I’ve ever gone on that trail. I felt like a worldcup downhill racer. I was going bigger on the jumps, faster on the corners, and using my brakes a lot less. It was almost scary how fast I was going but awesome at the same time because it never felt sketchy, and it’s only gonna better with more time on them. The fifth thing I noticed was at the bottom of the trail I normally do a power slide on the gravel road and the back tire was not sliding out even a little bit. It was stuck like glue.

Today was a game changer. I feel like I’ve been waiting for this kind of traction and support on an MTB for 33 years. 

Huge shout out to The Lost Co!!! After a shipping snafu that was my fault, the tire got sent back to them. They overnighted it back to me the second time. I offered to pay for the shipping before they sent it back to me but they covered it. They went above and beyond!