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Ultra soft does handle damp or wet conditions well. Soft works well on the rear. An Ultra soft Magic Mary with the Tacky Chan side knobs (the new prototype spied at WCs appears similar to this) would be the perfect year round tire for me. As it is Magic Mary in Fall /Winter softer conditions, Tacky Chan for the Spring / Summer as trails get dry and hard.

I don't want to sound disrespectful, because I love the fact that company representatives from Schwalbe and other brands are active in our humble Vital forums, providing useful info and clarification. But with all due respect... DAMPING

Will I really have to go Schwalbe? So many hats eaten lately... What's next, running Fox suspension??

Ok here are my thoughts on MTB tyres: My setup is singleply tyres with cushcore and tube. It's a tad lighter than my previous setup which was DH tyres and tubes. I'm able to run lower pressures for maximum grip without flatting or destroying rims. I used to replace rear rims once a year. For the bikepark I just increase tyre pressure by 3psi front and back. So typical setup is 2.5/2.6 in tyre with 12-14psi (15-17psi for bikepark) in the front and 15-17psi (18-20psi for bikepark) in the back. I weigh 60kg ~132lb My favourite all conditions tyre is...

I’d say magic Mary/TackyChan would be more betterer. I’m running TC’s on both ends with SS trail front and soft trail rear. They do have excellent traction in corners. Happy with braking performance as well.

Agree with everything the last poster said. I'll add that, if you're curious about whether the 2.6" Specialized tires will fit in the same space that a Maxxis tire fits, the best point of comparison is the ETRTO dimensions on the side of the tire. It should be a number like 622x63 or something. 622 is the bead seat diameter (correlates to wheel size) and 63 is the actual tire width. These numbers are harder to find on the internet but they're a hundred times more accurate than the nominal sizing that the manufacturer lists (2.3", 2.4", etc) because they're...

How did you find the exo+/DD casings of the maxxis tyres? ie squirming, punctures and what kind of pressure did you run? A 2.5" tyre should be fine - most modern bikes are fine with that and I think the extra volume will be good as well. The key things are casing & width - I feel like Double down is often the minimum for a lot of people, and its proportional to rider weight so I would be looking for tyres that are at least equivalent to that. Specialized tyres seem to mostly have awful thin casings - I...

Softer compound is always going to roll slower than a harder compound, regardless of tread pattern, unless you're comparing extreme treads like a mudspike vs. a semi-slick. Compound makes more of a difference on grip than tread pattern, too. For instance, for a front tire, I'd rather have any Maxxis tread in a MaxxGrip compound than my favorite in a MaxxTerra. I think tread patterns are kinda overrated compared to the impact of casing, compound, and air pressure. Not that treads don't matter at all, but they're definitely less important than the other three.

Fascinating conversation, y’all

You obviously have no idea how hard it is to name a product! 😉

Tacky Chan looks good too.

Schwalbe Magic Mary is available in Super Trail, Super Ground with Soft compound, and Super Trail with Ultra Soft compound.

New Schwalbe "Assegai" coming:

Not much to add, they come in "soft" rather that ultra soft, weigh upward of 1400g, the thread rolls somewhat ok. I am not exaggerating when I say that I could ride them with 10psi, I was usually running the rear around 18psi (I weigh 75kg = 165lbs) and hammering down rocky track without a care in the world (my recently deceased ex511 rim might say otherwise). Only negative is you might be restricted to 2.6". Amaury Pierron won Fort William on them, which is basically the only test that matters.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus.....if you know,you know.