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Jesus, the wear on it already. I've said this to some friends: if I had free tires, I'd run MG all the time. But they just disintegrate in the rear. It lasts ok up front but still less than others. Are they at least offering them in DD/MT at launch? I heard they're not even selling them in 27.5, so targeting more of a trail crowd than enduro/freeride.
Yes DD/MT is available. Also, keep in mind Whistler is extra hard on tires.
Do you know when these are going to be on sale? I'm due for a new rear tire soon and these look like exactly what I want lol
I honestly think it’s holding up really well. I should be running a MaxTerra rear, which would fair even better than MaxxGrip. It would take me a few weeks of riding to get 15k descending back in SoCal, so considering the accelerated testing I’ve done in 3 days on some dry/rocky trails, I’m impressed.
For context, I can (and have on previous trips) tear through a maxx terra DHR 2 in 7 days in whistler with 3-4 days in the park and 3-4 days pedaling. That same DHR 2 would last me ~300-500 miles in socal with the low end being my enduro bike and the higher end of that being my trail bike. That wear looks really good for a maxx grip dissector with those riding stats from my pov. I could tear through the previous gen maxx terra dissector in 8 rides or less in socal (~160 miles).
I can't wait to try forekaster rear and dissector in front for trail bike duty. I wonder what the rolling resistance penalty will feel like in real life for the maxx terra vs maxx grip dissector in front. It would be awesome to have a mini maxx gripp assegai in front for trail bike duty.
I’ve ridden the new dissector front with forecaster rear a couple times and it’s a fantastic lighter trail combo. Dissector has great feedback in the front, was easy to tell when it started to slide and didn’t just snap like some tires. They were both exo+ casings for context. Not typically a maxxis fan but I’m really impressed with what they’ve done.
I wonder how it compares to the Schwalbe Albert. The tread seems to have similar knob spacing/size (not shape) but the side knobs are angled on the Alberts. With the radial casing there must be quite a few differences between the two but their uses seem a bit similar. Have you tried both?
True story. Part of the reason everyone feels like a hero up there is because the rocks are made of high grit sandpaper. You can brake and turn anywhere, even in the wet. Combine that grip with endless vertical from the chairlift and it's a great place to ride but a tough place to be a rear tire.
There are a handful in North America right now and more on the way. If your local shop can’t already get them, it shouldn’t be much longer.
It looks like it's done a whole season already. Is it made of silly putty?
Having been there myself, Whistler eats tires for breakfast. The very grippy slabs of the S2S region also generally eat tires for breakfast, even if the loamy forest is truly the opposite. There's not enough loamy forest to keep up to wear from the rocks. You also probably don't need the stickiest rubber in the mid-summer dustbin of the S2S, but as soon as the fall rain hits and temps drop a bit... full Maxxgrip or die out there.
We got both types of conditions for Crankworx this year. It started with the typical hot, dusty, and blown out summer conditions and then a couple days of hard rain to spice things up. The park bike I borrowed had a MaxxTerra DHR on the rear which made the tech trails… interesting.
https://www.bikeradar.com/features/tech/specializeds-new-tyre-rd-facility
Had no idea that Spesh had a tire R&D facility in Germany. Pretty cool read considering the lore behind all the factory test pilot tires out there from various mfg’s. Wouldn’t be surprised if Logic was running rubber that dropped below what I measured with the off-the-shelf T9. Can’t lie the Maxx Grip stuff that was just under 40a on my durometer sticks as well as it does even is the softest of moon dust… Also some interesting comments about the casing plys and what range they able adjust to.
Of wet, cold granite is scary, try wet, cold limestone... Wet granite probably has more grip than dry limestone.
If you really want to nerd out - https://enduro-mtb.com/en/mtb-tire-test-weight-rolling-resistance-puncture-protection-stats/
Hey the side lugs are all still attached
You sure this is a Dissector?
We have some limestone rock gardens in SW CO and they are indeed like ice even when dry. It seems like no tires really grip well on it.
Anyone able to compare how Albert in Soft Compound compares to MaxTerra in terms of grip and rolling resistance?
The wet granite is grippy until a bunch of mud inevitably gets dragged down onto it, then it can get pretty wild. The highly-polished roots are even more treacherous though. Being an East Coast guy, I have a hard time trusting any rock to have grip.
Serious tire nerd question here: why do tires with transition knobs feel less secure when they're fully on edge? The overall sentiment seems to be that tires with a channel in between center and side knobs are most locked in in a corner, but I don't quite get how the transition knobs would affect that sensation.
Yooooooo...I need tire recommendations!
Bottom two paragraphs are additional info about my riding and a local shop recommendation if you're extra curious. I tried to keep my long-windedness in check until those last two paragraphs.
I need new tires on my 120mm/140mm trailbike...but have had very little experience with different tires. I've only ever ridden old Dissectors on the hardtail and a now-worn-out Aggressor/feels-like-overkill DHF on the trailbike.
Recon/Forekaster seems fast but I've never ridden either. I worry this is not enough bite for my current cornering skill level/aggressive riding style.
Forekaster/new Dissector feels like the most obvious step from the current Aggressor/DHF.
Recon/DHRII or Recon/new Dissector both have me curious.
Either way, I'm probably going Exo+ in back and Exo up front with both being MaxxTerra.
I'm also down to try other brands, too, I just don't know anything about the others. Anyone try the new Continentals? Magno/Xyno? Magno/Krypto Re? Maybe better to do something like dual Schwalbe Nobby Nics?
Any thoughts/insight/advice? Thanks for any help you can lend!
Additional Info if you're interested:
The only decent bike shop near me thinks Recon/Recon is the only choice. That said, they skew heavily XC racing, though, and all of the photos of the riders that are associated with that shop are full-lycra, no peaks, flat bars, and power meters sorts of folks. The trails near me are mostly XC that I try to ride aggressively for max fun-per-moment rather than max-average-speed-after-3-hours. For example, while those riders are sitting down pedaling at their perfect cadence, staying aero, and trying to conserve energy I'm standing up to pedal and trying to pump and carry enough speed around a corner to double a trail gap. Those trails are sometimes decades-old hardpack singletrack with scattered moondust corners, sometimes not-even-burned-in grassy guerilla trails, and a dose of whatever the hell you'd call the halfway point of that.
I'd love to drop a little tire weight and still roll fast, too. I really enjoy my opportunities to go on long pedals when I have time available but I'm not interested in buying an air compressor and swapping tires for certain rides. I don't have enough time the way it is so I'm hoping for the best compromise for all of my riding...which is often "oh shit, I have an hour" and then I'm sprinting from my house to the trails and sometimes "how far can I out-and-back on this 100-mile trail before sundown?"
Thanks again if you read down to here to try to give extra-informed advice!
I've ridden all of the tires you mention extensively and most of the combinations. I'd rule out the Rekon/DHR II combo as I think they are a little too far apart to make a good combo. I'd probably go Forekaster/Forekaster or Forekaster/new Dissector - I'm keen to try that setup soon. Rekons can be super fun in dry/predictable conditions, but the Forekaster feels like it only gives up a little rolling speed for a good bit more grip. Good luck!
pretty fascinating long-form video on rubber, its origins, development, global impact etc. (non-bike related aside from mention of rubber bike tires invented in 1888)
ignore the clickbait title...it's a minor part of the actual video
This is a great question!
At the most basic level, grip = friction x force. There's a fixed amount of mechanical friction that can occur between the ground and the durometer of the rubber for any given amount of force, so a single row of side knobs maximizes the force distributed onto those knobs (as opposed to distributing it across the side knobs and the transition knobs, which would be a larger total surface area).
Think of it like stepping on a single nail vs. lying down on a bed of nails. A single nail can puncture even a thick boot sole because all of the force is concentrated to one tiny spot (super high PSI), but you can lay down on a bed of nails with bare skin because the load is distributed across a much larger surface area.
I've been riding the forekaster/rekon combo for almost the whole summer on my Epic Evo. It's a pretty fun combo on hardpack trails but it gets squirrely in the wet. I'm pretty keen on trying the new dissector with an Exo+ forekaster in the back, that would be a nice combo for wetter days like we get in the fall and lots of leaves (without going full assegai/minion style of heavier tires).
Any word on 2.5 Aspens releasing soon? I've been riding the aspen in the rear also and it's really fun in the dry and hardpack. I've tried dual aspens but was slightly scared with a bit of front understeer on certain more loose curves. A Maxx grip 2.5 Aspen could be cool!
Thanks for the in-depth explanation! I was saying yesterday that the Argotal feels like 100% grip is in the cornering knobs, where the Kryptotal Front feels like 80% of the grip is in the cornering knobs so you can have 20% grip for the transition knobs, so I guess I wasn’t too far off.
Small park near me has smooth limestone type shelf’s everywhere and they are near unrideable when wet. The question is, who makes the straight up stickiest tread out there?
That would be Maxxis MaxxGrip, still the stickiest, still the fastest to lose side knob support due to undercutting.
From pit bits
So I came to riding the Albert 2.5 Trail Radial soft in the back on steep alpine trails a bit vs the Supertrail 2.6 Mary Soft that was a bit worn before. I used slightly higher pressure (1,3 bar vs 1,34 bar) to account for lower volume.
Its hard to do a comparison in this setting riding a new tire after replacing a slightly worn one and I can't say anything to the sturdiness as it was mostly steep alpine terrain. So no big high speed rocky hits.
It just feels like the tire knobs twist more on ashalt which gives me the impression the tire rolls worse even at higher pressure. But I could be mislead by the noise here.
But on the steep trails the Albert gave me even more security compared to the magic mary which is no slouch there. So kinda crazy that you get more grip with a less aggressive tire thread. I can't really say how significant this is. For a fair comparison I would have to ride both tires new back to back on the same terrain and day.
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