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I'm not only talking about weight but the knob height in the sense that on more hard packed trails or rocks tall knobs fold and give you that drifting/unprecise feeling.
I notice it with the magic mary and assume it's worse with the shreddas.
Well I guess that's good as the current one is pretty piss poor up front unless you have grippy enough terrain to get to those side knobs and stay there.
I've never had an issue with the dead spot in a front tire until the TC but in my loose rocks it was a lot of mad grip with edge biting followed by massive slip when terrain prevented full commitment, and it got tiresome.
Also, I agree with radials just not working at higher speeds for me. You can add a lot of air pressure to counteract this but then they feel like a balloon and any advantage is gone. They are fantastic at trail bike speeds, and I do rather like the gravity Albert 2.6 on the rear of my e-bike.
Grid Trail is in my experience less protective but more supple, with better feel than the Conti Enduro. As far as softness/grip goes, I’d place T9 and T7 as softer than the Conti compounds, but not quite as soft as MaxxGrip and MaxxTerra respectively.
The Albert Trail Pro casing seems to be too weak for enduro stuff. At least for me with full power ebike, lighter rider and I'm not that fast and don't ride gnarly trails with sharp rocks. So probably won't work for heavier/faster riders and/or low pressure. The Magic Mary Trail Pro seems to have more meat and could work for me in the back. Didn't test it yet.
First ride on shreddas today (running a shredda rear on both front and rear wheels)
Super draggy and too aggressive now the ground is getting firmer going into the spring - squirms a bit on the hard pack and quite a bit over roots and rocks
Would be awesome in steep loam with the braking and deeper tread, but will probably be taking these off in favour of MM radial front / TC rear - and will keep them safe for next winter.
Hopefully news on radial TC and BB soon
Riding the in the PNW, the radials are the best tires I've ridden in wet conditions. More grip than any comparable tire I've ridden and feel great at high speeds, although the MM doesn't match the outright cornering of the HR3. There is definitely an adjustment period from standard casings but at my weight (170) I don't have to run excessively high pressure. I think whether they work for you is likely terrain and rider dependent. I love them in the wet but don't see as much advantage in dry conditions.
I'm also the odd one out because I love the TC as a summer front tire on familiar trails. You definitely have to lean into it though - can be a bit terrifying until it hooks up!
Have fun buying two sets of tires in the next couple of months i guess?
Nah, the tire stash is healthy but I'd love to get back on a TC.
Some thoughts on a few different topics here:
I spent last summer with a Vittoria Martello (trail casing, 4C) on the front of my tallboy used for riding my local trails, I think it offered a pretty capable well rounded tire. The feel is similar to the old butchers where in corners it never really feels locked in like a minion but there's adequate but not great grip. I've got exactly 2 short (<1 min) descents that have any actual steep bits near me and if there's something that pushes the jack of all trades master of none feel of the tire it would be that it was confident braking. Definitely overkill for the majority of my locals but rolls well enough that it's fine to pedal around XC stuff, ultimately it feels like it's well suited as a rear tire for trail bike stuff (not much of a surprise). My enduro bike has a DH casing / Soft Xynotal which works out well for me as a good balance of rolling speed and traction, but the braking grip is the weak spot (and only gets worse as the rubber wears) so I'd be tempted to try an enduro casing Martello in that spot.
Those E13 tires were interesting, I had the TRS (DHR) in enduro casing Mopo ompund and the knobs seemed like they had very stiff base rubber but very tacky rubber on the outside. A major contrast to Maxxgrip where the knobs are more pliable and Conti Super soft where the base and outer rubber seem seem to be somewhere between the maxxis and E13 compounds. Vee's website was functional (hooray) and they were running a bogo tire deal so I picked up some attack HPL/FSXs, and the surface rubber is very soft and sticky, with the supporting rubber being a good bit softer than the E13s. I thought the E13 tires were pretty good so I'm excited to try the Vee's.
I haven't tried enough tires to know whether it's the compound or the tread, but the Assegai feels like it lags behind the Crypto front in both cornering feel and total grip. I initially got a bad impression from the assegai using the with the stock 35mm width Ibis rims on my old ripmo AF, they always felt super vague but I don't know whether to chalk that up to the rim width or the flex of the rim. I've since run them on 30mm rims and they're great but I prefer the feel of the Conti which have also bailed me out in sports where I was not expecting to be able to hold a line through a corner.
I think one thing that will be good about the industry settling in on a few different tread patterns is that we'll be able to narrow down what sort of rubber compounds / knob stiffness are best for each tread type and trail conditions because the current top end DH oriented options are pretty wildly different from brand to brand.
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/schwalbe-tacky-chan-trail-pro-ultra…
2.5 eh.. If its the same casing size as the Albert that'll be no bueno for me on the Druid rear in 29. 😑
They have some "gravity pro" options on there which are listed as 2.4 🤔 a gravity pro is their radial casing isn't it?
I've taken a punt and ordered a gravity pro soft 27.5 x 2.4 last week, shipping status hasn't changed for a while though so maybe it is the new tyre. Bikeinn are known for publishing unreleased products on their site too early
Anyone here riding an open block pokey boi tire like HR3, argotal, or equivalent in a location like Squamish that has equal parts sustained slabs but also deep loose skidders? Curious if the HR3 is manageable enough on slabs to be a primary summer tire there or if it’s enough of a detriment on pure slab riding for it to not be the first choice, despite how nice it is in the steep and loose.
I’d say pick where you want your tire to truly excel. If you ride serious slabs pokies may not be your jam, but if you are on high consequence skidders often you’ll love the pokie effect.
Overall I’d say these types of tires suffered from the assumptions that they would be squirmy or something, but the reality is that they feel really good on hardpack considering how good they are in the loose.
I would imagine that in a straight line you probably would not be bothered by their performance on a slab. I think where you start to notice a little bit of squirm, but I would also imagine that in Squamish loose corners are probably more where you want to optimize your tire choice.
Yes. Swapped from Assegai/DHR2 combo to full HR3 and zero regrets. Spent a long go in Whistler and Squamish during that change and absolutely loved it. The pros far outweighed the cons. Performed better in everything that wasn't loose a lot better than I was expecting. Then the loose was another ballgame of awesome. I can expand more but want to simply state it was worth it to me. Will continue to now be my go to for all my riding.
How different was climbing effort of DHR vs HR3? Assuming of course that you ran the same casing and compound.
I did not stay same on compound. Was always on a Maxxterra and HR3 is only maxxgrip. Casing stayed the same. Immediate thought, I noticed the increase in drag. I would say that immediate feeling was only the first couple minutes of riding and lasted about 2 rides. Never thought of it again and was never bothered again. Have been happy ever since. I have now been on it everywhere from Revelstoke, Whistler, and Squamish a bunch to now back home in the wide variety of terrain choice in SW CO. I think I am digging it so much that it continues to be worth the trade off for me in wear rate, drag, and all that. I am happy continuing to ride it
HR3 now comes in exo+ MaxxGrip too for people worried about weight
I've got HR3/DHR2 on in PNW with similar conditions. It's good for all of that and probably my fav Maxxis front at the moment.
As a fellow V2 Druid owner, it does not seem that the 2.5 Tacky Chan is as tall as a Albert. Mounted to a 30mm internal RF Era.
I'd run it in the dry, but in the mud it could be problematic.
Conversely, my wife runs a 25mm internal rim in the rear of her V2 Druid and her 2.5" Albert never had clearance issues.
That's good to hear, I had no problems with the 2.4s but the Albert buzzes often. Any comment on the rolling compared to the OG?
Probably to get the larger Rotor clearance he needs
Those are cps washers to correct misalignment.
I haven't noticed a difference! Though wet winter riding is not the best for noticing rolling speed differences.
Can you say anything about how soon we’ll be able to buy them?
The tacky chan gravity pro I ordered the other week on Bikeinn keeps getting its delivery window pushed back, so I'm assuming it's the new tyre
Saying 25-31 March now
Please hurry up 😬🙏 these shreddas are so sketchy now the trails are dry 😂
Yes, Argotal in super soft up front and kryptotal soft rear. Best all around tire combo I've tried.
The hr3 tends to be much more "squirmy" on hardpack and slabs.
The radial mm has a similar squirmy, vague feeling in fast corners, and is average on slabs.
DH/gravity casings for all, of course.
Interesting I have tended to hear the opposite - that the HR3 squirms less under load than Argotal. Anecdotal obviously.
That was my experience with the argotal in front, especially when new as the argotal is less of an intermediate and step towards mud spike in knob height then the hr3. Neither are at their best on rock slabs to be fair.
Your mileage may vary of course.
Most of my riding is aggressive bike park stuff. A caveat with any of the continentals is that they need a solid day or two to "scuff" in.
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