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Tires Sticky

976 views 16 replies 10 participants last post by  Optimus 
#1 ·
I want the stickiest, grabbiest tires I can find for hanging on to rockfaces. But it needs to last a long time, and not cost a lot. I've googled everything I can find, I believe in miracles! Cmon intertubez whacha got??
 
#2 ·
You're not going to get all 3. The Schwalbe Magic Mary in either the Trailstar or the softer and stickier and heavier Vertistar compound is flat out the stickiest tire I've ever experienced on any terrain and I ride a lot of rocky stuff as well.

I use the Trailstar compound for most of my riding and it holds up well. No broken knobs and on the front, wear is at least average if not a little better than average. The softer compound will obviously wear out quicker but it will have more grip on rocks. The tread design seems to work on everything including rock faces extremely well.

Ironically, in other Schwalbe tires like the Hans Dampf the harder compounds wear out quicker than the softer compounds. The hard compounds tend to take out chunks or rubber or break knobs while the softer versions just rub the rubber off. I've never tried the MM in the harder Pacestar compound so I can't comment, I'm not even sure if they make it in that compound, but when dealing with Schwalbe, sometimes softer isn't as bad as it might seem.

With this tire you almost get 2 out of 3 but the price is up there. I can't remember exactly what I paid for mine but it was around $80. I didn't like paying that much when there are other good tires for half that much but after my first downhill experience on them, I would probably pay even more for them.

I know Continental has some exceptionally long lasting tires in their lineup that grip well and should be a little cheaper than the Magic Mary. I can't remember the models but I'm sure others can help point you in the right direction.

Still though, for all out grip on the type of terrain you need it for, I doubt there's anything that's going to compare to the MM.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for contributing to this valuable and informative thread!

I ride the Hans Dampfs Pacestar on my 29er and have been very happy with the performance and longevity. You are right that the knobbies tend to fracture, but i still think they last a long time. I don't ride it for specific techy rides, and have never tried the trailstar. The sidewalls on the Hans is awesome and what really sold me on them. They are about $70 per or more. Maybe we need ANOTHER thread on tire costs vs. sidewall performance??
 
#6 ·
That rolling resistance, tho.

I know this isn't a serious thread, and its really just poking fun, but because I got nothing better to do:
I just tossed on a set of Geax Goma 2.4s, (I'm still a scrub 26'er) and aside from being on the weighty side at about 820g each, after only a few rides I'm pretty pleased with them. Really good grip, seem to wear nicely after 3-4 rides, havebetter rolling resistance than they ought to have given the appearance and they were like $22 each at PricePoint. On a 25mm wide internal channel rim, they measure a solid 2.4 wide.

I'm hoping to get some real miles on them and put em through the paces before the sun starts to really bake the valley.

The one real downside I found was that, like all Geax/Vittoria tires I've owned, they were a &*@%ing hassle and a half to mount ghetto tubeless to my Azonic wheels. I had to use every trick in the book to get them to seat, formed them with a tube and sunshine, soap and water, everything. Gear are among the hardest tires I've ever tried to seat on these wheels.
 
#7 ·
Minion 3c ftw.

And I feel that another thread on tire costs vs. sidewall performance would be a very noble and valuable service to provide. Perhaps you could find a way to work in "sketchy transition feel" as well. I know that in my case I have 4 requirements, grabbiest, long lasting, a good value, and don't cause me to shyt myself when turning. These catagories should also be ranked.

1- grabbiest
2- don't cause me to shyt myself when turning
3- long lasting
4- value

As you can see, for me personally, I value not shytting myself while turning much higher than I value value.

This is going to be so great, a real game changer.
 
#11 ·
Hey, a Tire Sticky in the AZ Forum. That isn't the worst idea you've ever come up with :thumbs: There are probably alot of folks who come from other parts of the country that view the AZ desert as another planet.

It just might prevent some crazy guy with too much time from making up 1200 tire related threads :eekster:

I tried the HD once. I had bought it to mount as a front tire but when I tore a sidewall on my rear tire in Fruita, the HD was forced into service. I didn't like it when trying to run 22-23 PSI like I was in my Conti Mtn Kings but once I upped the PSI to 25-26, I liked it better. Unfortunately, the HD sidewall didn't last a month back in SoCal...and yes they were the Snakeskin models.

As far as paying $70, check out the Euro sites. We bought several different Schwalbe tires for less than $40 each from a German site last year. Shipping was $25 rather you ordered one tire or ten so plan ahead.
 
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