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TIRES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

Tires are a pretty big deal for us... They can make a bike feel more comfortable, more agile, faster, more confident... They can make a ride better and can make you feel like a hero. Tires are SO important to the overall off-road experience it's hard to fathom.

We're tire whores, lets get that out of the way right off the bat. We test more tyres than anyone we know, we spend SO much time on tires that it's hardly logical. But what is a dude or dudette to do? I read this blurb on a website somewhere "First of all, a tire isn’t just a strip of rubber around your rim.  In fact, it isn’t even real rubber from a rubber tree!  Tires are now made with synthetic rubber rather than the real stuff.  With synthetics, the manufacturers can now control the characteristics of the tire in terms of its durability, rolling resistance, conformability and rebound.  There’s always a compromise to be made.  For example, for a tire to last a long time, the rubber must be hard.  The downside is that hard rubber doesn’t conform to the riding surface very well and so traction is poor.  For a tire to provide maximum grip, whether on pavement or rocks ‘n roots, the rubber compound must be soft.  In fact, a tire with the consistency of roofing tar could maintain grip at extreme lean angles but wouldn’t last much longer than a ride or two before most of it had been distributed along the road or trail." Suffice it to say that tires are complicated... and that's where personal preference comes in.

Some prefer big tires (most do) some prefer narrow tires (these folks are a dying breed) some prefer aggressive knobs and some like their smooth treads... Some are ok swapping tires every year so these folks play with softer compounds for more grip, some like long lasting compounds and accept that the wet root might be more treacherous.

While tires don't cure all, they certainly do make an appreciable difference. Drop by, ask our staff what their experience has demonstrated and what others have been saying. There IS a perfect tire for you... all you have to do is find it. We can help.

Here are 5 tires we like... there are more... but let's start here.

TIOGA PSYCHO GENIUS
The new kid on the block... Tioga has what we think might be a runnaway success here. While we tend to like light freeride tires, this is more of a burly XC tire... and that's likely what we like about it... Tioga describes it as being "Inspired by the cornering prowess of the iconic Tioga Psycho line of tires and infused with an innovative approach to knob functionality" and whatever that means, it's pretty amazing. Both Darci and I are running these tires right now and we're sold on how fast they are, how grippy they are and how they handle the all-important off-camber rock that we like to ride... even when wet. The bestest thing though? The price. While Schwalbe makes a killer tire, they also charge nearly 30 bucks more for it. These Tioga's are available from around $50 and that's what makes this tire one of our new favorites: We can afford them. Check back for more as we spend more time with it... but in the interim, check out their little video on the Genius. Quite interesting.

SHWALBE BIG BETTY
Our Unofficial Gord's Bike Club tire... amazing tire, lovely tire. Makes any XC bike feel like a freeride rig. Yes, they are very pricey, yes, they are worth the almost $100 per tire some places are charging for them... Here's an example: Running through the treacherous Pine Ridge trail at Falcon Trails blew me away. We now have a full year of testing under our belt and it's been proclaimed by many as THE tire of the last few years. Only available in a large 2.4 The Big Betty is quite superb for technical riding. Used to be that we could get this tire in 3 different compounds here in Canada: ORC compound being the best all around, the Triple good for added traction and the Gooey for extreme stick (but quick to wear on the rear). Now we're limited to the tripple, which ain't a bad thing at all. I can't say enough about this tire. It's twelve steps-up from the Kenda that you can read about lower. The only knock on it is that it's not a super fast tire... but even at a low low 25 psi it rides NICE. "The closest thing to a perfect tire I've ever tested, period". 9.5/10 Simply amazing.

KENDA NEVEGAL and BLUE-GROOVE
Never thought a tire would make such a difference to my riding until I weaned myself off of Specialized tires a hundred years ago onto something called a Kenda Blue Groove and Nevegal a few years ago. Wow... what grip, what flexibility and what comfort... I have owned 2.35's and 2.5's and both were superlative in their ability to climb and grab onto wet rock... perfectly suited to my slow, technical climbing style and until the arrival of the Big Betty, they were my high water-mark. Then I went out to the desert and tested Ellsworth bikes with several types of tires... Liked some of the tires, hated a few... (Kenda Cortez, Ritchey Motovaders) loved only two: The before-mentioned Kenda Nevegals and Blue Grooves and the Maxxis Minions and Advantages (more on those later on down here). The big thing around here was matching the Blue Groove to the Nevegal... The latter on the rear with the Blue Groove in the front... the justification being that the BG is smoother when laid on its side... Although my propensity would now be to put a Nevegal on the front as well for more lateral grip. These tires are simply put hero makers... especially in the Kevlar bead variety... Light, sticky... they make anyone feel safe, secure and firmly planted. Put a set under a 5 inch bike and you have THE bike for the rider looking to make giant leaps forward in MTB'ing. I score them a 8.5 because I value grip and technical climbing ability over speed. The downside, these tires are what they are mostly because of compound and that compound is stickey-E (that's what they call it) and that stuff picks up all sorts of crap ... like gum under your shoe. Since this review we've moved on to better tires but this is still an old stand-by for those on a budget.

MAXXIS ADVANTAGE
I started the season with a set of Maxxis Advantages, a tire described by Maxxis this way: "Alison Dunlap designed the ADvantage as a high-volume, aggressive cross country tire that corners great on big side-knobs. It also climbs and brakes with authority thanks to the opposing parallelogram centre tread design. Ramped centre knobs keep rolling resistance minimal and the wide lug-spacing sheds mud easily." I also read in some of Maxxis' ads that they were the 'ultimate' climb to the top of the hill and then let a bit of air out and hammer downhill... My experience with that tire would support that claim... Plus the fact that this tire has an outer diameter that's roughly 1.5 cm's larger than the Kenda Nevegal... With all the advantages (faster, rolls over more stuff) and disadvantages (tight to fit in some frames, heavy-ish) that come with a larger diameter tire. All in all I'd call it faster and better wearing than the Nevegal. While some people have loved this tire... I took a slight step back and found this tire a wee bit unsettled.

MAXXIS MINION
The second set of Maxxis tires I liked were the MINION. I rode these in the desert in Vegas and previously at Panorama (DH)... Two more different setting you could not imagine. Regardless, these tires excelled in both situations. A fast tire that really needs to be ridden at speed to be fully appreciated, The Maxxis Minion is after all a DH tire. Rocky specs it on their most excellent Slayer family. The tire comes in front and rear configurations and never misses a step in the lose stuff... The rear just dug in and offered a nice smooth transition from locked-in to sliding out. At warp nine, under a nice DH rig, they are my tire of choice, Unflappable in the rear. The front was less than excellent in smaller widths but a real champ when you get it in 2.7... oh, what a sweet big tire that is. Do it... get a 2.7 in the front and either a 2.3 or 2.5 in the rear and let it rip.