Hey all, with spring on the horizon I'm getting back into spending my disposable income on bike stuff that I don't really need and I'm thinking tires might be the next thing on the list. Last season I ran the stock Nevegals that came with my bike and I thought they were ok, but they're also the only tires I've used since getting into mountain biking so my opinion isn't good for much beyond "they hold air and roll (kind of)".

So what are you guys finding works well for our conditions in the Don?

I have nevegal's for wet conditions and furious freds for dry conditions, the nevi's come out in the spring and late fall. I run the ff most of the summer.

So, I'd recommend a set of light weight low profile tires, ff might not be right for you but a lighter tire than your nevegal's with a smaller lug will be a nice performance improvement.

In the summer I would classify the majority of the don trails to be very hardpack. That being said you want a tire that's not going to penetrate the dirt to provide traction but rather aim to stick to the surface of the dirt. I suggest a tire that has plenty of flatter knobs, which are spaced very closely together. The more contact points with the dirt the better and smaller flatter knobs will be more predictable and less squirmy over hardpack then taller knobs.

Tire suggestions (In personal preferance order):

Maxxis IKON- My tire of choice, many small tightly spaced knobs, grippy rubber compound, fast rolling, wide profile

Maxxis Aspen- Smooth middle rolling surface, grippy rubber compound, small but raised side knob for cornering,

Continental X-King- Very well rounded, small flatter knobs but slightly more spread apart for mud clearance.

Continental race king- Fast rolling, not very much side knob for cornering though

Kenda Small Block 8- Many small knobs, fast rolling,

On my single speed, when conditions are dusty, I swear by my Ritchey Speed Max betas. Looking at them, you'd think they'd be useless, but they work magically well. I've been riding them for 4-5 years now, they're good for a season or two. They don't do wet off-cambers, roots, etc. AT ALL. Thye stick to woodwork well. They can be hard to find.

Maxxis Crossmarks, seem to have random break away points, they slip without warning. I lasted two weeks on them, they are fine on my DJ bike.

I have tried about every purpose designed mud tire, at various psi's, the last two seasons (Muddy Mary, Swampthing, Mud Kings, Intense Spike's, etc.). Nothing works well when Don trails are newly wet. Save your money. When I was 10 years old, we made ice tires for our bikes by inserting 100's of 1/2 inch wood screws into each nob from the casing inside out. Obviously the tubes popped after a week of use, but a tire like that might work on slimy Don mud....

I'll be riding specialized ground control rear/captain front at the start of the spring. I like them because they have great grip, and clear really well - and they have a better profile than most tires with knobs this size so they roll super fast.

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBC ... spid=64083

Rocket ron's for spring and fall, furious fred's once the ground is hard, and when it rains stick to the road.

RaceKing SS set up tubeless through 2010 and 2011.

I'll be using them again in 2012.

Would I recommend them to others?

Probably not.

Kenda Nevegal 29x2.2, Maxxis Ardent 26x2.25

Both came with the bikes. The Nevegals seem to have endless grip, but get destroyed pretty quickly by the 10k of road on the way to the Don. The Ardents seem pretty good, but I haven't had much time on them. Definitely not as horribly slow as the Nevegals though.

I dunno, I was thinking about how the Nevegals did last season and I had a fair bit of washouts on those really dry days when the Don more or less turns to concrete. Now I'm not suggesting for even half a second that my lack of skill wasn't the primary culprit in all of these crashes, but at the same time now that I think about it the nevegals don't really lose grip or slide in a controlled manner at all. Something a bit more predictable would be nice I think.

I'm lookin around now at my options and maybe leaning towards the SB8s because of their availability and because I'm a hack who would tear a thinner tire like a FF to pieces over rocks and such. From what I gather just about anything is going to roll better than Nevegals at least

I'm going to second Conti X-Kings for when it's nice and dry.

'Twas weird showing up for a group ride with 450g tubeless rubber ...and seemingly having the heaviest tires in the group.

Nevegals roll like squares.

Thanks for the advice guys. I have a bit of an aversion to the super light xc tires just because I'd gladly trade a bit of speed for durability and flat resistance and I try not to pay much more than 100 bucks for a set of tires that I don't know if I'll like. So I *did* take the advice for more small knobs than big widely spaced knobs and ended up with a set of 2.35 SB8s, which if anything should provide a measure of grip by size of contact patch alone. We'll see what happens when I get a chance to try these out... in June when the trails are dry enough.

I bought a brand new set of XC Nevegals last year and cut the center lugs as low as possible with a set of side cutters.I use them as hardpack dirt tires for DJs.My goal was to be able to use these tires on my hardtail for the DS race at Blue last year but I ended up using my DH rig like everyone else.