Mountain Biking: How to Choose Your Tires
In mountain biking, tire choice is essential: for grip, performance, and comfort, your tire choice will determine your bike's behavior and thus your entire experience. Here is our in-house guide to help you with your next purchase!
To illustrate our points, we refer to the tire range of the brand Maxxis , which offers a wide variety of quality models that suit all mountain biking disciplines.
Tubeless or Inner Tube?
Mountain biking means tubeless, inevitably . In recent years, tubeless has more than proven itself and offers undeniable advantages. Beyond reducing the risk of punctures, which is usually the main argument for tubeless, the absence of an inner tube will also give you better grip and comfort on the trails. This is because the air volume in the tire is greater (the inner tube is replaced by air), and you can also ride with lower air pressures. Most mountain bike tires and wheels are now at least tubeless-ready . And to protect yourself from any risk during your rides, you can always carry one or two inner tube(s) with you to reliably fix all your punctures ;)
What Tire Width?
The choice of your tire width will be determined by your riding style: for cross-country and trail, efficiency is prioritized, so widths will be narrower than for enduro and downhill, where the priority will be grip .
While not entirely restrictive, here are our recommendations for each type of riding with examples of tire models offered by Maxxis:
- 2.1" to 2.35" for cross-country (Ardent)
- 2.25" to 2.45" for trail/all-mountain (
Minion DHF
,
Minion DHR
)
- 2.35" to 2.6" for enduro (
Minion DHF
and
Minion DHR
again, but also
High Roller II
)
- Any section at 2.5" or more for downhill (
Assegai
)
Remember to check frame manufacturers' warranties regarding the available clearance for your tires: each bike model has a maximum tire section warranty. In case of an incident with tires wider than this warranty, it can be risky and prove very costly.
The Tire Casing
A tire casing is its structure, its construction . It is made of more or less thick woven nylon or cotton threads. It can be more or less reinforced to adapt to the riding style and terrain. Its weight, grip, and puncture resistance will depend on it.
Brands offer several types of casing, the difference between each type being the reinforcement of the tire and thus its "hardness". The number indicating the flexibility of the casing is given by the TPI number, an English measurement indicating the number of threads per inch (1 inch = 2.5 cm). Above 100 TPI, a casing is considered very flexible . The most rigid casings are perfect for cross-country riding, and the more flexible the casing, the more suitable it will be for aggressive riding.
Maxxis, for example, offers Double Down casings for enduro and downhill, which are the best in their range in terms of grip. They feature two layers of 120 TPI casing reinforced with a butyl insert, offering the rider significant support and increased protection, in a lightweight package.
The EXO and EXO+ casings, on the other hand, will be ideal for cross-country and trail, although some enduro riders will also find satisfaction with these casings depending on the intensity of their rides. The EXO casing offers material that is extremely resistant to cuts and abrasion. This densely woven fabric is also lightweight and very flexible, ensuring that tire performance is not affected. For its part, the EXO+ casing combines the previous technology with their other Silk Shield technology, which extends from bead to bead with a layer of EXO along the sidewalls. Combined, these two materials create EXO+, which improves tread puncture protection by 27%; sidewall durability by 51%; and flat pinch resistance by 28%.
The Tire Compound
The compound determines the tire's wear resistance and also affects riding grip , and thus its performance. A soft compound ensures maximum grip in difficult conditions but wears out quickly. This will be better suited for performance-oriented riders, regardless of the discipline, but it will have an impact on the budget as tires will need to be replaced more regularly! While a hard compound offers slightly reduced comfort and performance, but a longer lifespan.
Maxxis offers, on one hand, a MaxxSpeed compound perfect for cross-country or more recreational mountain biking, whose outer layer compounds are specially formulated to reduce rolling resistance and optimize tread wear and traction.
Specialized enduro and downhill riders will find their happiness in tires equipped with the MaxxGrip compound, which uses the softest rubber compounds to offer optimal quality in terms of grip and slow rebound properties, for optimal traction.
Finally, for intermediate riding, there is the MaxxTerra compound, which is softer and offers more traction than MaxxSpeed, while providing better tread wear and less rolling resistance than the MaxxGrip compound.
The Tire Profile
The profile is the tire's identity: its shape, height, and the position of its knobs . The knobs are, of course, fundamental in mountain biking: those located in the center of the tire are responsible for efficiency, traction, and braking, and the side knobs provide grip in turns.
Generally, the taller and more spaced the knobs, the more aggressive the tire , and the more bite it will offer at the expense of efficiency. This will be ideal for enduro and downhill. Conversely, low and tight knobs will offer low rolling resistance and limited grip. The perfect choice for cross-country. Tires for trail and all-mountain will necessarily offer a variable compromise between these two criteria! Here again, this generally goes hand in hand with other equipment: narrower tires, equipped with EXO and EXO+ casings and a MaxxSpeed compound will offer a relatively low profile , whereas wider models, equipped with Double Down and MaxxGrip will have a significantly higher profile .
Our Tips for Equipping Yourself
It is very common in mountain biking to equip your bike with two different tires on the front and rear . Indeed, riding technique is fundamental in the various mountain biking disciplines, and it can be very beneficial to opt for a tire adapted to the role of each wheel. The front wheel, being the steering wheel, is the most important for steering precision and grip. The rear wheel, on the other hand, being the driving wheel, the parameters of efficiency and comfort will therefore be all the more important for the tire fitted to it .
For example, if you are a trail rider, you can easily choose a wider tire on the front, like the Minion DHF , with a softer casing, taller knobs, and a softer compound on the front of your bike, and on the rear, a narrower tire, like the Minion DHR , with a stiffer casing, shorter knobs, and a harder compound.
Be careful not to overdo it ; any choice will be a matter of compromise, and of course, you must respect the characteristics of your riding style with everything we mentioned previously! It would indeed not be at all relevant for your feel to equip yourself with a downhill tire like the Assegai at the front and a cross-country tire like the Ardent at the rear.
Similarly, there's nothing stopping you from opting to have the same model on both wheels if you feel comfortable! With the versatile Minion DHR and DHF models, people often think that R means "Rear" and F means "Front"! However, R is for "Race" and F is for "Freeride"! It is therefore entirely possible for performance-oriented trail or enduro riding to opt for two Minion DHRs or for more recreational riding to choose two Minion DHFs to equip your bike.
Now you're ready to choose your tires and prepare for your next mountain bike rides! Hesitating about the destination? Check out our article on the best mountain bike trails in Quebec to find inspiration ;)
Ready to shop for your tires? Check out our mountain bike tire selection immediately! You can also take a test on the Maxxis website, which will determine the ideal tire for your riding style.
See you on the trails!
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