Tire combinations for rocky North Jersey

Drock

Drock

New Member
Hey everyone. First post here would appreciate the input. I'm riding a santa cruz tallboy with 27.5 plus (2.8) maxxis recon tires currently and need to make a change due to tire wear. Curious what other people run Maxxis wise (or other brands) to ride the rocky trails up here in the north? I'm an intermediate trail rider, will do small jumps, drops and skinnys and am not afraid to go fast downhill. Considering switching to a DHR II up front and keeping a recon in the back. I havn't rode a park like Mountain Creek yet but would like to eventually. Thoughts? Thank you!!!
 
DHR2 is probably the standard/most common choice for the type of riding that you're describing. If you're planning on riding that bike at Mountain Creek on the same tires/wheels, then you probably want to look at the DD casing, if not the true DH casing. Then again, that's a fair bit of extra weight to haul around, so it kind of depends on your priorities. Also, you can certainly ride a Tallboy at Mt Creek and have a good time, but I'd instead recommend doing a rental instead. Save wear and tear on your bike and experience the park on the equipment best suited to the terrain.
 
i liked the knobby nic 2.8 in the front - but went back to recons on my TB
 
ebarker9 said:
DHR2 is probably the standard/most common choice for the type of riding that you're describing. If you're planning on riding that bike at Mountain Creek on the same tires/wheels, then you probably want to look at the DD casing, if not the true DH casing. Then again, that's a fair bit of extra weight to haul around, so it kind of depends on your priorities. Also, you can certainly ride a Tallboy at Mt Creek and have a good time, but I'd instead recommend doing a rental instead. Save wear and tear on your bike and experience the park on the equipment best suited to the terrain.
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yeah I definitely want to try the park out but it won't be a regular thing. I've been impressed with how well my recon's exo casing has held up, I feel like i have really beat them up and they've never quit on me. My major concern with putting the DHR2 on would be it slowing the bike down on flats and more XC riding but its only taken a few front tire slips on downhills to make traction a huge concern for me
 
Drock said:
yeah I definitely want to try the park out but it won't be a regular thing. I've been impressed with how well my recon's exo casing has held up, I feel like i have really beat them up and they've never quit on me. My major concern with putting the DHR2 on would be it slowing the bike down on flats and more XC riding but its only taken a few front tire slips on downhills to make traction a huge concern for me
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After a while you'll get comfortable with front wheel drift.
 
i have NOT been happy with the durability of the rekons in rocky north jersey trails, they also have been very sensitive to wet trails.

On my 27.5+ wheels i have a set of 2.8 knobby nics and have been relatively happy with them, however my go-to wheelset is currently running magic mary front and hans dampf rear, nice grippy tires that hold up well in the rocks, only gripe is the milage i get out of the rear, but sticky rubber is soft, and soft rubber wears fast.
 
I run a DHR2 on the front, Rekon rear on my trail bike, and it works well for me pretty much everywhere. The Rekon rolls fast, and is better than I thought it would be for forward traction and climbing, but it lacks a bit in the braking department when conditions are a bit sketchy. It dose seem to be wearing a bit quicker than expected, but personally, I'd rather have a good tire that wears fast, than a rock hard tire that sucks for traction but wares like iron.On the front, the DHR2 works great. EXO casing on both. I've heard all the horror stories, but live and ride in the northern rocks, and never had a problem with cutting sidewalls.

On my 160mm bike, that I use mainly as a park bike now, I'm running the DHF front , DHR 2 rear combo, which no surprise, works a treat.

My hardtail has 27.5+ Specialized Purgatory's, 3.0's, and again, they work much better than I expected they would. They roll pretty damn good for such a big tire, while still providing really good traction.
 
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shrpshtr325 said:
i have NOT been happy with the durability of the rekons in rocky north jersey trails, they also have been very sensitive to wet trails.

On my 27.5+ wheels i have a set of 2.8 knobby nics and have been relatively happy with them, however my go-to wheelset is currently running magic mary front and hans dampf rear, nice grippy tires that hold up well in the rocks, only gripe is the milage i get out of the rear, but sticky rubber is soft, and soft rubber wears fast.
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i have a Hans Dampf on the front and man does it drift way too soon. I cant wear it down fast enough. Going with a Nobby Nic next.
 
Drock said:
My major concern with putting the DHR2 on would be it slowing the bike down on flats and more XC riding but its only taken a few front tire slips on downhills to make traction a huge concern for me
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I would not run 2.8 width if you're concerned with slowing down on flats and xc riding. IMO 2.3-2.5 are plenty wide for downhill and won't slow you down when doing xc riding.
 
The Kalmyk said:
Interested as to why you didnt stick with the Schwalbes?
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braking sucks. the rear went from not much to locked rather quickly.
front was better for straight line braking, but wasn't confident scrubbing speed while turning.
front hooked up the turn just fine tho.
 
Patrick said:
i liked the knobby nic 2.8 in the front - but went back to recons on my TB
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pooriggy said:
I would not run 2.8 width if you're concerned with slowing down on flats and xc riding. IMO 2.3-2.5 are plenty wide for downhill and won't slow you down when doing xc riding.
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whats the smallest tire I could run on my raceface AR40 rims though? I was assuming 2.8 was probably the smallest???
 
The Kalmyk said:
i have a Hans Dampf on the front and man does it drift way too soon. I cant wear it down fast enough. Going with a Nobby Nic next.
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i tried the hans dampf on the front, its definitely not something i would recommend, but on the rear its a great tire. granted i only get 500-600 miles out of it on the rear, (the front goes closer to 1k). I had a Nobby Nic on there, i still prefer the mary on the front.
 
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