Tires Maxxis or DEXTER

I ride mixed terrain and a good all year tyre for me is the Assegai. With that said, I had DHF front and rear on my old bike and it was stuck to the ground like glue.

Very dusty here, prefer DHF over Assegai. Also prefer Dissector on rear, I find that combo rolls well and has heaps of traction in the dry.

Assegai is very good but be aware it can be very cloggy with mud and needs speed to clear. From what you say of your riding it might not be a problem for you but wet clay especially on slower tech trails can pretty much just turn them into a slick.

I've ran the DHF for years and currently run it, but I've ridden a few bikes with the Assegai and I think it is in every way a better, more predictable tyre than a DHF.

I run a DHR II and an Assegai for downhill. I love the hookup of the Assegai for varied conditions. The DHF and Assegai are both great tires but I find the Assegai more aggressive with better traction overall.

I’ve ridden both for many years. The DHF was designed and made when tires were 2.3 wide. As the front tire has generally moved to a 2.5 width the space between the centre and side knobs opened up quite a bit and there is now a vague area of less traction at certain lean angles before you get onto the side knobs.

Assegai is my favorite front tire but it is a little slow rolling. If you don't mind that then there aren't many better front tires.

I don’t have enough experience on Spesh tires other than the Sworks Fasttrack/Renegade I bought last year on a similar sale. They weigh in at around 620g each in the 2.35 size, which is much lighter than my Rekon Race 2.4WT at 780g. Feels nice to lose that much rotational weight and the grip I found to be similar. Also similar efficiency. What I didn’t like was the flimsy sidewall. There’s a reason they are so light. Lots of tire squirm and feeling of folding over in turns unless I ran high PSI (+5PSI compared to the Rekon Race). This is on a 30mm IW rim. Also, I had to use my tire plug for the first time on the front tire (Fasttrack). I’ve gone back to a slow XC setup of Rekon/Rekon Race this year but with a race or two coming up I’m debating what to do. I’m intrigued by the Aspen/Rekon Race combo but Aspen’s weigh about the same as my Rekon Race.

They are definitely not twice as good. I was riding a Rekon/Ardent race combo and replaced them with Fast Track/ Renegade while those were on sale and I don’t feel like I’ve had any drop in performance.

Specialized control tyres and it’s not even close.

No it’s not worth the “premium” as they’re not more premium. The spesh tyres are specced on their £14000 bikes, they are also racing and winning world cups, cape epics, short track races, marathons for years with the rest of them. Spesh has led the way with a couple others with FEA and camps set up for surely testing their tyres with a refresh every few years. There is no “premium”. The stickers are fancier on the maxxis. But they’re heavier. Higher rolling resistance. Higher weight. No noticeable gain in traction to account for those either. Spesh offers sworks 120 tpi, softer and harder (T7 and T5 respectively) control tyres. All you’re choosing is 120 vs 60 tpi determining a less or more robust carcass.

A life long sworks 120 tpi snob. I went maxxis aspen and hated life. That’s a gravel tyre. Tore through the Vittoria barzo. Went ikon and they’re a great once was a race tyre now a recreational tyre— but been left for dead with rolling resistance, grip and weight by the competition. Rekon race won’t get a look in from the tyre tests and price and weight. Nah ta.