Tires Maxxis or GT Radial

After using inferior tires for years, the maxxis high roller 2 tires specd on my bike made me realize that tire choice is the greatest factor impacting cornering confidence, hands down. Once you actually feel the difference between a regular tire and a great tire it becomes a priority in your gear choices. I’ve never tried a maxxis tire that wasn’t great at whatever its intended use case is for. Maxxis makes a tire for every kind of riding style you’re trying to achieve, and each style works as intended. It’s hard for me to move away from maxxis when I know I’m getting exactly what I expect from their product.

I have tried many tires. I ride desert southwest US, just about every trail is rocky, angular, chunky, loose stuff that can shred a tire. When it comes down to it- the maxxis tires hold traction longer than anything, and they last longer than anything else.

Another dhr could work. They roll super fast for their chunk.

I've had good luck with the Maxxis tires, I've had them on all three of our trailers without a failure.

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 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.

Expect to go slower. DH is for downhill. My bike came with those and my God it was a slog on flat, rolling and uphill. And forget about accelerating out of turns.