Mountain Biking - Fast tires

I need some really fast and light weight tires, with cornering traction, but not slicks. What do you guys suggest?

From an earlier thread:

"Hutchinson Mosquito Air Light 26" x 2.0 is rated to 80 PSI. It's a ripping trail tire @ just over 400 grams that hooks up very predictably. It's rubber compound is pretty soft though, I'm not sure how long it would last on paved surfaces."

I now have over 225 trail miles and about 12 pavement miles on these tires and am just as impressed as when I first put them on. I will buy them again when the times comes for new tires.

Thanks dude, I'll luke into those. I'm running 2.1 Velociraptors right now, they are super slow, but have termendous traction. I'd rather go a little faster though.

The Hutchinson Python is also a good tire with a fairly close tread pattern. Might not be as light as the Mosquito, but it's also a good, fast tire compared to some of the heavier knobbed ones. I've gone through several sets of Pythons. They corner very well also.

would a semi-slick work? b/c then you could get those Michelin Hot S or whatever semi-slicks which are one fast tire. My Bro has pythons and they're fast. I have Panaracer Fire XC's and they're a little slower rolling but i get far more traction in the corners and wetter conditions

I run Panaracer Fire XC pros as well. Great traction, very predictable. They roll damn fast for a knobby, too.

I'm thinking about getting these http://cycleus.webmichelin.com/tires/images/compslight.jpg

good choice, those are in the same category as the pythons and they should hold their own pretty well in most everything except when the going gets deep or muddy, but then again what does do well in mud

Yeah, they look like a cross between the Pythons and the Mosquitoes. Should be a good tire for you Fubes.

I hope they corner fast, I hate having to slow down in corners too much.

If they don't, try the Pythons. They stick like glue on the corners. The pattern looks good on those but I can't speak for the rubber compound. If they are a hard tire they won't corner as well. The Pythons are fairly soft.

Mosquito Golds... Fastest Tire I've EVER Ridden!

BTW: Got stuck in a downpour with them on singletrack (don't tell anyone :eek: ) and they were unbelievable! Perfect traction, cornering, braking, climbing, and never ever packed up with mud. Not bad for a 2" XC Racing Tire...

They ARE Fast! Noticeably, Really Fast! But, they don't last very long... if you ride on asphalt at all with them, they're toast!

Hawk

What about any of Maxxis's offerings? Larsen TT's, Larsen TT Mimo's, Lopes Bling Bling Dual, which corners very quickly. The Thing with the Lopes Bling Bling Dual is the price, I have a set and I payed an arm and a leg for them.

Here's the lowdown on the tires;

Mosquitos- fast race only type tires. They wear too fast to use with any regularity. The knobs wear out VERY fast. I had a set that wore flat after 4 or 5 rides. When new, they are great tires but they are a "raceday only" tire. Developed for the Volvo/Cannondale team like Tinker, who used them and threw 'em out. They only need to be good for the race.

Pythons- designed to be run with Hutchinson low psi tubes. These tires are designed to be run low psi and that's the only time these hook up. Great tires, I like them and they wear pretty well.

Comp S light- These Michelins are the fastest tires mentioned in this thread. They hook up and are faster than the pythons. Good traction and compound. These are my current favorites.

Maxxis Don't know anything about them.

Why does my post say it was edited by Joe Gardner?

Well, I didn't get the Michelins. I got some S-works tires that my boss gave me for free. They are noticably lighter than the raptors, and have faster looking tread. I'll put them to the trail test soon, I have one exam left, and then it's ride ride ride ride ride. I want to ride no less than 250 miles a week while I'm out of school.

I've been messing around with my MTB and it's pretty good now, the only thing weighting it down is the huge fork I have on it.I may look into a Duke or a Psylo, but that is down the road. I'd also like to convert to SRAM, I tried some 9.0 out and I really liked it.

I'm getting some SRAM XO shifters and rear derailler pretty soon. As soon as they're on, I'll let everyone know how I like em.

I had one experience with SRAM and it was a bad one, so one is enough.

I've used the Comp S Light tire as well, some of the best tires to taste singletrack. They can be a little squirrelly on the road, but, of course, that isn't their intended use. I have a set of S Works tires at the moment and they've worn very quickly (not sure which model) but heck, you got them for free.

Would any of these tires mentioned be good for commuting in the snow? Right now I have some real slow tires - and would like something that will run somewhat fast on pavement/paths, but also have the ability to keep me upright zippin through snowy parts of my trails to work.

When I lived in Idaho I rode to work every day through the winter on several different sets of tires. I found them all to work very well if you goofed with tire pressure a bit, the only problem I had was cornering hard on wet pavement with the aforementioned Comp S tires. It felt like the knobs folded over a bit or something, but boy did they chew up snow. They are also very fast on pavement. I even road the Bontrager Revolt SS, they are much better than you would expect in snow and ice but they wear very quickly.

Originally posted by fubar5


I've been messing around with my MTB and it's pretty good now, the only thing weighting it down is the huge fork I have on it.I may look into a Duke or a Psylo, but that is down the road. I'd also like to convert to SRAM, I tried some 9.0 out and I really liked it.

Fubar - I run SRAM 7 without any problems, the shifters are basically the same but the 9 mech is a little lighter, to be honest I'd stick with 7 or jump up to XO if 7's not sweet enough, and go shorty shifters rather than half pipe. I strongly recommend the SRAM 9 brakes though.

Richard

Right now Im running on Hutchinson Scorpions 26x2.0 - very knobby. They work great for the snowy parts, but a tad slow on the pavement. Just looking for an in between tire.