Picking the Right Mountain Bike Tire

Well the age old question....which mountain bike tire should I buy? This is actually easier than you think. There are a few things you need to consider. First and foremost what kind of riding are you doing and second what is the trail condition? Are you riding in superb hero dirt every day or are you riding on the dry loose over hardpack that you see a lot here in the Bay Area?

Another thing you need to think about is your budget, as we all know there are tires out there that can run upwards of $90 each. What makes these tires $90, well one thing is, people buy them so why not charge that much if people will pay for it.

The next biggest thing in the price difference is the tires durometer, or hardness, in most cases a softer tire is going to "stick" to the trail better, but with softer compounds comes left tire life, they will wear out faster. But on the other hand a tire that is harder might last longer but it won't grip the trail as well.

Another thing that I have learned over the years is all the big name tire companies copy each other....I know crazy right...but look at some of the favorite tread patterns out there, Schwalbe Hans Dampf, WTB Vigilante, Kenda Nevegal, Conti Trail King, Maxxis High Roller...Not exactly the same but close enough.

With that said I think the next thing you need to look at besides price is how well they fit on your wheelset, for example, the WTB TCS line of tires is extremely hard to get on and off a Stans Flow EX.

So, back to trail conditions. If you are an all mountain, trail rider and riding on loose over hard pack I would take a look at a tire that has a medium to soft durometer with good transitional treads, these are the knobs between the edge of your tire and the center knobs. These transitional knobs will help prevent that loose feel while cornering. Schwalbe Hans Dampf is a great example of this. In the summer I run the PaceStar compound (Medium) on the back and the TrailStar (soft) on the front. This seems to work well on loose over hard pack conditions.

I am not a Schwalbe fanboy by any means, they came on my bike and I can get them at cost, if I had to pay full price I would not use them, I would most likely run on some Maxxis High Roller II's.

SOOO to recap;
1. Budget
2. Type of Riding
3. Trail Conditions
4. Wheelset compatibility
5. Durometer

Don't forget you can find similar tread patterns from all manufactures, you like most things in life are paying for the name and advertising.