29er tires

well look at those!
sidewalls? rubber options?
when are they available?

Colour me interested!

Ran the Specialized Ground Control 29x2.1 on the back for a couple of weeks. Rolls well and has good traction on sand, gravel and loam. Not so good for slippery roots. Should be a great summer tire.

Now about to try front and rear Purgatory's 29x2.4 front, 2.2 rear. Tubeless.

Should be a good combo for winter/spring.

running S-Works Purgatory 2.2" front and Control 'Ground Control' 2.1" on the rear of my 29er both with Stans no-tubes

liking the Purgatory (loved these in 26" size on my all mtn bike) not so sure about the ground control on the rear?

its 2.1" and feels a little thin, and does not seem to have the grip of the Purgatory or the rolling speed of the Captain (which handled snow and mud well when I used it in 26")

heard a lot of hype about Ground Control, reality not matching up? maybe a larger volume version with softer rubber might work better

probably going Captain on the rear, always liked that tire…

Try the dual purgatory setup. Was great in the wet roots, loam, mud etc. 2.4x29 does add a nice bit of softness to the front end.

Ian, of chromag, has been on some hans dampfs and has favourable reports

For aggressive riding, the Hans Dampf is the best 2-9'er (also great on the 2-6) tire I've tried yet. I'm running them on the Honzo and they definitely feel heavy/slow on steep climbs with the 1x10 but I wouldn't trade them on the descents.

At a real 2.35 wide w/ Snake Skin sidewall they are pretty beefy, so for the best balance of weight:descending-traction I would probably still run the Eskar (fr) / Purgatory (rr).

-D

I went with 2.35 Hans Dampf (trailstar) front and 2.25 Nobby Nic (pacestar) rear - I'm hoping this will be the most killer 29er setup for North Shore possible.

Did just 1 ride on Hans dampf on front of tallboy. Slow rolling but good sticky rubber ("trail" version). I prefer a bigger transition gap for more prominent side knobs, and a less round shape. Found it hard to push it hard in corners. Can't see much advantage over purgatory except perhaps softer rubber for very wet conditions. I'm sticking with eskar until butcher comes out.

damn the UK sucks for 29er tire choices from Specialized!

cannot get Captain in "Control" (tougher 60tpi) only in "S Works" (flimsier 120tpi) which I refuse to use on the rear…had too many tears with tubeless using the S-Works tires

Purgatory is not available in 2.4" in the UK, just the 2.2"

Did just 1 ride on Hans dampf on front of tallboy. Slow rolling but good sticky rubber ("trail" version). I prefer a bigger transition gap for more prominent side knobs, and a less round shape. Found it hard to push it hard in corners.

What rim were you running it on Clark?

I am running mine on a set of Stan's Flow rims (~wide internal diameter). I recently put a pair on a set of 719 rims (~narrow internal diameter) and the profile is definitely taller/rounder.

-D

it was on a fancy enve AM carbon rim. can't blame the rim.
i don't like round tread profiles or full height transition knobs.

Time for the Spring 2012 thread bump.

What is the BC 29er tire of choice for late spring heading in to summer?

Front [HTML_REMOVED] Rear?

i'm sold on purgatory rear, the 2.2 "control" version. or racing ralph for racing.
eskar 2.3 front is awesome if you like a square-ish profile with a transition gap inside of a solid row of side knobs (ie. high roller).
if you prefer a rounder tire with smoother transition (ie. intermediate knobs) then schwalbe has some good options, in increasing order speed/decreasing grip: hans dampf (outrageously slow), nobby nic, racing ralph (pretty fast).
pretty unimpressed with maxxis options (have tried crossmark, ardent, ikon). apparently the new high roller is soon available in 29er size, likely a good option (the 26 version is bonkers).

Just searched through the thread, no one seems to like the Ardent but interestingly, they seem to come stock on quite a few bikes.