how many people change their tires for the rainy season on the north shore?

I'm considering whether its worth switching tires come the November rains. ATM I'm running Maxxis Minion DHR II on the front, and DHF on the back. I'm not a tire afficiando, I can't say that I've ever noticed a difference between the varioux Maxxis tires I've run, other than the big difference between new and old (and bald). I also haven't convinced myself that one tire model is better for front vs rear. My tires wear at different rates so I usually only replace one at a time, and I put the new tire on the front.

That said, I don't like my front wheel slipping on roots during the winter, so maybe I should pay more attention to my tires. Bike shop sales people certainly think I should :-).

I'm curious, do many people find it worth runing different tires in winter vs summer?

I run an Aggressor in the back in the summer - it is a terrible wet-weather winter tire, so it will go back on the rack until next year.

I try to run more aggressive tires, and am planning for a maxxgrip something in the front at the very least for this winter.

IMO Aggressor is an oxymoron, IME it was good for learning to get the back end of a longer enduro bike around cuz it would slide the rest of the way if you didnt get it far enough.

Assegai/ DHR Minion mullet front/ rear on the new ride , I don't change tires cuz we can't ride about 5 months of the year

But we can change bikes so I got a Fat bike, the bro's pitched in for a snow dawg so now we can ride year round

I ride Magic Mary's because I get them for $55 from Germany.  They work good enough in both the rain and the dry. 

Bike tires shouldn't be approaching the cost of high powered german SUV's, but that's just my opinion man.

Timely post- I just swapped out my DHR2 for another one in the rear and was thinking about when I would swap my front...Have a DHF ready to replace an Assegai (THE SHOCK) around the Nov timeframe

Posted by: ReductiMat

I ride Magic Mary's because I get them for $55 from Germany.  They work good enough in both the rain and the dry. 

Bike tires shouldn't be approaching the cost of high powered german SUV's, but that's just my opinion man.

bike-discount.de won't ship to Canada anymore...what is your source?

Posted by: ReductiMat

I ride Magic Mary's because I get them for $55 from Germany. They work good enough in both the rain and the dry.

Bike tires shouldn't be approaching the cost of high powered german SUV's, but that's just my opinion man.

Man, I wish they made a MM 27.5 2.6 Super Trail in Ultra Soft Classic-Skin to complement the 2.6 Classic-Skin Hans Damphs I got.

The Super Downhill is over 1400gms. Crazy.

Definitely. Last year I ran a non Maxxgrip front tire that slipped and caused a nasty crash. And this summer I tried an Aggressor, which is has been an amazing dry conditions tire. I've got a new DHR2 and Maxxgrip Assegai ready to go.

anyone run a shorty up front for the winter on the shore?

Posted by: Taz123

Posted by: ReductiMat

I ride Magic Mary's because I get them for $55 from Germany.  They work good enough in both the rain and the dry. 

Bike tires shouldn't be approaching the cost of high powered german SUV's, but that's just my opinion man.

bike-discount.de won't ship to Canada anymore...what is your source?

bike-components.de

Posted by: ReductiMat

Posted by: Taz123

Posted by: ReductiMat

I ride Magic Mary's because I get them for $55 from Germany.  They work good enough in both the rain and the dry. 

Bike tires shouldn't be approaching the cost of high powered german SUV's, but that's just my opinion man.

bike-discount.de won't ship to Canada anymore...what is your source?

bike-components.de

bike24.de also worth a look for your Maxxis (~$65-70) and Schwalbe (~$55) needs. Flat rate 20EUR shipping as with the other Germans.

You can often find magic Mary’s on TBS for under $80, so depending on what you get tagged for tax/duty it can be as cheap or pretty close ordering local vs overseas. YMMV

The shore is basically the same in winter and summer. Hardpack and rock. In summer you get dust and marbley rocks that cause surfaces to slide. I run max grip front and maxterra rear year round. Minions do fine. I think Minions do better than magic Mary on rock due to the tighter spaced knobs. I don't think mud tires like the shorty make much sense as there isn't much mud and the wide spaced knobs are less good on rock and hardpack. The aggressor is alright in dusty hardpack times if you want something that rolls faster but not as confidence inspiring as something with better breaking traction like a dhr.

Out of curiosity, why you run the dhr on the front and dhf on the back?

R2 bike is another good German one. 

I swap tires for slippery season.  Maxx grip are great in the wet but if you ride Dec - Feb you might also want to look at something like Continental Der Barons or Kaisers in Black Chili compound.  Or maybe Ultra Soft Schwalbes.  I’ve found Conti rubber stays much softer than Maxxis in the cold, which IME yields more grip. Apparently Schwalbe is the same.  But the Conti tires can be had in sticky rubber at normal trail tire weights.  I think my der barons were around 1000g.  But the Schwalbe Ultra Softs are only available in the Super Gravity casing, which is around 1400g IIRC.