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Tyre Set up recommendation for Manly dam / Red hill my good sirs


gusgusset's picture

By gusgusset - Posted on 26 February 2014

Any advice would be great.

[Mod. moved to Northern Beaches as this is location specific]

dtm's picture

work great on my 29er I ride red hill 2 to 3 times a week and tubeless is a must there the amount of flats I used to get was painful now with tubeless have not had a flat in 2 years!!

nh's picture

The Specialized Pugatory are my favourite tyres for Red Hill and Manly Dam at the moment. The control casing seals up tubeless and is lighter than the full UST version.

Much better than the Maxxis Ardents that I had previously. Schwalbe Hans Dampf might be worth a look too, but if they are like the Schwable XC tyres they may wear out very quickly.

obmal's picture

My take is that Red Hill is more AM, has lots of sharp rocks and as such is rather tough on sidewalls, where Manly dam tyre selection may be more motivated to getting around the lap quicker so a lighter weight XC tyre that would suit that purpose may not last all that long up for Red hill?

So you should decide what you want to get out of the ride and tyre, speed, cornering or hucking off rocks? tubeless?

My advice would be to pick something with a tough sidewall for Red Hill.. Maxxis IKON EXO seems pretty tough so far, WTB Wierwolf last ages up there, avoid anything thats not got specific sidewall protection as you will puncture/wear the sidewall out long before the tread.

Manly Dam I would have no hesitation for Racing Ralph or Rocket Ron, they also have the snakeskin option that I would run for both MD and RH.

VC's picture

I ride Red Hill often,i have on my Giant Trance , Maxxis Larsen Downhill on the Back, and Maxxis Ignitor on the front. Both give me good grip for all the mixed terrain there, and the rear being a downhill tyre is as tough as......never punctured, pinched or sidewall ripped. Hope I can find these tyres now with all the new sizes etc. I will buy the same again when they are bald..enjoy.....Red Hill rocks.

hawkeye's picture

The reason for the comparatively fast wear is the sticky rubber. You don't often get something for nothing. Good traction and decent low rolling resistance has to be traded off against something.

That said my TLR racing ralphs' tread looks pretty good for ~1,000km. Not so the sidewalls but that's a known issue with their uber light OEM TLR rubber. Haven't tried the Snakeskin version yet.

Loved the Hans Dampf. Awesome trail tyre.

VTSS350's picture

I believe the Hans Damf is a terrible tyre! I race state and national level DH and am always trying different tyres.

Riding the Hans Damf around Red Hill and OMV I found it was far to squirmy and wears far to quickly. The nobs are quite long and squirm under hard cornering. All my side nobs were undercut/ripped more than half way after two months of use and it hardly looked like the centre nobs were worn at all! The rubber compound is to soft for use around the northern beaches!

On my AM bike I am currently running high roller 2s and love them. I did over 300k in 5 days on them in Rotorua and they held up very very well. They have less rolling resistance than the Hans Damf and don't wear as quickly.

It really depends on the type of riding you are doing. I own 3 bikes and have different tyres on all of them to suit the riding that I am doing. If your doing long XC rides then the HRII is not for you. You would want something a lot lighter. But if you are riding Red Hill, OMV and more advanced trails then I would suggest giving the High Roller II a go.

gusgusset's picture

few different opinions here.
I might just have to get a fat bike now I think!
I've been running standard Nobbic Nics since I got my Gaint Trance. Enjoyed them a lot but have had numerous flats specially on the back.
I think the comments around you don't get something for nothing make sense a light tire will wear and a chunky tire will be heavy ,smash anything but drag on XC based stuff.
I ride a couple KM's on the tarmac each day so I think i need to stay reasonable low profile( or get a commuter bike) but hard to resist doing a lap of the dam on the way home.
I will defo go for tubeless.

Andy Bloot's picture

Keen to try the High Roller 2's
Seem to be popping up on a lot of bikes

atm I like my Kenda Nevegals up front (2.35)
I have an Ardent race (2.25) on the back, but a little disappointed
Good for a drift, but seem a bit lacking in overall traction
Someone gave me a standard Ardent and really liked it
It doesn't look that much different, but not loving it

Simon's picture

Specialized 2.3 Clutch SX, dual ply rear and single front for last 3 years at 30psi using 1.95 tubes. No flats yet. I'm 92kg with backpack. On last set of tyres. Hope they still make them.

Favourite tracks that way are Itchy and Scratchy, sessioning lines on main rock steps halfway down Drop Zone or all the A-lines on Ya Mums/Route 66 and Bunnings other side of parkway.

Running dual ply on rear as I ride a AM hardtail with 160mm travel on the front.

Pete B's picture

Crossmarks front and rear for me. Tubless with about 30psi.

I put the rear on the wrong way round to see what happened but I've not noticed any difference.

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