what I like, what I do not like
I live in Oregon, the wet corner
of the map. I've been riding off-road since 1985. Year 'round. That means I've experienced the equivalent
of 15 or 20 average lifetimes of winter riding. Plus, here on the west
side of the Cascades
our mud is special - it's that slippery, slimy stuff that has almost no
sand content. Some call it clay. It can be like glue, like wet glass
or like watered down chunky peanut butter, or something else altogether. Western
Oregon riders can usually experience numerous types of Wild West mud during any
given ride.
For the purpose of reviewing
mud tires, let's start
with the rear.
First I'll say that when conditions allow, I like a high volume
tire on the rear, as I weigh almost 200 pounds and a large volume tire
gives me a more
comfortable ride and resists pinch flatting better than a low volume
tire. But winter conditions do not allow me to use a high volume rear
tire. I like
a rear tire that is narrow enough to cut through the surface slop to
where the
traction is - a wide tire won't do that. I also like big, widely
spaced knobs. Tires equipped with such knobs will clean best;
a more
complex tread with lots of small knobs will just fill up with mud and
become a heavy, mud-covered donut. My favorite rear mud tire of all time
is the Specialized
Storm Control, unfortunately long out of production. The Storm's knobs
were big, rounded and aggressive. Any tire will spin out and fishtail
when conditions are
tragically slippery, but the Storm Control seemed to bite longer and
resist sliding sideways (or at least do so in a more controlled manner)
than anything else I've
found to date. There are newer wet-conditions tires on the market (such
as the Maxxis Swamp Thing, to name but one) and I'll be testing some
of these as soon
as shiggy can get me to pry my trusty and well worn Storm Control
off my rear rim.
For the front tire I'm not convinced
that narrow is the way to go. I've used the (1.95") IRC Mud Mad F for years and it has been quite dependable. But
last year I put a Tioga 2.5" White Tiger DH tire on the front and felt more
confident than I ever have when things were wet. In fact, I crashed a couple
times after going back to the Mud Mad because the Tioga had raised my expectations
of how well a front tire should grip in slippery conditions. What I liked about
the Tioga wasn't just its huge, sharp rectangle-block knobs, but also its
ample width. The tire just imparts a feeling of confidence, just a good
ultra-wide tire does climbing out of ruts in the summer. It seems to
stay on top of everything and remains easier to steer, even when I have
to lean on it. But something that both tires mentioned have in common are
big knobs with enough space between them to keep mud from filling the tread up,
and that is an aspect I look for in any off-season tire, front or rear.
I also like to keep tire pressure as low as possible so that the tire's
contact patch
will conform to the ground's surface to the best of its ability.
August 2003
