When I got my new bike: Read Here, I saw the OEM tires fitted to the bike and thought, “those are some burly ass tires.” It really made me ask myself: Do I have too much tire for what I ride?
Although pre-installed with awesome tires: Maxxis Dissector rear, and DHR II front in 2.4″ width, I think they’re overkill for my local trails. Don’t get me wrong, they’ll work for any condition and any trail, but the answer to my question was a very personal reason: they’re too much tire for mostly flat smooth hardpack and somewhat rooty trails in Texas.
Although it’s not optimal, if you want to ride the biggest, heaviest, grippiest tires on smooth singletrack, who cares! There is no wrong reason.
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Fast Rolling MTB Tires – My Pick
I live in Texas. There are hills and short punchy steep features, but not a lot that would require aggressive tires. I’ve come to the realization that the trails in my area call for XC/Trail type tires…in my un-professional opinion of course.
As mentioned, I eventually replaced the tires that came original on my bike (DHRII front and Dissector rear) with fast rolling Vittoria Barzo on the Front and Vittoria Mezcal on the Rear as you see in the photo. Helluva tires!
I also LOVE the color of the ‘anthracite’ grey sidewalls as an option on Vittoria, so much that I looked past the Continental tires that were also contenders. Anthracite greywalls just looks so friggin’ good on a lighter frame color bike. Either way, they look as good as they perform on the trail. It was the best of both worlds!
This combo came at the recommendation of many XC riders. The Mezcal rolls very fast with just enough grip and predictability in the rear. The Barzo on the front gives a bit more grip with a very different tread and knob pattern, but still rolls very well.
I have seen people running Maxxis Assegai’s in my area, which are crazy grippy tires that are known to have a lot of rolling resistance that is typically unwanted on smoother hardpack trails. I’m not judging though, seriously, because whatever floats their boat and makes riding fun is all that matters! As I said, it’s all a personal choice!
Quick List of Fast Rolling Tires Compiled:
I’m sure there’s more fast rolling tires than what I’m listing here, and some moreso ‘fast rolling’ than the others, but these are common ones from my viewpoint when I was looking into alternative tires:
Maxxis: Aspen, Ardent, Ardent Race, Rekon, Rekon Race, Ikon, Dissector
Vittoria: Mezcal, Barzo, Syerra
Continental: Race King, Cross King
Schwalbe: Racing Ralph, Racing Ray, Rocket Ron, Wicked Will
Specialized: Fastrack, Ground control
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I chose tires that I think would do well in my area. Now if I lived in Colorado or Utah, I’d most likely have been fine keeping the Maxxis Dissector, Rekon, or DHRII on. I did save those for future riding adventures where I’d be looking for more grip, trust me they’re not going to waste.. especially on my bike!
Fast Rolling and Low Resistance – What Tire Material Compound?!
Generally speaking, fast rolling tires and low resistance tires are synonymous. As opposed to ‘grippy’ tires which are higher resistance.
There’s a lot of other technical compound mumbo jumbo when talking about tires, like MaxxTerra and MaxxGripp and EXO and Graphene TNT and Addix etc. etc. All the brands have different names for their materials and it gets confusing as hell.
In layman’s terms, you want tires that are harder as opposed to softer rubber for the faster rolling tires. For example, Maxxis MaxxSpeed and dual compound tires are the ones that will be ‘harder’ and faster rolling – generally, although the tire tread and knob pattern also play a role (the more packed together and shorter they are, the faster rolling/lower rolling resistance they’ll have typically).
When I got my bike with Maxxis DHRII and Dissector tires, they were the Maxx Terra version. The grip is so good, but compared to the Mezcal and Barzo, I definitely felt the drag riding on hardpack trails. I’m not an XC racer, but I still like to go faster when I can!
Best MTB Mountain Bike Tire for Street and Trail
To play a dual role, that’s a hard one as tires are normally designed for different applications with some overlap in terms of usage. There’s a whole list of variables to take into consideration here as well. A street tire doesn’t necessarily need knobs. But then they’d get really sketchy riding on a trail without traction from the knobs of off-road tires. A trail tire could be used in the streets, but they won’t roll as well. There’s tradeoffs, always. The fine balancing act is done by the choice of tire the rider makes, to find the right tire for the right situation.
If you’re looking to ride ‘street’ with an MTB, maybe something like these: Maxxis Holy Rollers might work. But those tires will probably not do too well riding off road trails. They’ll work, they just won’t be optimal.
In my opinion, I honestly think fast rolling tires with the hardest compound works fine for street and trail since street riding, I assume, would wear out the tread faster. Plus they’ll be decent for trail use.
Win win! Lose Lose! What’s in the middle? I’d say fast rolling tires!
Which Brand of Fast Rolling Tire is Better?
I don’t think there’s a brand that’s ‘better’ than the other. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. People run them all, and they’re all still in business so that says something. Maxxis might be the popular choice as they’re seen everywhere, and Vittoria might be less known.
I chose Vittoria. But that doesn’t mean they’re “better” in any other way than my personal choice. I still own the original Maxxis tires that came equipped on my bike!
For simple reasons I chose Vittoria’s because they’re somewhat cheaper than the competition. At the time, I got my Mezcal’s on clearance for a price I couldn’t refuse. For the Barzo’s, I payed full MSRP, but even at full MSRP they were cheaper than say the MSRP on comparable Maxxis Rekons.
And again for the umpteenth time, I LOVE the color of the ‘anthracite’ grey sidewalls. It just looks so friggin’ good on a lighter frame color bike and best of all I love their performance. (I’m not a fan of tanwall tires, shhh).
They had mostly good reviews, and judging by some comments it seemed to fit the bill for my riding style.
Thus, the Mezcal and Barzo combo were the chosen ones.
Does My Bike Need ‘Fast Rolling’ Tires? Would they be weird on a ____ bike?
You do you. MTB and riding is all about fun. Who cares if you have a downhill bike with XC tires. Obviously fast rolling tires isn’t the practical choice for a downhill bike, but if someone decided to use them downhill.. who am I to judge? Let them figure it out for themselves. Hopefully they survive to realize it though!
My Ibis Ripley is classified as a trail bike – but it leans more toward the XC side of trail bikes (if that makes any sense). It’s one of the reasons why I love it so much – it’s a hybrid of sorts, not just a dedicated bike. A bike that somewhat does it all, but is the master of none. It fits the bill for 90%+ of my riding. I can pedal all day with it, or ride some downhill stuff.
I chose to put XC/Trail tires on them, and as I mentioned I went with tires that are used by plenty of XC riders: Vittoria Mezcal and Barzo.
So as I mentioned, where I ride – it’s mostly hardpack, somewhat loose, and rooty. Flat with punchy climbs. I pedal a lot here. I choose to use Vittoria’s Mezcal in the rear and Barzo in the front at 2.35″ width on a set of 29mm ID wheels. Again, I love the anthracite grey sidewalls. I’ve put hundred of miles on them and just love how they perform for me. Had I chosen Maxxis tires, I would’ve probably went Ardent Race rear and Rekon up front. Or Continental Race Kings, or Specialized Fast Tracks. So many good tires.
But almost everyone rides Maxxis, so I chose Vittoria. I just wanted to differentiate myself: they look awesome, perform awesome, and they’re cheaper! It can’t be denied!
Therefore, although a Maxxis DHR II is a great tire, it’s status as a “downhill” tire isn’t doing me any favors while I’m out riding singletrack that’s mostly flat. I have to earn those short downhill sections by doing climbs and flat sections. Unless I take a nice stroll over to Spider Mountain here in Texas. So having a more efficient tire that rolls well but still has good traction is the goal for me. Actually, that’s everyone’s goal while out riding, can’t we all have super durable but lightweight tires with incredible traction and rolls fast in all conditions?! In my dreams.
The truth is, faster rolling tires give up some traction but is lighter weight; it’s the opposite with grippier tires. In the end, it’s up to the rider how much grip you’re willing to give up for the kind of trails you ride.
I know. It’s a lot to process for the newbies. Just know that MOST newbies will be on a entry level bike that is typically more XC oriented whether they know it or not.
Happy riding, it’s a great time to be a MTB’er!
Rider UP