tires for mud

[bodywhomper]

i am looking for some recommendations for a nice (and cheap-hopefully) mud tire (front and rear). so far, my new (for me) local trails are not too sloppy, but my silly little xc tires on my trail bike look (and feel) like slicks in the wetter soils.

i'm riding a singlespeed with low travel fork in the sierra foothills on tight little fun trails. i've been searching and trying to educate maself on the world of trail tires and don't feel like i've seen much here in terms of recommendations or discussions of how tires do their thing in mud (conceptually speaking). i can understand a general need for the tire to shed the dirt/mud, but don't generally understand the concept yet of how some tires do this well and how some don't.

many thanks in advance.

cheers

[Andy_B]

WTB Raijin 2.1

You want a mud tire to "cut" through the slop and get in the the firm soil underneath.

[Fenris]

If you can find them a Panaracer Fire Mud 1.8. It worked well racing in Maine for a few years, but I'm used to running relatively skinny tires anyways. I think Bikeman might have one or two floating around still, so call them if you can't find any on their website.

[bodywhomper]

Bump

Andy B and Fenris, thanks for the responses.

Generally, I’m a dirtbag trail bike kinda guy and am a total tire jong. Since my original post, I’ve taken a few spins on the little trail system by my home and am questioning if getting a dedicated mud tire is a waste of $$. I’m currently riding older irc mythos xc 2.1’s, which are in pretty good shape, especially the rear, which I just slapped on recently.

During the winter, I anticipate mainly riding on the little trail maze very near my home, probably a few times a week at minimum (it’s my midday work break), which lacks any semblance of rock slab and seems to be primarily semi-contaminated dirt. So far, we’ve received about 6 inches of rain in the sierra foothills. For those who don’t know, the sierra foothill generally gets about 60+ inches of precip per winter. w/ the 6 inches received so far, these trails have gone from dust to tacky to a combo of shallow slick mud/tacky/standing pools. With the warmer temps and temporary dry spell, things have dried out a little, but not much. My mythos perform pretty poor in this wet stuff. The rear tire quickly becomes a slick in moist dirt that I’d still call ‘tacky’ and the front just kinda slides around on most things wet and loose but seems pretty fun in tacky soil.

would i really benefit and enjoy my little rides more with a dedicated mud tire like the above recommended or would something like a nevegal w/ STICK-E be enough for me to be happy?
I found this, http://www.dirtworld.com/TipsAndTric...ory.asp?id=594 useful, which makes me think that tires like the STICK-E nevegal may be okay cuz of the tire compound. It seems like I could enjoy these tires in the summer, too. How bad will the mud get in the sierra foothills? Would a nevegal-type tire, i.e. slow rubber w/o the mud shedding tread style, be adequate?

Please help my confused, end of the work-week brain?

Thanks and cheers

Oh yea, here’s a little (and I mean little) trail stoke. Caveot: I ride solo, it’s all sissy xc stuff, and my digi camera is very old





Hell, here's some OT stoke from daze of old

^ jmetzler


^bcrider


^skiin’ ian