Top Tires for Tahoe's Biggest Rides
Loose terrain calls for new tires for the dryer MTB months.
Your heart is racing, your face is flush, you’re about to reach down to flip your shock to the wide-open position as you pick up speed into a descent. You shake loose your arms, visualize water flowing downstream, and take to the trail like a disconnected extension of earth.
Whoa, it’s mid-June 2020, we’ve experienced an all-time best early season of great trail conditions. Rain cycles, late snow, and moisture were repeatedly held hostage in the area continually refreshing trail conditions time, and time again.
“Now is a crucial time to rubber up...”
The perfect conditions existed for great trail riding leading us up to tires. Why tires? We might not see any moisture through the hotter, dryer months of 2020. Now is a crucial time to rubber up, dial in your traction, and pull back on the throttle to help stay upright for the remainder of summer.
The moondust is beginning to show it’s shimmer which means the trails are heading towards loose, dusty, granite clad battle grounds. Inspect your rubber and consider adding a new set of tires to your bike before it’s too late.
Here are the shoprider favorites to help you step up your tire traction for the loser months of Tahoe and Truckee mountain biking.
Top Honors Most Revered | MAXXIS MTB Tires
Maxxis is the most widely used tire in the area for several reasons boiling down to an advantageous lesser rolling resistance (possible faster), great traction, array of preferential options, and a lighter overall weight.
The Maxxis Minion DHF photographed here in a 29 inch x 2.6 model is a top-rated front tire and pairs well at the rear of your bike with the Maxxis Dissector 29 x 2.6 seen here. Each of these tires tracks very well in the looser months and are available in different rubber compounds that you may want to consider depending on what trails you ride the most and what bike you own. The two tires photographed here take top honors from our Pacos community survey.
Runner Up Near Tie | Specialized MTB Tires
Next up and a possible tie for first place honors goes to Specialized for their Butcher (front) and Eliminator (rear) tire combination which creates incredibly tacky traction, low maintenance, and an overall forgiving ride. They are a bit heavier than the Maxis pairing above, but with a much sturdier casing. Flat tires become a thing of the past, rock gardens become supple landing grounds, and your line on the trail changes dramatically in the playful sense. These tires may be heavier, but your line selection changes, becomes sharper, consistent and more confident.
Ironically, you may track speedier times overall despite the heavier weight, get far less flat tires if any at all, and the mellow graphics on the side wall will tame your eyes on trail unlike Maxxis who still takes visual cues from Nascar.
For this reason, these tires tie for top honors this year on Tahoe Trails for their incredible reliability, understated aesthetic, and overall trail taming function.
As of this writing, a second set of the Specialized tires seen here have been installed on Mash. Mash was custom built for riding up-and-down trails all over Tahoe. The first set of tires operated flawlessly from June 2019 until June 2020, when a new set was put on to freshen up the traction for the long and loose months ahead.
The best bet is to call and set up an appointment with a Pacos team member to assess your riding style to get you rolling on the best possible rubber before it’s too late. The consequences of washing out due to worn out rubber are grave and can possibly be avoided if you get proactive.
Written by guest author Matt Chappell.
Follow Matt’s MTB work @truckeedirtunion and @thebeastofloam.
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