Some insights on the new Maxxis DH tire

[Capricorn]

this quote from one of the designers. Always good to know these things.

 

Mr Holwell and I banged this one out in record time. Its true, I just sketched it up one day and sent it in, and Bryan and El Presidente both liked where I was going with it. It was a pleasure working together. Hopefully we can work on more.

 

What I was going after with this was to retain everything good about the High Roller but give it much better braking and cornering abilities. See that rounded braking edge on the center knob on the HR? Well as you can see on the new tire, that's a flat edge now which plows into the ground far better than the old style knob. The ramped leading edge has been steepened slightly to allow less float and offer better bite on the sides of the knobs, yet retain some of the good rolling characteristics of the HR. The intermediate knobs are slightly wider and sharper with a small sipe. This is another area where the HR suffered a little is when you leaned it over hard. It tended to float a little, but this one holds a line.

 

Like the HR, it will be a better front tire for tracking lines, but the braking edges are good enough to run it in the back as well.

 

I read all the test results from the various top shelf pros and whatever Bryan and I aimed to design into this, they all agreed on it.

 

One big problem with a lot of mtb tires on the market, is that they are designed to look good first, and performance second. Most tire designs don't have to be overly complicated to function well, they just need some thought. There is a certain lack of good rear specific DH tires on the market right now. There are a couple (ie: Kenda Excavator) but generally, the needs of how the rear tire works in a race situation is much different than that of the front tire. I'd like to develop a couple of good rear tires for different terrain, but ones in which you look at them and know what its meant for.

[Capricorn]

http://lp1.pinkbike.org/p4pb6309982/p4pb6309982.jpg

[Capricorn]

Current High Roller:

http://cdn.vitalmtb.com/photos/products/1591/photos/141/s600_89841590_1266960014.jpg?1290194504

Edited March 20, 2011 by Capricorn

[Capricorn]

for comparison, Maxxis Minion DHF

 

http://cdn.vitalmtb.com/photos/products/1589/photos/140/s600_91984270_1266959536.jpg?1290194500

[nigelhicks]

cross between the High Roller and Minion F - should be good