Maxxis didn’t have too much in the way of new mountain bike tread patterns at Interbike this year, but they have taken some of their most popular existing treads and expanded the sizes offered.
The Minion DHF and DHR II are some of the best all-around trail tires you can get. To me, they are the standard by which other tires are judged. Maxxis is now offering both Minions in a bunch of different sizes. And I mean a bunch. Of course you have the standard trail width–2.3″ and 2.5″–but the Minions are now coming in the new 27.5×3.8 fat bike size, as well as 27.5×2.8 for plus bikes, AND 26×2.8 for the relatively new “mini-plus” size. Oh yeah, and they come in 29×3.0 for the handful of folks on 29+.
Maxxis is also adding a plus version of the High Roller II, and the Rekon+ gets an updated, more durable casing. I, for one, am still not a plus bike convert, but they do have their place. My biggest issue with them has been tire roll under hard cornering. Maybe with the beefier casings that Maxxis is now offering, this won’t be a problem. The tradeoff–of course there has to be a trade off–is a 100g increase in weight.
Parents of young shredders will be happy to see that Maxxis is also downsizing the Minion DHF. You can now get a 24×2.4 Minion with a full-blown DH casing and their DH-specific rubber compound. While kids’ bikes–and riders–have gotten way more capable in the past couple years, the tire choices have been extremely limited until now.
Maxxis did show new tread patterns on the gravel/cyclocross side of things. For ‘cross, the Terrane line has three tires: the file-tread Speed Terrane; the mixed conditions All Terrane; and the wet conditions Mud Terrane. The Ravager is a new gravel tire that has a low profile center tread with large, aggressive side lugs. It will be offered in a 700x40c size, perfect for tackling some light singletrack on your drop bar bike.
