The engineers at Maxxis have been busy trying to keep up with all the recent changes in wheel sizes. On display in their booth was a bevy of new tread patterns, sizes, and casing options.
Starting with the widest tires first, Maxxis has added three new fat bike tires to their line. The Colossus is a 4.8″ tire with large lugs that are spaced far apart. It’s intended to be used primarily as a winter tire for those fat biking in snowy conditions. Next up, the ever-popular Minion tires bulk up to fat bike status as well. As with the trail bike versions of the Minions, there are designs for your front (Minion FBF) and rear (Minion FBR) wheels specifically, although you can run them however you like. Both are 4.8″ wide, although a 4″ is in development.
Slimming down from the fat bikes, Maxxis has three 27.5+ tires on offer. The excellent all-around Chronicle was originally designed as a 29+ tire (remember those bikes), but is now also available as a 27.5×3.00″. They’ve also given the Ikon the plus treatment, which looks to be a good option for hardpack trails.
On the more aggressive end of the spectrum, Maxxis was showing the all-new Rekon+. This is one bad ass-looking tire, with center tread similar to the High Roller II, and side knobs that look like smaller versions of those on the Minion. With many of the new 27.5+ full-suspensions skewing towards longer travel, the Rekon+ could be just the ticket for getting rad. Hopefully, we’ll see this tire in a non-plus version as well for those of us still riding those “outdated” regular-width tire bikes. Both the Ikon+ and Rekon+ are 2.8″ wide.
Tightening the belt even farther, Maxxis was showing the Aggressor, a tire aimed at the enduro market (expect a full review soon). It’s a 27.5×2.30″ tire that is available with Maxxis’ new Double Down casing option. Two layers of 120 TPI material are used to make the tire more durable without sacrificing too much in the way of ride quality. Expect to see this option offered across more of the Maxxis range soon.
They were also showing the Minion SS, a semi-slick version of the popular DHF. It’s being offered in a trail version as well as a downhill casing, for those that are racing on dry, fast tracks. Jeff and I both have been rocking the Minion SS as a rear tire this summer, so you’ll see our thoughts on that tire soon.
If you’re an XC speed-freak, Maxxis hasn’t forgotten about you. They’ve taken two of their classic tires, the Crossmark and the Larsen TT, and spruced them up a bit. The Crossmark gets a bit more spacing between the knobs, the round knobs get shrunk, and the center tread is now ramped. The Larsen TT–now called the Race TT–gets siped transition knobs, and the shoulder knobs see their sipes rotated 90 degrees so they are now running parallel with the direction of travel. They’ll both be available in 27.5″ and 29″ sizes.
And finally, in the “That’s Cool” category, Maxxis was showing a 700×40 gravel tire called the Rambler, as well as an ice spike tire aptly named, Maxx-Ice.
