We generally practice mountain biking because we like to discover trails, walk in the middle of nature, face natural obstacles. As addicts, you necessarily know mountain biking in the mud. Schedule your mountain bike outing the day after a rainy night or day, it’s tempting. Especially equipped with special mud mountain bike tires , everything is tempting. So which tire to choose for mud? What are the characteristics of a mountain bike tire for mud? Your practice matters. Depending on its intensity and discipline, some MTB mud tires are more suitable.
How to recognize a mtb mud tire?
The mud gives mountain bikers a hard time. A bad choice of envelope can turn an outing into a real nightmare! To avoid endless travel times and repeated falls, there are mud mountain bike tires. Like all mountain bike tires , they have very specific characteristics . Above all, it is the height of the lugs that will make an MTB tire one of the best mud MTB tires. Thicker and higher, this type of stud allows you to get grip under the mud. They are also further apart to facilitate clearing as can be seen on the twisted studs of the Michelin Mud range , on its Michelin Wild Mud tire .
Then, the advantage of this type of tire is that it does not store any blocks of mud which could slow down or completely prevent rolling. This special mud MTB tire therefore increases clearance and clearance at the chainstays, seat stays and fork, solutions also used today in Cyclocross .
Then, the size of the section is very thin, between 1.90 and 2.25 inches. The narrowness of the tire makes a grip more eye-catching. Thanks to the narrower tire you kind of cut through the mud so that your MTB mud tire finds grip with the hard layer under the mud.
Finally, when using thin tire sections, our weight is distributed over a smaller surface and thus generates greater pressure on the rubber surface in contact with the ground. The gum plays a crucial game. For a mud mountain bike tire , this composite must be soft. This flexibility helps the tire to better adapt and deform. This way we gain grip. Generally, the muddy the terrain, the less brittle it is and the risk of a puncture decreases. You can then under-inflate 0.2 bar compared to your habit.
What is the best mountain bike tire for dry terrain?
Always looking for the best performance, it can be interesting to mix your set of front and rear mud mountain bike tires . The ideal configuration for MTB mud tires is one that combines clearance, lightness and performance.
Only, with the mud, we lose grip. Therefore, the front tire must have good lateral grip because it is directional. It must also offer good braking. The rear wheel needs traction, braking, but it must be taken into account that it greatly influences performance. Depending on the type of practice, preferably mud, level of technicality, this last point is to be strongly considered. The design of a Hutchinson Toro tire may be preferred for its directional qualities, for example, and be mounted at the front whereas a Mud King Continental tire which offers great traction is better to mount it in the back. Sometimes your course offers different terrains (track, single track, mud, rock, etc.). In this case, a rear suspension is an asset in the mud. You have to unlock the rear suspension for parts with low grip. This allows you to have more grip. This is therefore more advantageous on more compact sections.
The mud tire for leisure or sports
Whether you are a committed or even professional pilot or a simple hiker, grip is a guarantee of safety. Depending on your intensity of practice and the humidity level on the ground, your choice of the best mud mountain bike tire will not be the same.
The leisure mtb mud tire
Between organized hikes, outings with friends or family, and your regular training, you often come across wet terrain in the forest. Then the rain mud MTB tire with larger tread and sidewall lugs is a better choice for you. If mud tires are not always available from manufacturers, some brands can nevertheless offer products designed for wet terrain that will be between the general-purpose tire and the specific mud tire, this is the case of the mud mountain bike tire Gato XC Trail TNT Vittoria .
We note that unlike special mud tires , the studs are placed fairly close to each other in order to keep rolling resistance lower on wet surfaces. Due to the tiny presence of mud on the ground, the evacuation of the latter is carried out perfectly throughout the course.
Finally, whether for the mud bike tire or the more versatile mud rain tire, the rolling resistance is quite high on a dry surface.
The high-level mud mountain bike tire
For regular competitors, the weather conditions and the changing nature of the terrain make it necessary to have several sets of tires in reserve, including mountain bike tires for the mud for certain routes that can become one hell of a job. A greasy and wet ground is found in each of the disciplines. DH and Enduro tires are the strongest to withstand very technical trails. XC tires favor a compromise between performance, solidity and grip. In this last category, the Continental MountainKing CX tire is more and more appreciated in the world of competition. With the Black Chili compound , this MTB mud tire offers lightness, stability and grip. This top-of-the-range tire is notably used by many pilots.