Salsaprime

Hey guys! The trail I ride is mostly dirt/hardpack, but there are some long sections of loose gravel that are about marble sized to a little bit bigger. Currently I'm running Schwalbe Racing Ralphs in the front and rear, but they are extremely sketchy on the gravel. So much so that they caused me to crash on a small downhill when my front end got shaky and flew out from underneath me about 2 weeks ago. I had to get 12 stitches in my right knee, haha. I've read about other people whipping out on RaRa's over gravel so I've begun to rethink my tire situation. I'm fairly certain that I want to run a Maxxis Crossmark 29x2.10 in the rear, but it's really the front tire that I'm having a little trouble deciding on. The two big ones I'm looking at are Kenda Nevgals or WTB Bronsons, or actually any other suggestions you may have. Thanks in advance for the help!

Front
Kenda Nevgal: https://www.artscyclery.com/Kenda_Nev...rumb=MTBRUBBER

WTB Bronsons: https://www.artscyclery.com/WTB_Brons...rumb=MTBRUBBER

Rear
Maxxis Crossmark: https://www.artscyclery.com/Maxxis_Cr...rumb=MTBRUBBER

commo_soulja

Racing Ralphs are great tires for certain conditions. On loamy trails, they're great but on gravel they leave much to be desired.

Half of my riding is on gravel multi tracks and I've been happy with Bronson (front) and Wolverine (rear) combo. The tire/wheel combo are both WTB TCS tubeless and the low tire pressure and beefy knob pattern on the tires really find purchase on the trails.

Salsaprime

Yea, the RaRa's came stock on my Giant XTC 29er 1. I had just picked it up from the shop, and was so eager to ride it that I didn't give much thought to the tires. So, I wrecked it once I hit that gravel, haha. Luckily my bike was fine though.

I'll have to look into the Wolverine for the rear too, thanks Commo_solja!

ncfisherman

I own a few RaRa's and find them to be a great rear tire, even on gravel, while they last. Wouldn't be interested in running one up front though.

I've looked at the Bronson before and thought it would make a good rear tire, but not so sure as a front tire.

Here are some tires for your list: Conti MtnKing2, Conti Trailking, Schwalbe Nobby Nic, Schwalbe Hans Dampf, WTB Weirwolf(think this would be better than the Bronson up front), Maxxis Ardent, and the Panaracer Rampage(grips like a Nevegal, but rolls better).

ColinL

Geax Saguaro for mixed hardpack and normal trail including rocks. Geax AKA for hardpack only. Geax's claimed weights are wrong-- too high. Do some google searches to find real-world weights, which are competitive with normal tires. (Not competitive with Specialized S-works or Schwalbe PaceStar tires though.)

You can also use the Specialized Fast Trak LK front with Renegade rear, or Fast Trak (standard depth) front and Fast Trak LK rear. The Renegade is not great on rocks and the Fast Trak is OK.

I always use the TNT / 2Bliss / TLR etc tires.