Need help choosing a tire!
 

My current tires are wearing down, and I need a new set of shoes for my mountain bike. I have a 29er running Schwalbe Rapid Ron tires, which I'm fairly happy with, but I want to upgrade. I'm not sure if my rims are made to accept tubeless tires, and even if they are, I'm just not interested in them.

I want to upgrade from the Rapid Rons in terms of speed and grip. I have my eyes set on Schwalbe Nobby Nic tires, but I'm not sure whether they're tubeless or "tubeless ready." For some reason, I'm finding the info on their site to be confusing.

I don't want to spend a ton of money on tires. In other words, I want to keep the price of tires under $50. I'm not brand-specific about going with Schwalbe, they're just what I have on the bike now and have had good luck with them.

Suggestions?

Maxxis. But quality is going to cost.

I don't have an issue with paying for something that's going to last me. ;)

Continental xking or mountain king. Get some black chillis.

I'm rolling mk front xking rear. Super amounts of grip and control.

Funny you would mention these. I was at the LBS today and was recommended the same tires. He recommended a Mountain King for the front and a Trail King for the rear. Wouldn't it feel a bit strange riding on two different tires?

I thought it would be weird as well. Super super weird; I got to ride a Santa Cruz blur last summer with a trail king front, mountain king rear. Amazing combination.

Usually its it's nice to have something super grippy with nice cornering knobs on the front. A tire with low rolling resistance in the back is nice for speed. The rear tire is much easier to keep under control than the front so grip in the rear is not supernecessary.

The xking mk combination I'm running is more than enough tire for trail riding.

That is EXACTLY what the owner of the LBS told me...handling up front and the low rolling resistance in the rear. What concerns me about this is that by going with a "slicker" tire on the rear, I'm going to be fighting with grip on steeper climbs. It just seems like it would be a questionable strategy to throw a tire with less grip on the rear.

I ditto this. And Continentals last many trails.

Think of it this way. If you are going around a turn fast and your rear tire slip you can catch it if your front tire slips you eat dirt. I've been running a maxxis crossmark on the rear and a panracer rampage on the front of one of my bike with good success. I've worn the crossmark out though and I think this time I won't worry so much about rolling resistance and just get another grippy tire. I just put a 2.4 maxxis ardent on the front of my rigid and that is one big ass grippy tire. I may just pick up another for the front of my other bike and put the rampage on the rear.

Good points.

I've heard from a few sources to go with the Contis because they tend to have thicker sidewalls than a lot of the other branded tires, especially Schwalbe.

The climbing comment is actually really interesting. I was running the xking in the rear with a tube in it and was pinch flatting it even at 35 psi initial pressure. At that pressure the tire could not conform to the ground too well and I was having issues of the tire bouncing around when climbing up rocky loose stuff. For more hardpacked technical climbs the tire gripped pretty nicely with only minimal amounts of wheel spin when I really put the power down.

I just converted to tubeless (last night) and haven't ridden them yet, but now that I can probably run at 25 psi or lower, I think the xking will do much better.

Also, even though the xking is a "faster rolling" tire than the MK, it still has a lot of tread. Definitely enough to allow for good conformity to the trail at the right inflation pressure.

I really like the Geax AKA for the front and Saguaro for the back. I've had them out on about 12 rides so far and really like them. The AKA is nice and grippy, and the Saguaro hasn't slipped out from behind me yet. Pretty good quality and decent prices. You can get them in the TNT version, which is similar to the black chili compound on Contis.

Geax AKA Tire - 29in - Mountain 29" Clincher Tires | Competitive Cyclist

Geax Saguaro Tire - 29in - Mountain 29" Clincher Tires | Competitive Cyclist

Thanks for the lead! I'll look into them, too!

Geax Saguaros surprised me in a great way. But I am back to Maxxis Excavators. I ride packed and loose sand, gravelly marbles in the desert SW. I like the taller lugs for digging into the gravel and hoping it grips somewhere.