{"id":10955,"date":"2015-02-26T15:06:46","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T15:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/?p=10955"},"modified":"2015-08-24T15:48:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T14:48:40","slug":"maxxis-2015-tyre-range-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/maxxis-2015-tyre-range-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Maxxis 2015 tyre range explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maxxis are back! And they really are better than ever. Trail tyres, enduro tyres, downhill tyres, 26″, 27.5″, 29″… There’s something for everyone.<\/p>\n

\"Maxxis_Logo_Large\"<\/p>\n

Maxxis are actually the Cheng Shin Rubber company. They\u00a0were founded in 1967 and solely produced bicycle tyres in, and for, China.<\/p>\n

As their popularity grew, they began to produce tyres for a variety of vehicles such as cars, motorbikes and trucks. But they’re still mostly know as a bicycle tyre brand.<\/p>\n

They are now the largest manufacturer of bicycle tyres in the world.<\/p>\n

In the cycling industry, although they make tyres for any and every sort of bicycle, Maxxis<\/a> are mostly known as a mountain bike tyre brand.<\/p>\n

Rejigging the range<\/h2>\n

Truth be told, Maxxis’ tyre range got a bit OTT and confusing in recent years. Too many models and far too many variables of each model. It’s only in the last couple of years or so that they’ve managed to clear it up and rationalise it.<\/p>\n

And like it or not, we have 27.5″ wheels to thank for this.<\/p>\n

The industry’s move to the new 27.5″\/650B wheel size forced all tyre manufacturers to revisit their existing designs and update or even eliminate certain designs.<\/p>\n

This has been a good thing. Old ‘classics’ that weren’t actually very good have been killed off. ‘Nearly’ tyres have been tweaked to make them the tyres they should have been in the first place.\u00a0And there’s been some brand new tyres launched to fill much-needed gaps in the market.<\/p>\n

Enduro-a-go-go!<\/h2>\n

A great example of such a gap was the enduro market. Enduro riders\/racers wanted capable tyres that didn’t weigh a ton and could be run tubeless. DH tyres were too heavy and weren’t tubeless ready. XC tyres were too flimsy and not aggressively knobbled or made of a sufficiently sticky compound.<\/p>\n

To illustrate the new Maxxis range we’ve chosen seven tyres to talk about.<\/p>\n

\"P1030048\"<\/p>\n

Ardent<\/h2>\n