Best trail and enduro mountain bike tyres you can buy - tried and tested hard hitting rubber
Tried and tested tough tyres for techy trails
Getting the best mountain bike tyres money can buy fitted to your bike can completely ride changing. Good tyres provide more grip, more support and ultimately more fun! Here, we round up the best trail and enduro tyres you can buy in 2020, we've tested all of these tyres so we know they are great upgrades.
- Buyer's guide to mountain bike tyres
- Is it worth converting your mountain bike to tubeless?
- The best trail and enduro mountain bike wheelsets, tried and tested
[Updated 7th September 2020]
The best mountain bike tyres of 2020
Tyres are the connection between your bike and the ground and making sure you’ve got the best ones is vital for grip, speed and confidence. All of these trail and enduro tyres have been tested by us scoring over four stars out of five when we reviewed them so we know they are good and are happy to recommend them. Scroll down for the full list or hit the links below to jump straight to the tyre of your choice.
If you want to know more about tyre compounds, tread patterns and how tyres differ from each other then click here for our Buyer's Guide to everything you need to know about mountain bike tyres. We'll have a similar guide to cross-country tyres coming up soon so keep your eyes peeled for that.
- Hutchinson Griffus 2.5 Hardskin
- Kenda Pinner Pro ATC
- WTB Verdict 2.5 TCS Tough High Grip
- Maxxis Minion DHF 29" 3C EXO TR
- Maxxis Minion SS 29" TR/DD
- Schwalbe RockRazor Snakeskin ADDIX Speedgrip
- Schwalbe Magic Mary Super Gravity ADDIX Soft
- Michelin Wild Enduro Front Magi-X
- Teravail Kennebec
- Specialized Hillbilly GRID 2Bliss Ready
- Specialized Butcher GRID 2Bliss Ready 2.8"
- Specialized Butcher GRID 2Bliss Ready 2.6"
- Vittoria Mota G+ IsoTech TNT
Hutchinson Griffus 2.5 Hardskin
Hutchinson may not be an obvious choice for many riders but they make some great tyres – and the Griffus 2.5 is one of them. It shares many similarities with the Maxxis Minion DHF but the Griffus’ compound, casing and shoulder tread may just trump the king of trail/enduro tyres.
Kenda Pinner PRO ATC
The Pinner Pro ATC is a fast-rolling tyre for dry, hardpack and rocky terrain, with reassuring steering and a sturdy carcass. It lacks bite in pretty much any sort of wet or loose conditions, though, so it's very much for dry, rocky days only.
WTB Verdict 2.5 TCS Tough High Grip
The WTB Verdict 2.5 is a super-aggressive intermediate tyre that excels on loose surfaces whether it's wet or dry. The support and damping from the TCS Tough casing is up there with the best, and the High Grip compound is excellent. It's priced well too, but it's heavy and not quite at home on hardpacked surfaces.
Maxxis Minion DHF 29" 3C EXO TR
£55
The Maxxis Minion DHF is a household name in the world of mountain biking. It’s been seen on many a podium yet it’s brilliantly versatile for all kinds of trail and descending use. At its greatest in the dry, it's still excellent in the wet and a predictable, capable performer right up until you're axle deep in mud. This 2.6" does blow up a little narrow, though.
Maxxis Minion SS 29" TR/DD
£55
The Maxxis Minion SS TR/DD is a rear specific, semi-slick tyre that’s ideal for dry trails, and the DoubleDown puncture protection adds some well-damped support for aggressive riding. It’s grippy and brakes better than others, but this DoubleDown carcass is much heavier than the EXO or Silkworm versions, the tread is slightly draggy, and the 29er only comes in 2.3” width.
Schwalbe RockRazor Snakeskin ADDIX Speedgrip
£65
The Schwalbe Rock Razor SnakeSkin ADDIX Speedgrip is a semi-slick, rear-specific tyre designed for fast rolling while offering a ton of grip. It’s light, surprisingly tough and usefully supportive, but the shoulder knobs are brittle and may not last long.
Schwalbe Magic Mary Super Gravity ADDIX Soft
£65
Versatility is the name of the game with the Schwalbe Magic Mary. It’s a top performer for aggressive riding in almost all conditions, but it can feel a little nervous at the extremes of wet or dry.
Michelin Wild Enduro Front Magi-X
£50
Michelin's Wild Enduro Front is a seriously capable and grippy tyre for hard-charging trail and enduro riders. It's great in most conditions but this Magi-X model excels in loose and/or wet loam with prodigious and predictable traction; it's one of the best aggressive front tyres on the market if you don't mind a bit of drag.
Teravail Kennebec
£75
You’ve probably not heard the name before, but Teravail is a USA based manufacturer with an extensive range of gravel, road and mountain bike tyres. The company has four MTB tyres with three at the monster truck end of the spectrum, including the Kennebec tested here. It’s not the biggest, but it has the most aggressive tread and as such is pitched at all-mountain riding.
Specialized Hillbilly GRID 2Bliss Ready
£45
The 2.6” Specialized Hillbilly provide grip by the bucket load in wet conditions, also proving to be a pretty good partner for very soft, dry loam. At the cheap price of £45 we can’t really see many reasons to moan!
Specialized Butcher GRID 2Bliss Ready
£50
The new 2.8” Specialized Butcher tyre offers a very fair price, grip by the bucket load and a stiff and durable carcass offers keen predictability. However, a low overall volume for a 2.8” and higher weight does make them a bit of a slog to pedal.
Specialized Butcher GRID 2Bliss Ready 2.6
£50
Specialized have been making the Butcher for some time now, on the front, wheel with 18psi inside, wet, dry, dirt, rock, roots, loose-over-hard, its nothing short of superb, only becoming clogged on the stickiest of loamy goodness, as would anything other than a spike. It transitions from upright to side knob smoothly, doesn’t break away with immediate alarm and holds off camber traverses better than many other rubber hoops. I’d say it’s on-par with other tyres of similar intentions in terms of vibration damping and rolling resistance but better than many in overall traction. At approx £50 and 985g, it’s cheaper and marginally lighter for similar strength and better levels of grip than some. I’d say Gripton by name, grip by nature, what a tyre!
Vittoria Mota G+ IsoTech TNT
£50
Vittoria has tagged the Mota as a downhill/all mountain mud tyre and, while the reinforced 27.5in version does indeed have a 1400g weight, the all-mountain option (in 27.5 and 29in) only weighs around 1000g, making it worth a punt if you ride hard through the winter months.
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