2021 the year for tires
 

The time has come for new tires for my 2011 ec300.

I currently have the original metzler 6 days front and a pirelli scorpion XC rear
I most ride in hardpack with lots of loose rock
Tires I'm considering:

Goldentyre gt216aa front 80/100(seems to lost favor re quality control)
Shinko gt216 90/100 - Goldentyre copy, very heavy
Metzler 6-days front
Ride 220 front soft compound
Michelin Enduro medium 90/100
Not sure what else I should look at for the front?

Rear:
Ride 220 gummy
Shinko 505 cheater
Shinko 525 cheater
Michelin Enduro medium - I don't think I want the short FIM tread blocks
Pirelli Scorpion XC mid soft 120/100 - This is my current tire and hasn't disappointed
Or ???

Try the Kenda Equilibrium or the Shinko 505 Cheater tire. My brother runs the Shinko in southern Oregon and swears by it on the steep terrain there. They are getting rave reviews. Goldentyre Fatty up front is a great choice. Run 5-7 psi pressures front and rear. You will be amazed

seems the Goldentyre fatty is out of stock everywhere

I'll add the Shinko 505 cheater to the list I have also been looking at the 525

local shop has some Shinko's in stock.
The front fatty seems very heavy!

you don't have Mitas on your list??

I found the Mitas c18 green rear great for that type of terrain, good grip and decent wear (especially with tubliss)

front i really liked the goldentyre fatty but mitas ef06 has great grip on rocks and hardpack and also the c-19

Shinko 525 cheater is exceptional, more versatile than the 505. Have run a gt333 which was nice but no where near the same traction as the shinko.

Sedona MX 907HP is what I'm running for a 2nd time around . It's great from deep ruts to hard pack. I did 1/2 the 2017 gncc on 1 and it always found traction. It is a stuffer tire so I only run it at 8psi. (185 lb rider) I'm going back to it again for this year's hare scrambles. It wears very well too.
https://slavensracing.com/shop/mx907...-tires-sedona/

The 525 is an awesome tire if you are going to be in a mix of rocky stuff and trails. I've use it for hard endures b4. (Tough like rorr) you can tractor through the rocks. It just sticks to them. And still enough bite for mud and dirt.
It will wear the edges out rather quickly. So 8 save it for races I know are full of Boulder fields and what not.

First time running the fatty uo front, but seems to have awesome traction. Also can be ran at alittle lower psi.

The golden tyre fatty is awesome. Don?t bother with the Shinko fatty. Poor quality copy and throws all its side knobs.
Mitas make awesome tyres but I have split the last two running tubliss at low pressure. I have also run maxxis fatty on the front which is wearing even better and have a new maxxis rear to try next time around.

I went ahead and purchased the Michelin Enduro Med 90/100-21 front and a Shinko 525 cheater for the rear.

Now to decide tubliss or mouse for the rear?

Mousse or tubliss - few factors here for me the decider is how important is riding non-stop (are you a race contender?) because all my tubliss failures have taken 10 minutes to fix with the exception of when i ran a very old tyre and ripped a whole knob off - that resulted in 50km of riding at 80% (and conscious line selection)of what i would normally have ridden it without any rim damage

otherwise i am a tubliss advocate - for feel, options and also cost, initial cost is similar to a mousse but then it is only the cost of the inner tube ($20) every year for peace of mind