Best Mountain Bike Tyres For Different Surfaces

Mountain Bikes usually come with a decent set of tyres on them, which allows for all kinds of mountain biking to be carried out across a wide range of different terrain - across different weather conditions. There are however, many benefits to choosing tyres to match your exact riding conditions - with specialist tyres providing you with maximum grip and performance, matching the type of terrain and weather conditions you ride in most. 

The more specialist a tyre you choose for your mountain bike, the greater the difference between the advantages and disadvantages of such a tyre will be. Grippier mountain bike tyres with more aggressive tread patterns provide better levels of grip and traction, but a higher rolling resistance, which means it is harder to get up to speed. 

During winter months, the extra grip of more aggressive tyre treads beat less aggressive summer tyres, but during the dryer months - aggressive tread patterns lose out to less aggressive tyres which have a lower rolling resistance. 

Below, we share some of our experience and knowledge on the best types of tyres to use across different surfaces and riding conditions. 

Mountain Bike Tyres For All Round Use

An all round mountain bike tyre is the ideal choice for most mountain bikers, these tyres have lugs and tread which sit at different heights on the tyre, sitting alongside the main tyre tread. These tyres provide good performance and a relatively low rolling resistance, providing the right balance between speed and grip levels. If you mountain bike recreationally, it’s likely that these tyres will more than do the job. 

Mountain Bike Tyres For Hard Packed Trails

If you only ever ride harder surfaces, such as forest tracks, stone tracks, fire tracks and dusty sandy surfaces - then a semi slick mountain bike tyre which will only have a moderate tread pattern and lugs will provide the best option for you. These tyres provide low rolling resistance, which means maximum speed but they will struggle in wetter conditions. 

Mountain Bike Tyres For Soft Ground

Woodland trails and areas of moorland provide a naturally soft ground for mountain bikers to enjoy and it’s a pretty safe bet that these trails and ground will be wet for most of the year. If you generally ride across slippery woodland trails, purchase a tyre with a semi aggressive tread pattern and lugs which are close together, which will provide all of the grip you need to keep you moving. 

Mountain Bike Tyres For Mud

The most aggressive mountain bike mud and winter tyres feature the most aggressive tread patterns, as well as large lugs which have plenty of space between them. These tyres do a great job of biting into mud and making sure you keep moving, but they do provide less grip on dryer surfaces. 

Mountain Bike Tyres For Rocky Sections

Rocky sections provide another challenge for mountain bike tyres. Wide tyres work best here, with higher lugs and a substantial tread pattern which will allow grip on loose rocks, as well as other loose ground. 

Mountain Bike Tyres Online

At Westbrook Cycles, we stock and supply a complete range of mountain bike tyres which are suitable for all budgets, and all mountain bike riding preferences and requirements, you can view the complete range here - and as always, get in touch with us if you have any questions about the collection.