Maxxis Dissector Tire 29 x 2.4 Tire [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

New tires can have a big impact on your ride and are arguably one of the most common upgrades on a mountain bike. Not only can new tire improve traction but a good tire can also prevent unwanted flats as well. Our friend Mark tells us his experience with the Maxxis Dissector Tire 29 x 2.4 Tire. Check it out!

Overview

I've been waiting for this review opportunity to come up. Believe it or not, I bought the tire based on a Jeff tire video combo. I normally don't write reviews because the all-seeing Google Oracle will fill my browser search with "perceived" purchase wants by digesting the keywords in my review. However, I thought I got exceptionally good advice from Jeff - so I made an exception. Honestly, I find Jeff's videos more useful than the "I am going to do some crazy **** to my mountain bike with a TIG welder I got for my birthday" on MTBR Forums or the Reddit /MTB crashtastic self-gratification communities. Think about it there are 64 million subscribers in /WTF and only 181 subscribers in /Helmet. That kind of says a lot. 10$ helmet 10$ head. If Google does a keyword search for my review and gives me an advert for a 10$ helmet, I promise I will share. "10$ helmet demo" might be a good Jeff video although It might not rival the downhill prowess and entertainment value of “Craigslist MTB Challenge: 50$ bike race.”

Anyway .... let's talk about the Maxxis Dissector 29 x 2.4 Tire. With winter riding coming up in the mid-Atlantic, I rotated my 29 inch 2.3 Minion II DHR Evo to the front rim and bought a new 2.4 Dissector for the rear during the shoulder weather (rotated off a front-wheel Ardent). The tire set is not on a slack frame (68-degree head angle degree with rear sag factored in). Mid-Atlantic shoulder riding weather is typically 31 - 43 degrees F, 70% humidity, some wind, wet trail surface, but not fully frozen yet. I cannot say how Dissector does on patches of ice or snow. The Mid-Atlantic has not any really big freezes yet (Northeast a different story).

On single track downhill trails, I am familiar with, where I would have slipped with the Minion rear on the damp, soft, rooty surface, the Dissector holds firm at speed.

As a performance tubeless pairing on Spank Oozy 395+'s, the combo performs well in the curves, specifically in off-camber turns, with high bike-body separation, with or without rocks and roots. (single-track mid-Atlantic is all rocks, clay/slop, all-season humidity, and roots IMO). I think what has much to do with the off-camber grip is how Maxxis lays out the edge tread pattern. Up close you can see that every other edge knobby is about three millimeters further out than the preceding one. I suspect that the stagger pattern keeps the tire from washing out when the bike angle gets low without adding more rubber and tread. The staggered tread is a different approach as compared to a Schwalbe Magic Mary where the edge tread is all in line with each knobby taller, side reinforced with more rubber, and slightly rotated counterclockwise. The Maxxis Assegai is also an inline edge tread tire.

Installation and a Stans tubeless setup were easy-peasy tasks, but I probably got the assist from the bead bite on the Spank rims. In general, the tubeless tire combo rolls well and the extra tread causes a little deceleration on flat gravel and hills, but it’s minor. On a loose dry surface, you get a good tire squash and good grip at high and low pressures. The climbs are what they are on a tire with heavier tread but it is not a show-stopper. The sidewalls hold up well on hits, and it can withstand off-axis sidewall squashing and grinding in edgy rock gardens without a ton of concern (Unlike my Ardent which required two darts and two cylinders to get home). The Dissector is not balloon-like at high pressures and holds sidewall shape under high pressure.

Final Thoughts

I am looking forward to 2021 Spring local Enduro races on this combo and will run the pairing on a slacker frame. I am pleased with the difference the Dissector has made in my rides.