[Video] Maxxis Minion DHF vs. Schwalbe Magic Mary - Which is Best?

Two killer classic tires. The Maxxis Minion DHF and Schwalbe Magic Mary. Numerous riders have run one or the other, if not both, at some point in time. In this comparison, we will be diving in and looking at these two tires individually as well as comparing them back to back. While we already have a few reviews on the DHF, unfortunately, we cannot say the same about the Magic Mary.

Overview

Both tires are very similar in what they are designed to handle; everything from loose and dry and loose over hard, all the way to great loam dirt and light rain with mud. While I wouldn't use either of these for a full mud race, they do perform well in moderate mud. For the Maxxis DHF, we are on the 29” x 2.5” WT 3C EXO tire. For the Schwalbe, we went with the 29” x 2.35” Addix Soft Compound and Snakeskin protection. Generally speaking, Maxxis is known to be under the marked tire size whereas the Schwalbe tend to run a bit larger. However, there is still a noticeable difference in size. The Maxxis DHF looks a bit larger. Weight is also a big difference, the Maxxis DHF is 1,005g and the Schwalbe Magic Mary is much lighter weighing in at only 885g.

How Do The Compounds Compare?

While both the tires we tested were the softer compound versions, the Schwalbe Magic Mary is by far much softer than the Maxxis DHF. The side cornering knobs on the Magic Mary roll well, since the rubber is so soft, as well as two sipes on the side cornering tread. While that offers a lot of compliance, it can also be weird when those start to give and roll away from grabbing the dirt. The Maxxis has a very different tread pattern, two large knobs in the center tread with a small gap; and then the classic Minion side cornering knobs, alternating square, and “L” shape, really seem to have great grip. While the rubber is also soft, the large knobs have enough support and do not have any roll or give while cornering those loose turns.

Ride Impressions:

As mentioned previously, many riders including myself, have spent considerable amounts of time on the Maxxis DHF. While it's not the fastest or lightest, it offers very consistent grip and predictability in a variety of riding conditions. This is my go-to tire when I don't know what to run, or what the terrain will be like. At first, the Maxxis DHF has a very “grab, drift, grab” personality. When you transition from the center tread, you hit the slight gap in the tread and that is where the drift starts. Once leaned over enough, you then grab the cornering knobs and grab back into the traction you started with. Once you get used to this, controlled drifts become a thing of beauty. The side cornering knobs are very supportive and hold you up once you lean on them.

The Magic Mary has a very different personality from that of the DHF. While it has great, almost extreme traction through the center to transition, the side cornering tread is where it starts to fall off. With a very smooth center to middle transition, the tire grips the entire time. When I started to lean hard on the side cornering knobs, they became very flexible, leading me to believe they would be perfect on loose dirt and rocks/roots. However in SoCal, we are mostly loose over hard dirt and too much flex, or not enough support on the knobs can cause them to “fall away”. This was a difficult feeling to overcome for myself and my riding style.

Although the tire felt good in the center knobs, I felt as if the side knobs could benefit from a harder more supportive compound. Because of this, I found it hard to trust the Magic Mary in all conditions. It has tons of grip on the straights but tends to breakaway in the corners which did not help my confidence in hardpack conditions. When the dirt gets loose and like powder, the Magic Mary really shows its strength. While we do not have a lot of this dirt, and also no real “loam” to try, I will admit it's not the best overall impression.

Conclusion:

Although both the Maxxis DHF and the Schwalbe Magic Mary are two very iconic tires, it was obvious which tire won in this showdown. The Maxxis DHF proved to be more versatile in our testing conditions and that its tread design was better and most efficient in the corners. The Schwalbe Magic Mary demonstrated itself to be a very soft and grippy tire for general riding, however, its design seemed almost flawed for the dry southern California dust and sand.

The amount of open space between the knobs and soft compound were self-destructive and resulted in a not so enjoyable ride. The DHF is tried and true, which explains why the design has been so consistent over the past couple of years and why it has been used as the parent to many of the newer Maxxis tires. Because of those reasons, we picked the Maxxis Minion DHF as the winning tire.

If you're one strange human and would like to read the transcript of the video above, continue reading below!

What's up guys Jeff here from worldwide Cyclery and today we're gonna talk about a little comparison of the Maxxis Minion DHF versus the Schwalbe Magic Mary.

So these tires get compared pretty often because they're both sort of your aggressive downhill tire they kind of used to be downhill specific but now everyone sort of running them on trail bikes and enduro bikes and probably some cross country bikes out there too so it's an awesome aggressive tread pattern tire both of these guys and yeah they often get compared because they look similar and they're just kind of similar in the sense of what they do in the classification they get put in as a tire as far as the differences between them there's a lot of different sizes that each one of them are available in in different compounds so what we're gonna focus more on a tread pattern because that's kind of most important right I mean when you're looking at both of these you can see the price point Schwalbe tends to be a little bit more expensive than Maxxis on all their tires I think these two will will fall into that boat as well always a little bit more money tread patterns are both aggressive they both come in different sizes and as well as compounds and stuff like that so the weights kind of fluctuate there but they're pretty similar as far as weight ranges go the number one thing that I would like to mention because I have a lot of experience riding both of these things on a downhill bike and a trail bike and my personal preference is the dhf so sure all bees are awesome but I'll tell you why I like the dhf I feel like it's a little more versatile and what I mean by that is if you're on hardpack dirt with a little bit of loose over the top which it's a ton of that in Southern California where I ride mostly and when I was in Whistler with a schwabe magic marry a dry time of the summer and there was a lot of hard pack and just you know loose over hard dirt there and then I was also riding in Big Bear and same kind of thing so a lot of hard-packed dirt with a little bit of loose on the top in those conditions the magic marry the corner knobs are just a little too high it feels like they want to roll and drift on you and it doesn't really want to dig in because they're just it's a very aggressive huge tall corner knob and and that to me made it just feel when you really leaned into a corner like that it just didn't want to hook up or stick because the knobs are just too big they just almost rolled out on you whereas the dhf didn't do that the knobs are a little bit lower they have a different you know just designed to them and it worked amazing in those conditions and the dhf is kind of notorious for being a great tire in those kind of conditions in dry conditions or loose over hardpack the magic Mary on the other hand when it's wetter and you're a nice softer like loam or mud the magic Mary clears mud better and those big corner knobs that I think are kind of a disadvantage on this loose over hard pack soil dirt are way better when it gets really soft and muddy so when it's soft out there if you're riding you know an area where the dirt is dark brown and soft or muddy the magic mare is gonna be awesome that's where these things really hook up and you'll see a lot of guys who race for Schwalbe on downhill World Cups they'll run the magic marries all the time when it's when it's wet and when it's that really good tacky you know loose soft soil when it gets really hard pack and loose over hard I think that's where a dhf really excels so if it's wetter conditions magic marry for sure if it's drier conditions dhf for sure if you're riding both right so you're traveling all around or you just want a versatile tire to maybe you know you have sometimes you ride and it's springtime so sometimes it's dry and sometimes it's wet versatility the dhf I'm gonna say takes the cake there just because it still works good in the wet not as good as a magic Mary but it works way better than the magic Mary in the dry so versatility minion dhf for sure but if you're riding that loose soil the magic Mary is is pretty king there as far as durability of these things go I don't know if I've ever seen much of either these tires ripping sidewalls or getting torn up they both have soft rubber and available in different compounds so they're gonna last on you and it's a it's just beefy heavy you know downhill style tire so I wouldn't worry too much about durability they're both gonna be a super strong tire that is gonna last you a long time and you're gonna wear through the knobs before you got to worry about the sidewalls ripping on on either of these things so yeah both phenomenal tires they have their pros and cons to each of them versatility maxxis minion dhf loose softer wetter schwalbe magic mary ya loose over hard pack dry stuff dhf for sure but both absolutely great tires and kind of just worked better in different terrain and then the other one would so that's about it for these please subscribe it let us know if you liked the video let us know what tire you prefer what tires you're running and yeah happy to hear your guys thoughts on their take it easy