Maxxis Minion DHR II 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.

Maxxis is arguably the biggest tire company in the Mountain Bike industry. They balance very good durability and grip with their wizardly rubber technology. Check out what our friend, Mark, has to say about Maxxis's DHRII tire!

Overview

A little background...
I'm a pretty crap rider, and since correcting my technique would take far too much effort I decided to give this new rear tire a try. I was specifically looking for better grip on the climbs, especially when it gets punchy or chunky and I'm just stabbing at the pedals, gasping for breath, and praying to the MTBs gods the tire doesn't spin and throw me off balance.

For context, I'm riding a 2017 Trek Fuel EX9 in Southern California (I live right down the road from Worldwide Cyclery), and while you can never be sure if you'll spot a rattlesnake, coyote, mountain lion or wildfire on any given ride, what you can always count on is if it's dry, there will be no grip. Everything is loose over hard, with sand patches if you're lucky.

My experience...
I've put about 100 miles on the Minion DHR II and it is a marked improvement over the Bontrager XR4 I was previously running on the back. The knobs on the DHR are much taller and more spaced out

which gives some great bite when it's loose, chunky or sandy,

and the compound is noticeably softer which provides more grip when you happen to find a patch of bedrock. I can still get it to spin on climbs, but I've got to be full-on caveman about it.

I can't speak as to how well it rolls. I've heard it's a slower tire, but I'm so slow uphill it wouldn't make any difference. What I can say is I'm still able to match or beat my previous segment times, so it's certainly not holding me back any. In fact, I just set a PR up the Space Mountain trail an hour ago.

Getting back to what a crap rider I am, I am not terribly picky when it comes to line choice and will often just plow the bike over chunk and rock gardens with no regard for the health of myself or the bike. Yeah, I'm probably beating the life out of every bearing and pivot on th, but I'm having a good time doing it. I run rather low pressures (24R, 19F) setup for tubeless, and I've not had any issues with flats, leaks, torn knobs or dented rims.

Does it shred gnar?
No idea. I consider myself lucky to not end up on the ground by the end of a ride, let alone get the back end to slide on purpose. What I can say is that it feels to let go very predictably and gradually. The XR4 I was running previously would typically just hang on until it didn't, so the Maxxis is much more pleasant in that regard.

Final thoughts

I've got the DHR II paired with an Assagai up front. Partly because this is what BKXC runs, so obviously having the same tires will have me riding as well as he does. So far I've been really happy with the pair and I don't have any desire to experiment with any other tires.