Maxxis Shorty Tire - Review
Maxxis' Shorty tire was originally developed for the World Cup downhill circuit, where cut down mud spikes are a common sight on riders' bikes when course conditions are anything other than bone dry. Now available in a lighter weight, folding bead version, the Shorty's open, blocky tread pattern is designed to dig in and cut through the slop, but the knob height is less than that of a traditional mud spike, a designed intended to create a broader range of usable conditions, since the shorter knobs are less likely to fold over and deform on drier trails.
The tire is available for 26”, 27.5” and 29” wheels in a tubeless ready 2.3” width. All of the versions use Maxxis' 3C MaxxTerra compound, which has a harder durometer rubber as a base layer, and two different compounds for the center and the shoulder of the tire. The Shorty can also be purchased Maxxis' EXO Protection, which adds an extra layer of protection against sidewall punctures to the casing. We tested the 27.5 x 2.3” 3C MaxxTerra EXO version (say that three times fast), which weighs in at 880 grams and retail for $78 USD per tire. www.maxxis.com, @Maxxis.
Tall side knobs keep gripping even in the sloppiest conditions.
Reminiscent of a dirt bike tire's tread pattern, the Shorty's blocky, open design sheds mud well.
Pinkbike’s Take:
 | Only a few days after our test set of tires were delivered the skies unleashed, dousing the trails with inches of rain, and turning them into a mucky loam soup,* the perfect conditions to see if the Shorty worked as promised. Luckily, they did, which was good news because the first trail that I dropped into was a steep brake burner that's tricky in the dry, and even more so in the wet. Traction, particularly when cornering, was excellent, with the square knobs clawing and churning up the ground to find grip in the slime. There's something deeply satisfying about the feeling of a tire hooking up in a sloppy berm when you were fully expected to slide out and get spit off the trail. The open tread pattern kept the tires from packing up with the mud, and no matter how nasty things got the tires never got fully covered enough to lose traction. Mounted up to rims with a 25mm inner width I was able to run between 20-25psi without any burping or blowing off the rim. Of course, conditions were on the squishier side for most of the testing - higher pressure may be necessary for harder packed terrain. Despite its meaty tread pattern, climbing was tolerable with the Shorty, and when things were really greasy it was nice to have the traction to power through sections that would have had a less aggressive tire spinning in place. I wouldn't rush out to do hill repeats with them, but they did have less drag than their appearance suggests. Extra care does need to be taken on wet roots and rocks, and while they aren't quite as treacherous as a traditional mud spike can be, they'll still slide out quite suddenly if you lose focus on the task at hand. When it comes down to it, the Shorty is still a specialist, and although the range of conditions it works well in is broader than its full-spike relatives, for most riders it won't be a tire that they put on and forget about for the rest of the year like a Maxxis Minion or a High Roller II. On the other hand, when conditions warrant, the Shorty is an excellent choice for blasting through the muck and mire, and it remains usable even as the trail begins to dry out. - Mike Kazimer |
*Yes, there are trails that can be ridden when they're muddy and wet with relatively minimal consequences. At the same time, there are also even more trails that can't. Use common sense, and be respectful.
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I have a shorty up front with an xr4 team on the rear. Great winter trail bike combo.
unlike my conti barons
You think because you invent future innovations that you are a genius in every aspect? Your word is cast down from the mouths of babes and we lowly pinkbikers salivate at the chance to hear the gospel?
You may have a vision for the future of bikes, but you are a f*cking idiot if you ride 35 PSI
if the wether is more like your country's then you can lower the psi, but on hard pack or rocky to dry ground it won't work , at leat for me
Yes F = W * E. Where F is the resistance due to friction, W is weight and E is the friction coefficient. Yes this is the 'standard' physics models for friction. But it's a lot more complicated than that. As a material gets softer the more and more the contact surface area has an effect on friction.
friction is the attraction forces between molecules thus the more molecules (from either surface) that are in contact with one another the more friction there is. So actually contact surface area is a variable in a friction model, but the only reason it is not needed in ideal perfect world equation is because it can be derived from force applied. The more force pushing two surfaces together the more molecules in contact with one another due to deformation.
But the reason contact surface area is needed for softer materials is because a soft material e.g. rubber already has numerous molecule contact points with the surface below it as its so soft and easily deformable and increasing force applied doesn't have as much an effect compared to a harder material.
F=W*E is only useful for exam questions and conceptual undestanding, using it in the real world by itself is not good practise. At all.
If the Shorty is not the best choice for really wet conditions, which tire from maxxis is it? Right now I'm very happy with my HR II (non 3C) in a lot of different conditions. But I was looking for a even more grippier tire for the wet, especially for wet roots and rocks.
But also used to have 680mm bars... On a Nomad.
I thought semi anything just didn't work?
There ok here but crap here?? So there semi..
Just get a soft knobly tyre
Nice to see something close to the Swapthings of yore too.
Ok glad we cleared that up
Whould you change it?
It is my all weather combo
www.bike-components.de/de/Reifen-Schlaeuche/MTB-Faltreifen/?limit=24&filter_manufacturer_id=57&order=price_asc
I just put on the Shorty and they look like the perfect tire for Belgian fall/winter/spring.
well, the Minion doesn't seems the perfect example of all-year-around tire to me..