I recently went on a muddy ride with my Bontrager 29-1 tires (29x2.2 front, 29x2.0 rear) and was not pleased by their performance in muddy conditions. They are fine on dry trails, but do not wick away mud how I would like my tires to. Any suggestions on affordable 29er aggressive trail/mud tires? I'm looking for something around 2.2 inches wide, and so far have come up with the Kenda Tomac Nevegal DTC Folding Tire. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. By the way I do run tubes, so I am not looking for a tubeless ready tire.
This thread might have some information. I'm not too familiar with which tires are available in a 29" diameter, however based on personal experience I would avoid the nevegal. It just doesn't grip predictably
I use bontrager 29-2 on the rear and a specialized the captain up front and those work pretty good unless it really sloppy the 29-2 will have enough traction to keep u going and the captain just doesn't seem to let go
I like Kenda Nevegals, Maxxis Ardent, and Maxxis Beavers. I have run all of these in horribly soupy conditions and they all seem to work pretty well considering the crappy terrain. I think the Ardents and Beavers are my top picks for loose muddy crap. Beavers shed mud really well.
Bontrager Mud-X is a great mud tire. It is only available in a 29x2.0 though (most mud tires are skinny by design). A 29-4 / XR-4 might work also if you want more volume.
I got the Continental Mountain King as well, in 2.4 wide which is awesome on a hardtail, with a good old fashioned wire bead for a smoking $30 on chain reaction cycles. Wicked deal, wicked tires. You can get them in different widths and beads too if you're looking for something lighter.
I've been using the panaracer Cedric gracia xc 29er 2.25" seem to cope well as an all round tyre with a good dual compound and are fast rolling. Think the centres would clog up with sticky clay based mud but have performed well over 8months and not one flat so far. Experimented with running the front tubeless using fenwicks which is ok but the sidewall weeps a bit.