Is Maxxis taking over?

  • Previous Page
Author Message
flag wallstbear
Posted: May 9, 2020 at 18:13 Quote
As a long time roadie, I have always been a Conti man. For MTB, I have shifted between Contis and Schwalbes a lot. Until recently a new bike came with Maxxis. And they seem to be just as good.

That said, of all bike tire discussions I have seen in the past few months, as well as various dream bike builds on youtube and elsewhere, the impression I am getting, is that Maxxis are the tires of choice possibly 75%-90% of the time for higher end bikes these days .

Is Maxxis like Sram for groupsets (or Shimano for road) now?

What is the impact on the industry as a whole?

Maxxis is obviously a Taiwanese company and no Taiwanese/Asian(ExJapan)/Chinese company has been this dominant.

Even Giant is only 1 of many bike manufacturers and in the MTB world, GIant is not really that huge, especially after their 27.5 detour from a few years ago.
flag MTBrandonLee
Posted: May 9, 2020 at 18:46 Quote
I'm running onza on my trail and downhill bike. with a maxxis front tire on the DH. Maxxis is pretty popular, they offer pretty amazing performance for the money, they work in a lot of conditions, but Schwalbe, Vittoria, Onza and Michelin are also pretty popular, Maxxis does tend to sponsor more events from what i've seen. Conti's are kinda iffy for MTB, I used to run them on an xc bike, but even their DH and Enduro tires are kinda meh.
Michelin's are getting pretty popular these days, the Wild Enduro is a pretty amazing tire.
flag knightmarerider
FL
Posted: May 9, 2020 at 18:47 Quote
Maxxis has been this dominant for about 10 years or since i remember doing mtb, And GIANT is the biggest bike manufacturer in the world by a huge margin. you probably need to get your facts checked.
flag MTBrandonLee
Posted: May 9, 2020 at 19:24 Quote
knightmarerider wrote:
Maxxis has been this dominant for about 10 years or since i remember doing mtb, And GIANT is the biggest bike manufacturer in the world by a huge margin. you probably need to get your facts checked.

FACTS. Giant is well. quite literally GIANT. they make frames for A TON of other brands
flag wallstbear
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 4:18 Quote
I am not saying Giant is a small company.

I am saying, in the area of higher end mountain bikes, the Giant brand (thus excluding OEM stuff and low end bikes) does not appear to be as dominant as Maxxis. In fact, where I ride in terms of $3000+ bikes, there seems to be more Santa Cruzes, Yeti's, Canyons, Spesh'es, Treks, even YT's. In other words, brands are pretty evenly spread out.

BTW, according to Giant's 2019 annual report, its annual revenue is US$2.1 billion, while the total bike industry is $60 billion globally, so while 3.5% is very significant, it's not as "dominant" as Maxxis appears to be. (https://www.bikenews.online/index.php?route=bossblog/article&blog_article_id=281). Besides, Giant makes A TON of cheap bikes.

In contrast, I have seen maybe 40-50 so called dream bike builds on youtube in the past few months, and only maybe 5-8 times people used non-Maxxis tires.

As you can see, 3.5% is quite different than 85%. Granted my sample size might be skewed. Hence the question.

knightmarerider wrote:
Maxxis has been this dominant for about 10 years or since i remember doing mtb, And GIANT is the biggest bike manufacturer in the world by a huge margin. you probably need to get your facts checked.
flag a-prince
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 7:30 Quote
Just as with any sport there are trends people follow. Personally I don’t find Maxxis really has a leg up in performance on other big name players especially for the price. You can get cheaper tires with similar characteristics (Michelin).

What I do find unique in Maxxis is the huge variety of choices from compounds, tread pattern, side wall construction, tire width. The options are there for every type of riding/preference.

I have tried soooo many different tires over the years and a lot of those have been Maxxis, but the price/performance hasn’t been great enough to warrant solely sticking with Maxxis. If money was no object Schwalbe SG Magic Mary’s all day every day or super tacky WTB Vigilante/Judge combo.
flag zsandstrom
O+
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 11:56 Quote
a-prince wrote:
.

What I do find unique in Maxxis is the huge variety of choices from compounds, tread pattern, side wall construction, tire width. The options are there for every type of riding/preference.



I think that's the source of dominance. If I'm a frame maker choosing an OEM partner, Maxxis can spec every single one of my mountain bikes, and people trust them.
flag stoo61
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 12:05 Quote
Its always Maxxis for me, its one of those things you don't really want to be changing.

Once you have your grips, saddle, pedals and tyres dialled in its gotta take some big shift in tech to change them up.

I have MSC Grippers on my HT which came form the previous owner....not a fan, will wear them out and get some Maxxis on.
flag knightmarerider
FL
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 16:58 Quote
Well that probably has to do with the maze of products tire manufacturers built, they just bomb you with weird marketing BS names instead of just say one layer with insert or two layers, grippy compound or low resistance compound. Making switch brands quite a chore. And maxxis really provides all you need.
flag ricochetrabbit
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 18:00 Quote
Now if only maxxis knew how to use a ruler...maxxis 2.5=2.35.
flag splayleg
FL
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 20:11 Quote
It’s to throw off the kooks
flag gafoto
Posted: May 10, 2020 at 22:16 Quote
ricochetrabbit wrote:
Now if only maxxis knew how to use a ruler...maxxis 2.5=2.35.

eThirteen 2.25 = 2.5. WTB 2.5 = 2.3. It all makes sense, right?
flag Arierep
Posted: May 11, 2020 at 0:35 Quote
I'll speak for myself here.
Tyres are not only expensive, but can also make or break a ride. Having the wrong tyre in can completely change the bike's behaviour, capabilities and reliability.

With such a critical mass of users, it's pretty easy to do a quick search and end up with a relatively accurate idea on how a certain Maxxis model will behave. This makes dumping money on such a critical consumable feel a safer bet.
They also have very clear and defined levels of case protection.


I'd definitely prefer to use a Germany made Continental, but can't justify neither the cost or unforseen performance
flag Adamrideshisbike
O+
Posted: May 11, 2020 at 8:52 Quote
Agreed with above. Maxxis is a safe choice. I rode continentals that I liked but they leaked air. I'd try their latest casing, but don't want to spend the money to run the experiment.
flag nematon785
Posted: May 11, 2020 at 11:24 Quote
They always come out on top in tire comparison. I ride maxis only because i switched a nevegal off the front for a highroller many years ago and it was night and day improvement. They are farkin esspensive though. Quality tires trump all else in my book. Ill take a hardtail with good rubber over squish with junk any day.
  • Previous Page

 


Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv65 0.010114
Mobile Version of Website