TYRES

We prime the pump and inflate the latest range of rubber to descend on the mountain biking market

- Mick Kirkman

At mbr we've always had a big annual tyre test, and because improvements have come on an incremental basis, it's easy to take for granted just how much tyre performance and technology has advanced in the last 25 years. Long gone are the days of multiple ride-ruining incidents, and beyond punctures and small holes, it's pretty rare nowadays to permanently damage the casing or shred multiple tread blocks; something that was definitely a thing only a few short years ago.

Tyres still regularly need replacing though, and with top-tier models upwards of £80, it's important to make the right decision when choosing new rubber. And with major players constantly reinventing old models and launching fresh ones, and new brands regularly entering the fray - all claiming to best balance compromises inherent to tyre design like weight, rolling speed, grip, durability and comfort-expert guidance is more valuable than ever.

The ultimate tyre obviously doesn't exist, and, because manufacturing and designing tyres is so complex and expensive, it's taken Continental - one of the leading brands on the market - almost four years to develop its new mtb Gravity tyre line. Factor in mould costs and prototyping, thousands of hours of comparative testing and refinement with some of the world's best riders and rubber engineers and constant revisions, and it's easy to see why.

Fellow brand Goodyear - also big in the automotive market and presumably not short of a few quid for R&D - has similarly spent years working on its new Newton tyres. This brand rules in the car world and has now opened its own specialist bicycle division to concoct the exact rubber blends wanted for cycling. It's the same story for any brand looking to be competitive in the mtb arena, since the best products tend to have been refined over many years.