What tire for Granite Bay rides?

my Panaracers fire xc pro tires really love the damp dirt in GB.

Granite Bay is not overly demanding in terms of winter traction due to the percentage of the trials that are DG so I would look for a tire that can be used year round. Conti Race Kings come to mind as a tire that work well in the summer and have all you need for the winter at GB.

WTB Exiwolfs are great for wetter conditions and WTB Nano's for everything else. All GB needs is good cornering nobs.

you can run anything at gb, even down to weight weenie kenda karmas!

Clintox50 said:

WTB Exiwolfs are great for wetter conditions and WTB Nano's for everything else. All GB needs is good cornering nobs.

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I second both suggestions, it's what I run...

Small block eight in the rear and some captains in the front should be sweet.

Agreed, Small Block 8 on the rear would be oh-so-fast, but you need knobs on the front. Ask me how I know...

I've been rolling Kenda Nevegal front and WTB Prowler rear just about forever now, and aside from being slow on pavement, it's a great all-round combo. That said, when these wear out, I think I'm going back to Mutanoraptors, fatty in front and narrow rear. Much faster rolling than the Nev/Prowler combo.

Small Bock 8 is a very good rear for the Folsom, Granite Bay, Auburn area. It roles fast, hooks up well, and is light. For the front I use the Blue Groove, MotoRapter, and Vertical Pro, all of those tire have worked well for me. Those are my standard fronts for riding all over, local, Tahoe, Bay Area/Santa Cruz, Moab, Oregon, & Mammoth.

I ride GB about once a week and I use a Nevegal in the front all year long.

I rode GB on a small block 8 just after it started raining this fall and thought the traction sucked. I had to lean too far back on all the uphill sections. I switched it to a fire xc pro and now the sb8 decorates my garage.

only rode there once, but my xc-ish setup had a nanoraptor in the back and a prowler SL up front, and worked like a charm

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have not been too unhappy with the Velociraptor on the rear. It is pretty predictable, and even loaded a little bit with some mud it has not lost grip.

The front Velociraptor on the other hand is what I am mainly concerned with. Just a little bit of mud loading and it is slipping sideways unexpectedly. So something with a little bit more aggressive side knob is in order?

kyleharder said:

Small block eight in the rear and some captains in the front should be sweet.

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I'm running a Captain on my front now and a Nanorapater on rear (I'm too lazy to change it for winter)...

The Captian is good now - softer, moist/wet conditions, but I really DID NOT like it when it was dry and hard packed... too square knobbied, would let go without much warning... but like I said, now (in winter) it's great!

I like Nanoraptors or small block 8's for the hard pack...

Bokchoicowboy said:

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I have not been too unhappy with the Velociraptor on the rear. It is pretty predictable, and even loaded a little bit with some mud it has not lost grip.

The front Velociraptor on the other hand is what I am mainly concerned with. Just a little bit of mud loading and it is slipping sideways unexpectedly. So something with a little bit more aggressive side knob is in order?

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I would say most medium spacing with medium knobs would be good out there in winter, if not all year. Im sure theres some stinkers with that criteria but stick with something popular at the shops and you should be fine. Ive had good success there with Maxxis Ridgelines(only in the summer though), Mountain Kings, Fat Alberts, WTB Stout, WTB Weirwolf, and the WTB Weirwolf 2.55lt. The 2.55lt is definately the best dry conditions tire there and the other 4 are all a little overkill, especially the Stout. The Weirwolf is probably the closest to a reasonable XCish (without getting too AM) tire for wet conditions at GB, although it does have a tendency to pack up at times. Maybe the 2010 WW?

Every tire I tried there pushed in the turns, and the bigger knob tires slipped scary big.

Then I tried a SB8 2.35 up front and it rails. It's a perfect fit for the sand over hard conditions.

That said, the combo of winter and the race series can muddy up the trail pretty bad (sad) so I'm going to give an Eskar I have lying about a try today.

P

Specialized Fast Trak LK 2bliss 2.0, Maxxis Larsen tt 2.0 or Small block 8. Fast rolling tire for hardpack sand work well.