I’ve been the fairly proud owner of a basic GT Aggressor 2 ‘mountain’ bike for about seven years, and it’s provided me with plenty of hassle free and cheap transportation. I like two wheels. I also don’t mind getting my hands dirty doing work on it, but surprisingly, I’ve never had need to do any tyre work on it. Until now. Recently, it’s been obvious those seven year old tyres just aren’t what they used to be. They’re by a company called Cheng Shin Rubber and honestly, the tyres and the inner tubes have been great – but normal wear on the tread has left it a bit soft and thin, so it’s well past time for a tyre change.
Although they’ve been great tyres – never succumbing to a puncture even – they were slightly more suitable for off road than on, so in the wet, when cornering on tarmac I was always a little cautious – mainly as I came off once for being a bit overly ambitious on a very smooth cycle track in a typhoon.
I finally decided this week to get some new tyres on the bike, some new inner tubes and move over to slicker, more commuter type tyres. After asking around, I plumped for the Maxxis Detonator. Now, I don’t know who does marketing for Maxxis, but really, a name from the same general area as ‘explosion’ for something which is to be filled with air?
Naming aside, it’s a great tyre – simple to fit and in the brief piece of testing I gave it it was a complete change from the rumble of the CSTs – basically because it’s a real road tyre. Cornering, breaking and everything feels much better now, so all in all I’m very happy with them.
For the record, I also picked up some Schwalbe inner tubes.