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A Mountain Bike Tire Cheat Sheet
Decoding brand jargon on casings, compounds, and more
Charlie Custer
29 May • 7 minutes
In researching the optimal tires for my XC marathon racing aspirations this year, I’ve found that keeping track of tire casings and compounds across brands is really a pain, as everybody invents their own ridiculous branded jargon.
Having done the legwork anyway, I figured I might as well share my cheat sheet. It’s not totally exhaustive but if you’re researching tires, it’ll give you a place to start (specifically, the four tire brands I see recommended most).
General principles to keep in mind
In general, in a casing more puncture protection also means more weight.
More grip also means more rolling resistance.
I’m not going to cover TPI in the charts below, but in general 60 TPI is less supple and heavier but offers more puncture protection, 120 TPI is more supple and potentially lighter but also more susceptible to flats.
Not all casings and compounds will be available for all tires.
Obviously there’s a lot more going on with tires than just the factors I talk about here (grip, rolling resistance, puncture protection, weight), but this is a cheat sheet, not a graduate seminar.
Note also that this is a cheatsheet on what the brands say these terms mean. I have not tested all of these.
Maxxis
Casing options:
Casing | Meaning |
|---|---|
EXO | Light-duty puncture protection |
EXO+ | Medium-duty puncture protection |
DoubleDown | Medium-heavy duty puncture protection (2× 120TPI casing, slightly lighter than DH but slightly less protective) |
DH | Heavy duty puncture protection (2× 60TPI casing) |
Compound options:
Compound | Meaning |
|---|---|
MaxxSpeed | Lowest rolling resistance, designed for XC racing |
3C MaxxSpeed | Low rolling resistance, designed for XC, being replaced by the new not-3C MaxxSpeed (above) |
3C MaxxTerra | More traction than MaxxSpeed, wears slower and less rolling resistance than MaxxGrip |
3C MaxxGrip | Maximum traction, high rolling resistance and wears fastest |
Other nonsense:
WT means “wide trail” and means Maxxis built the tire with 30mm rims (or wider) in mind. (But they’ll still work on narrower rims down to at least 25mm).
TR means Tubeless ready.
My recommendation for a regular person riding trails: EXO+, 3C MaxxTerra.
Schwalbe
Casing options:
Casing | Meaning |
|---|---|
Super Race | Light-duty puncture protection for XC racing |
Super Ground | Medium-duty puncture protection (includes a “SnakeSkin” layer for protection) |
Super Trail | Medium-heavy duty puncture protection for all-mountain riding |
Super Gravity | Heavy duty puncture protection but not as heavy as the DH casing |
Super Downhill | Very heavy duty puncture protection |
BikePark | Very heavy duty puncture protection, intended as a more durable DH tire for bike park bikes and DH training. |
Compound options:
Compound | Meaning |
|---|---|
Addix Speed | Lowest rolling resistance, designed for XC racing |
Addix SpeedGrip | Low rolling resistance but a bit grippier, designed for XC and trail riding |
Addix Soft | Grippy tires with high rolling resistance for enduro/DH |
Addix Ultra Soft | The grippiest tires (but also high rolling resistance and fast wear) |
My recommendation for a regular person riding trails: Super Ground or Super Trail, Addix SpeedGrip.
Vittoria
Vittoria’s website doesn’t do a great job explaining their options, and they do things a bit differently from other brands. Basically, you pick casing and compound together. And thankfully they’re somewhat self explanatory:
Casing/compound options:
Casing | Meaning |
|---|---|
XC Race | Light-duty puncture protection for XC racing |
XC | A bit more protection and durability than the XC race tires, with a bit more weight than XC race or XC trail (but at a lower cost) |
XC Trail | More puncture protection than XC Race, but lighter than XC |
Trail | Medium-duty puncture protection |
Enduro | Heavy duty puncture protection |
Enduro Race | Heavy duty puncture protection but slightly lighter |
Other nonsense:
TLR = tubeless ready, puncture protection on tread. But some TLR tires have some level of sidewall protection as well.
TNT = tubeless ready, puncture protection on tread and sidewall…which some TLR tires also have.
If you want you can dig into the specifics of any tire on Vittoria’s site by scrolling down to their tech section on the tire’s product page, but specific tread patterns will only be available as one or the other, so honestly just ignore TNT and TLR, and just pick the tread and casing that you want.
My recommendation for a regular person riding trails: XC Trail or Trail.
Specialized
Casing options:
Casing | Meaning |
|---|---|
S-Works | Ultralight tires for XC racing, low puncture protection |
Control | A bit more puncture protection, all around XC casing |
Grid | Medium-duty puncture protection for everyday trail riding |
Grid Trail | Medium-heavy duty puncture protection for aggressive trail riding |
BLCK DMND | Very heavy duty puncture protection. I’m not sure they’re still making these. |
Compound options:
Compound | Meaning |
|---|---|
T5 | Lowest rolling resistance, designed for XC |
T7 | Low rolling resistance but a bit grippier, designed for trail riding |
T9 | Grippy tires with high rolling resistance for enduro/DH |
Other nonsense:
2Bliss Ready = Tubeless ready. Do you get it? Yes, the folks over at the big S are very clever.
My recommendation for a regular person riding trails: Grid T7
Other brands to consider
I can’t make a chart for every tire brand.
OK, technically I could, but I don’t want to.
Anecdotally, the four companies listed above are the four I see recommended most frequently. I asked on a few different social networks recently about XC tires and almost every single recommendation I saw came from one of those four brands.
However, here are some other options to think about, as well as my impressions about them based on what I’ve read (so take this with a grain of salt or three):
Continental has some fans especially among XC racers. I see their Cross King and Race King tires recommended sometimes.
Michelin gets talked about sometimes in the realm of enduro tires. Some people love the Wild Enduro.
WTB seems to have some devoted fans, although I couldn’t name a specific tire I’ve seen recommended.
Versus is a DTC MTB tire company. Haven’t seen these recommended anywhere but I think they’re still quite new/rare.
Teravail is a name I’ve seen but I know nothing about them.
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