Worn Mountain Bike Tires: Hooked Side Knobs

Worn side knobs on a Maxxis Rekon tire from my Mach 4 SL. This past Tuesday, at the CRAMBA River Bends With Friends ride, I had a both-tires-slide-out fall on a tight, flat, sandy-over-hard trail that resulted in a pretty-decent scrape to my left calf. Why did it happen? Two reasons. One — the primary reason — is because I exceed my ability to handle the bike. Two, the bike’s ability to corner was reduced because I let the front tire get too worn out. So what was fine before, this time… wasn’t. And I didn’t adapt. While one thinks of a tire wearing out, it’s typically the knobs getting smoothed out, especially along the center. On knobby mountain bike tires, it’s the side knobs which bite into dirt to maintain traction when cornering. And those same cornering forces eat away at the inner edge of the side knobs. Many high quality tires, such as the Maxxis Rekon 29×2.4 3C/EXO/TR shown above, have harder rubber in the center than on the sides, meaning the center continues to look (and…