Maxxis Ardent 29er Tire Review

(Hi All - it's Mandy guest blogging with a new tire review)

Now available for 29ers - Maxxis calls the Ardent "aggressive tread tires in high-volume casings". These tires have a low center tread with ramped knobs to minimize rolling resistance as well as blocky side knobs for traction while cornering.

I've had these tires on my Niner RIP9 for a few weeks now, experimenting with different conditions and pressures and forming my opinions. I'm comparing them mostly to the ever-popular and always reliable IRD Fire XC Pro's, which I had previously ran on the RIP, and the fast and light Schwalbe Racing Ralph's that I have on my Lynskey Pro29.

The Ardent's are actually a nice mid-point between these two tires. They're fast. They're consistent. They're just like the Racing Ralph's, but with a little less 'race'. Generally I run my tires with fairly high pressure, but like this other reviewer, I found that taking the pressure down a bit made them more responsive on the trail.

I've been working hard on this weekend's Vermont Mountain Bike Festival - and was stoked to steal some time on the trail on Tuesday night to work on reviewing these tires. The light was perfect and I wanted to share a rarely seen peek at Calamity Ridge* on Perry Hill. No one ever takes photos of this section of smooth sweeping singletrack and it's a shame. Perfect terrain for these Ardents.

My verdict? These tires are fast and fun. If you're looking for an all around go-fast tire with much better traction than your everyday race tire - the Maxxis Ardent are a great choice.

*site of my posterior shoulder dislocation in 2004.

How it gets done

Sorry for the lack of truly interesting commentary as of late, but as it stands, bike season is pretty much over in our neck of the woods.

Sure, there's really cool stuff happening, like the delivery of the brand spanky Vassago Bandersnatches, the super grippy Nokian Gazza Extreme winter tires (which Stan's up nicely I hear) or the long awaited Schwalbe Racing Ralphs. It's all here. Kermit AIR 9s? Here. RIPs? Here. Fox forks? Here.


This is the time of year we hunker down, make tweaks, improve, plan, and try to not loose our minds.

One of the things we do, is get outdoors. Just because we don't ride bikes, doesn't mean we don't have fun. Sunday was no exception. A large and partly unplanned posse of some of my closest friends got to play in the snow together. There is nothing finer than blasting down one of New England's finest ski slopes surrounded by your friends.


It doesn't happen often.