TOM’S MARINEL ROY £2,295
Tom’s tired of the mud – and so are his tyres
For the past month I’ve barely been able to ride the El Roy, and I’m pretty bummed out about it. As you’ll see next issue, we’re deep into Trail Bike of the Year territory at the moment, so every possible muddy minute is being spent testing and recording the individual intricacies of my eight contenders. However, ‘barely’ doesn’t mean I haven’t ridden it at all, so I’m not completely stuck for things to write about this month.
The spec list includes a pair of Greg Minnaar-designed Maxxis Assegai tyres, with the reinforced DoubleDown casing and softest 3C MaxxGrip tread compound. There’s no doubt that this rubber is some of the grippiest around, but I’ve found the tyre’s Achilles heel – slippery,
slimy mud. Truth be told, in the ‘wrong’ kind of slop the Assegai clogs quite easily, with the fairly close-spaced tread pattern holding onto the mud and turning the tyre into a slick, just at the wrong time.
I decided to slap on the Assegai’s mid-spike stablemate, the Shorty, up front instead, and it made a night-and-day difference. Its widespaced, tall knobs dig into the dirt, find any available grip and then fling any cling-ons away, leaving the tread ready for the next revolution.
The rear Assegai is still heinously draggy, but I’ve not yet gone ‘full spike’ with a pair of Shortys. Having had the bike for just a couple of months, it’s surprising how quickly the back tyre has worn – but this has rolling-speed benefits, so I’m not too upset, especially now we’re (hopefully) heading for drier times.
Those with eagle eyes may have spotted the red callipers grabbing my brake rotors. While the stock Shimano MT420 four-pots did a sterling job of bringing things to a halt, the ergonomics of the long lever blades weren’t quite to my taste. I’ve replaced them with some SRAM Code RSCs I had knocking around, which deliver eye-popping power, especially when matched with such grippy rubber.
This is a temporary measure, though, because once the Trail Bike of the Year testing is out of the way, the El Roy is going to be my test-mule for our annual disc brake and wheel tests, so expect to see a variety of stoppers and hoops coming and going on this bike. www.marinbikes.com