A Look Through Specialized's Tire Lineup

I have been a die hard Maxxis guy for the past decade but in more recent years I wanted to try some other offerings. As Maxxis tires continued to increase in price I became ever more curious about the $75 Specialized tires that are available. I reminisced about paying far less for Maxxis tires growing up and decided I should give some other brands a shot. 

In recent years specialized has updated the formulas of their casings and compounds. Firstly I’ll start with casings. “GRID” which is the general name for their casing which is made for use on trail and gravity tires in their lineup. The lightest of the casings at 60 tpi you’ll find the base “GRID” on tires for lighter trail riding in their lineup. Up from there you have the GRID Trail, that is also 60 tpi however it has an added layer of polyamide that increases the durability as well as sidewall stiffness and stability. This is the casing for people who want the best mix of protection and weight. Ideal for trail/ enduro riding, the GRID Trail is Specialized’s middle of the lineup casing. 

 For the gnarliest downhill riding the GRID Gravity will be the casing of choice. It uses a dual ply construction to give the maximum amount of protection and sidewall stiffness. As someone who weighs 220 pounds this is my casing of choice, especially in my rear tires. I am able to run as low of PSI as I please while not having tires fold on lips. I would opt to use Maxxis DH casing in the rear of my bikes and this gave me a very similar level of stiffness. I used EXO casing in the past however had a lot of tire folding issues. EXO is most similar to the GRID Trail casing, while my sidewall folding is due to weight it is a good test of stiffness. 

Specialized new compound lineup is as follows T5, T7, and T9. It is pretty self explanatory with T standing for Traction Compound and the corresponding number representing the amount of traction. 5 being the lowest and 9 being the highest. I will only be discussing T7 and T9 as T5 is only used in Specialized’s road and XC tire lineup. 

T7 is the standard compound for all trail tires, it is their balanced blend of speed, grip and durability. It is the jack of all trades, and a solid all rounder. If you want the most traction, that’s where T9 comes in, it is the grippiest compound they produce and comes exclusively on the Butcher, Eliminator and Hillbilly. This compound sacrifices speed and durability at the cost of increased grip. Made for the most aggressive downhill riding and gravity purposes. This is the compound I would always run in the front riding steep Bellingham trails through the winter. It offered confidence inspiring grip in the wet and sloppy conditions. While climbing the winding fire roads I certainly noticed it rolled a bit slower but it wasn't any worse than the Assegais I had run F+R in a previous winter. I was pleasantly surprised with Specialized compounds and casings, I rely on being able to trust my sidewalls while riding jumps. I was a bit apprehensive at first but as the months went by I had full confidence to run my typical PSI or lower. I think anyone in the market for new tires should keep specialized on their radar, I was pleasantly surprised. 

Now that we’ve covered the casing and compounds, let's talk about the actual tires! Specialized has 3 tires in their gravity orientated lineup: The Butcher, the Eliminator, and the Hillbilly.

The Butcher comes in 2.3 and 2.6 and has a classic 4 lug pattern that many companies use in their “do it all” tires. It can be used as a front or rear but leans a bit more towards front as each lug is separated enabling the tire to hook up more in the corners. I had no real complaints running the tire other than towards the end of its life it seemed to lose more cornering knobs than some other brands.

The Eliminator is the next tire in the lineup. It also comes in 2.3 and 2.6 and is a much faster tire. I used this as a rear tire and it really shined in the summer months. It excelled on loose over hard, perfect for the dusty days of summer. It has alternating center lugs that are ramped and repeat every other 2 lugs. This ended up being one of my favorite summer tires ever, it was amazing to have the fast rolling feel on jump trails while still managing to hook up on tech. It is still plenty usable in the winter months!

But as the dust turned to mud I tried the final tire in Specialized’s lineup: The Hill Billy. Coming in at only 2.4 it is the Specialized solution to mud. During our wettest months I ran the Hill Billy front and Butcher rear combo. The grip was excellent and the Hill Billy impressed me with how well it cleared mud. While it is marketed as a type of mud spike it definitely seemed like an all around wet weather tire. It wasn’t so slow that I found myself cranking between jumps. I would place it somewhere between an Assegai and a DHF. Specialized impressed me with each tire on the lineup. Especially factoring in the price compared to other competitors they are incredible value. Through all of this I learned Specialized started out in life as a tire company in 1976 then a few years later in 1981 started making bikes with the Stumpjumper. That tidbit of history gave me increased confidence in the rubber they are producing and encourage everyone to give them a try!