Product Test: Maxxis Maxxlite 29 Tire
There’s a reason many cross-country racers are highly conscious of every ounce of weight on their bikes. In a highly competitive field of racers, the difference between winning and losing can come down to the slimmest of margins. Maxxis’ new Maxxlite 29 is designed to give cross-country racers the fastest ride to the finish line on race day.
Tech features:
Maxxis designed the Maxxlite for race-day use only. Every aspect of the Maxxlite 29 is focused on minimal rolling resistance and speed. At 170 threads per inch (TPI), the Maxxlite’s casing is the lightest and most supple available from the company. To help offset the durability issues of the minimalist casing, Maxxis uses their puncture-resistant Silkworm material under the tread.
The Maxxlite uses dual-compound rubber, with a firmer rubber for the center tread and softer rubber for the side knobs to maintain low rolling resistance while still giving the tire adequate grip when cornering. The tread is very low profile with short, tightly spaced, ramped knobs. The Maxxlite 29s are only available in a 2-inch width, and ours weighed just under Maxxis’ claimed weight at 11.9 ounces each. The tires retail for $112 each.
Field test results:
The Maxxlite 29s mounted up tubeless to the Enve XC 29 carbon wheels on our Cannondale Scalpel cross-country race bike with relative ease and without any leaking from the thin sidewalls, which we had been worried about. Our usual setup on the Scalpel had been a larger-volume, 2.25-inch, cross-country tire, so right away the nearly 1/2-pound weight savings was noticeable.
Due to the Maxxlite’s very pliable casing, we settled on tire pressures a few psi higher than we had been running in our stiffer, larger-volume tires. On the trail, we found the Maxxlite tires’ success to be very dependent on the conditions. With low knobs and a small casing, the Maxxlite is best suited for hardpack and smooth dirt. On hardpack trails with no loose dirt on top, the Maxxlites absolutely fly. Acceleration is noticeably quicker, and once up to speed, the Maxxlites seem to maintain their momentum effortlessly.
While the Maxxlites excel in the right conditions, there are many more trail conditions where their minimalist design is a big drawback. Once off the hardpack, the Maxxlite’s low knobs don’t offer much traction for cornering, climbing or braking. Also, even with the Silkworm layer under the tread, there is not much to the sidewalls, which means that they wouldn’t get along very well with a rocky course.
The Maxxlite’s low-volume and super-supple casing also has some quirks. To keep the soft casing from folding in corners, we had to run a bit more pressure than we would have liked. The alternative would be taking corners a bit easier, but this is not always an option and certainly not something we’d want to think about in the heat of a race. With the higher air pressure and lower volume, this tire is not very forgiving. Thankfully, our full-suspension Scalpel helped offset this, but the Maxxlite would not be our first choice on a hardtail, unless we were racing primarily on smooth dirt roads.
Maxxis is very clear that the Maxxlite is designed to be an incredibly fast tire for specific cross-country race conditions, and within that scope, Maxxis hits the mark. If you are racing on trail surfaces that play to the Maxxlites’ strengths, they will make your bike feel supercharged off the starting line.
