The Big S gives their most popular mountain bike tyres, the Butcher and Eliminator, a refresh to make them better in all gravity-fed riding conditions.
If these new Specialized tyre offerings live up to the marketing, then at £55 for the Grid Gravity versions, they might just be the best thing ever.
Specialized Butcher.
Key features:
- Front specific
- Gripton T9 compound only
- 12% more contact area
- Grid Gravity 2-ply casing or 60tpi Grid Trail casing
- Alternating center knobs
- Block-In-Block outer knobs
- 1330g (29×2.6 Grid Gravity T9)
- £50 (Trail), £55 (Gravity)
- Specialized.com
The Butcher was once the go-to tyre for both wheels on every stock Trail and up Specialized bike, and the venerable tyre has seen a modest refresh. The Big S claim that the taller, bigger and staggered tread offers 12% more contact area than the outgoing model. From the photos, it looks like an awful lot of this new surface area and lug size is on the tyre’s shoulder. Available in their softest T9 compound only, this tyre is front-specific.
Specialized Eliminator
- Rear specific
- Gripton T7 or T7/T9
- Grid Gravity 2-ply casing or 60tpi Grid Trail casing
- Alternating center knobs
- Block-In-Block outer knobs
- 1330g (29×2.6 Grid Gravity T9)
- £50 (Trail), £55 (Gravity)
- Specialized.com
Partner in crime to the Butcher is the rear-specific Eliminator, which has seen less of a modest change. This tyre used to be all about rolling speed, but the changes indicate a move towards climbing and braking grip. The tread is no longer ramped, they sit taller and are reinforced. The tyre sipes are considerably smaller too. Available in either a faster rolling, harder wearing T7 compound as well as a dual compound T7/T9 combo with the softer rubber on the shoulders.
