With the change of season on Vancouver Island, the trails change from dusty and loose to mucky and slippery.

After giving up my Maxxis High Roller 2.35 Super Tacky’s to Teresa, I needed to find something for my front tire to replace the Maxxis Ardent 2.35 which worked great on the summer dry trails, but packs up too quickly in the mud.

Simon’s cycles had a good price on the Specialized Purgatory Control 26×2.4 which has a nice wide spacing between knobs and large side blocks for good directional control on off camber trail and cornering.

Nice wide spacing for mud shedding

The Purgatory is spec’d  on the front on most All Mountain series bikes from Specialized such as the Stumpjumper and Safire in both 26″ and 29″  sizes ranging from 2.0 to 2.4 in the 26 and 2.2 to 2.4 in 29. Various casing style’s from the light S-Works to the Control with UST and Armadillo versions too. This specific Control model also is 2Bliss ready, a joint project between DT Swiss and Specialized bikes.  Weight comes in at 715g for the folding version, respectable for such size and solid casing.

The fall sun was shining so we decided to hit up a selection of new trails on Forbidden Plateau with lots of soft loamy soil, moss, clean rock and some wet slippery sections.  The tire worked flawlessly in all conditions we encountered, save for the slimy rocks, but not much will help there! We had minimal mud today, but will easily find more on our future rides as winter approaches.

I look forward to riding this tire more so be sure to check back for a long term update.

For more information and to find your local Specialized tire dealer, check out the Specialized Website.

Having fun on fresh trails!