Who is the Aggressor aimed at?
Maxxis bill the Aggressor as an Enduro tyre. It’s interesting to see tyres being designed specifically for this segment now. It’s only available in one width, 2.3″, which is big enough for hard riding, but not so wide that it’ll create a lot of drag or weigh too much. 2.3″ is definitely a popular size amongst the Enduro race crowd. You can get it in 27.5″ or 29″, but it’s too new school for 26″.
Are there any options in compound or construction?
The Aggressor is of a few select treads in the Maxxis range that you can get in their new Double Down (DD for short) casing. This mid-weight casing is tougher than their excellent EXO tyres, but not so heavy as a full blown downhill casing. In a 27.5″ size, the Aggressor weighs 1048g, which is indeed weighty for a trail bike tyre.
We did most of out testing of these tyres over in Italy, in Finale Ligure. With limited knowledge of the terrain, going for the DD casing was the obvious choice – we wanted to spend our time riding, not fixing flats, so the extra weight was worth it.
The Aggressor is a dual compound tyre; you can’t get it in the 3C triple compound of Maxxis’ high-end gravity tyres.
What did you fit it to?
We’ve been running the Aggressor on our Canyon Strive CF test bike (check it out here – it’s also the test sled for our Shimano XT Di2 groupset), which is theoretically exactly the style of bike this tyre is designed for. We’ve run these tyres on two different sets of wheels now: the Wheel Works FLITE Wide Carbon and Shimano’s more traditional XT Trail wheels.
Because it’s not a super wide tyre, running it on the 35mm Wheel Works rims gave the Aggressor a very square shape, while it was more rounded on the XT rims with their narrow 24mm internal width.
Front or rear?
Maxxis don’t list the Aggressor as being front or rear specific, and we ran a matching pair, front and back. If we had our time again, we keep it on the back but use something else up front (perhaps a Minion). Out back, the relatively closely spaced tread means it rolls quickly for a burly tyre, and it brakes well too, with the tread blocks holding their shape and not deteriorating on their leading edge too much. The robust construction of the sidewalls and casing, plus the rigid tread blocks, fill you with confidence to let the rear wheel clang through rock gardens or take inside lines over pointy rocks that’d chop a lesser tyre to pieces.
On hard packed trails, the Aggressor does quite well as a front tyre, but when things get loose or dusty, the Aggressor’s doesn’t get the penetration needed to inspire total confidence and we had a few sphincter pinching moments while we waited for the front tyre to bite! Once you’ve got it onto the side knobs, the soft compound has decent grip, but it’s vague in transition. That said, the tyre never completely let go either, and we never lost the front wheel or washed out, so maybe it’s not too bad after all.
Did you get any flats or damage?
None at all, and we had very little air loss over the course of some pretty hard riding! Over seven days of hectic trails, we only needed to top up the pressure in the Aggressors twice, a testament to their quality bead and tough sidewalls. They seem to be wearing quite well too, with some degradation of the knobs, but no tearing or ripping off the treads blocks.
Would you recommend them?
As a rear tyre for hard riding, these are great. The DD sidewalls might be overkill for some (you can save almost 200g per end by opting for the lighter EXO version), but if you’re hard on the rear end, or you’re sick of getting flats, then we’d encourage you to give the Aggressor DD a close look.
Where can I get them?
Maxxis tyres are available across Australia at a number of preferred dealers. Take a look below to find a dealer in your state.
Queensland:
FOR THE RIDERS / (o7) 3891 7561 www.fortheriders.com.au
CRANK’D CYCLES PH / (07) 4728 5838 https://www.facebook.com/crankdcycles/?rf=790415367668940
New South Wales/ACT
SUMMIT CYCLES / (02) 9661 4245 http://www.summitcycles.bike/
STEEL CITY CYCLES (02) 4267 1747 www.summitcycles.bike
FLOW BIKES www.flowbikes.com.au
Victoria:
MY MOUNTAIN / (03) 9388 8678 http://www.mymountain.com.au/
LIFE OF BIKES / (03) 5940 2299 http://www.lifeofbikes.com.au/
Western Australia:
TBE / (08) 9277 9181 https://www.tbe.com.au/search.asp?mc=5&sc=951&b=25&slf=1
South Australia:
BICYCLE EXPRESS /(08) 8232 7277 http://www.bicycleexpress.com.au/
Northern Territory:
SPOKES NT / (08) 8931 3111 http://spokesnt.com.au/
Tasmania:
SPRUNG / (03) 6334 5419 http://sprungmtb.com.au/