Maxxis Minion DHX and NEW DH Casing | First Look – The Lost Co.

Close-up of a mountain bike tire with tread pattern.

Intro

Few tires have the same history as the Maxxis Minion. Originally launched in 2001, the Minion DHF has served as a staple ever since, and while it’s fallen out of fashion in recent years, its legacy is undeniable. Released in 2011, the Minion DHR II is still one of the most popular rear tires on the market, even spawning several imitators in the years since. Now, the Minion DHX has joined the party after being teased for the last year under several Maxxis riders. The new Minion DHX borrows some features from both the Minion DHF and Minion DHR II, but paves its own way, with larger knobs and aggressive angles. Maxxis is also launching a new DH Casing which boasts increased puncture resistance and cornering stability without added weight.

Claiming the Elite Men’s DH World Championship title before its release isn’t something many tires can claim, but thanks to Jackson Goldstone, the Minion DHX can hang its hat on that achievement. The new casing has also been put to the test and has already claimed 14 Elite wins courtesy of several Maxxis athletes. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, so let’s dive into the details of the DHX and new DH casing.

Maxxis Minion DHX

Looking at the center of this tire, it has a 2-2 pattern with alternating rectangular and L-shaped knobs. Both have deep siping and a uniform gap between them running down the center of the tire. These center knobs have a larger footprint than any other Maxxis tire, and run almost all the way up against the side knobs. With only a few millimeters between the center knobs and side knobs, it leaves a small transition zone without adding any transition knobs. While its footprint is large, the center knobs aren’t the tallest, and most of their volume comes from its wide stance rather than its depth. Each center knob has front-facing ramping to reduce rolling resistance, paired with a flat backside to provide a stable, powerful braking surface.

The side knobs are reminiscent of those on the Minion DHR II, with alternating square and L-shaped knob with the main difference being added siping in the L knobs. Adding sipes makes those knobs slightly more compliant, allowing them to conform better to whatever they encounter. Each side knob has bolstered edges running down to the sidewall, which should keep the knob from rolling or folding when loaded in a corner. There’s no ramping to be found on the side knobs, with straight cuts on the front and back to help the knobs bite into the dirt.

One mystery of this tire is what the X stands for. Downhill Xtreme? Downhill Xtragnar? Downhill Xfactor? What we do know is that it’s not marketed as a front or rear-specific tire like the DHF (Downhill Front) or DHR (Downhill Rear), and Maxxis claims it’s suitable for either. To prove that point, Jackson Goldstone had it on the front and rear of his bike when he claimed the rainbow stripes last year.

Close-up of a mountain bike tire against a wooden background.

Close-up of a mountain bike tire with tread patterns.

As is typical for a new Maxxis DH tire, the DHX is only available in the DH casing. That was the case when the Assegai and the High Roller III launched, and Maxxis trickled out lighter spec options shortly after launch. I expect them to do the same with the DHX, but for now, your options are a 2.5” width in a 29” or 27.5” diameter and MaxxGrip or MaxxTerra rubber. The DH casing and MaxxTerra rubber combo has been sitting in Maxxis’ blindspot until now, and several of their popular DH tread patterns are now offered in this new spec.

New DH Casing

Maxxis’ previous DH casing has been a gold standard in DH tire technology, serving as the industry standard for a damped, puncture-resistant ride. All other gravity tires have been compared against this benchmark, and have struggled to keep up when pushed hard. I would argue the casing of a tire is the most important factor in its performance, directly influencing your range of usable tire pressures and overall trail feel no matter the terrain. That’s why it’s exciting that Maxxis has completely overhauled their DH casing. Its name was left the same, but if you take a peek through the microscope, you’ll find that several things have changed.

The goal of the new tires was improved compliance through chattery roots and rocks, better support under high cornering loads/impacts, and better flat protection. I think everyone can get behind that list, so I set out to see if they lived up to the new expectations.

Diagram of a connector with performance metrics and specifications.

While radial tires have been all the rage the past few years, Maxxis is sticking to their guns with the new DH casing, which uses bias plies. That means the threads cross each other at 90°, and it has been the industry standard since the dawn of our sport. What has changed is the plies themselves, which now use 120 TPI threads rather than 60 TPI. There’s also an additional layer of sidewall protection extending from the bead to the edge of the tread to prevent slices and pinch flats along the sidewall. Lastly, the butyl insert at the bead is now harder to better fight against pinch flats when the tire bottoms out on the rim. Shockingly, the weight of the new DH casing is within a few grams of the previous DH casing.

Switching from 60 to 120 TPI threads and adding another layer of sidewall protection are the largest changes, which Maxxis says allow riders to run 2-3 psi lower without increasing puncture risk or sidewall flexion. TPI means threads per inch, and packing twice as many threads in the same space means each thread uses less rubber, making them thinner, lighter, and overall more compliant. The sacrifice of a higher TPI is reduced puncture protection and less sidewall support. I imagine Maxxis increased the TPI to make the tread conform to the ground and added the sidewall protection to keep the support in the corners.

Close-up of a mountain bike tire against a gray background.

A classic Minion DHR II with the updated DH Casing. Yes that rim does have a massive flat spot.

Ride Impressions

I mounted a mullet set of DHX tires on my Transition TR11, both with the new DH casing and MaxxGrip rubber. Installing the tires on my rims was as difficult as I would expect for a set of DH tires, and I ran them with no CushCore or inserts. Getting the bead to hold was a bit tricky, but that’s a product of the hard life these rims have lived. Once they were aired up and filled with sealant, the DHXs have been rock solid. When mounted on a 30mm rim at 21 psi, I measured the DHX to be just shy of the advertised width, sitting at 2.44” from sidewall to sidewall.

Initial testing took place at Silver Mountain during the NW Cup, where the trails are a mix of shale and deep powdery dust. Early season typically brings rain and tacky dirt in northern Idaho, but I was testing these in July, which often means dust that hangs in the air throughout the race weekend. Conveniently, the DHX is designed for dry conditions, and it was right at home in these low-grip conditions.

Mountain biker navigating a wooded trail with blue tape barriers.

Mountain biker navigating a trail surrounded by trees and blue tape.

Dialing in the tire pressure was the first task. After starting with my standard Maxxis of 23 front and 27 rear, I went down to 21 front and 25 rear. Dropping a couple psi is exactly what Maxxis recommends, but detailed information about the new casing hit my inbox after this weekend of riding/racing/testing. It’s reassuring to know I reached the same conclusion to drop tire pressures on my own. With the higher pressures, the tires felt too stiff and unforgiving, struggling to find grip in the loose conditions. Dropping a couple psi brought performance more in line with my expectations.

When run at the correct pressures, the new casing is noticeably more supple than the previous generation, with less trail chatter making it from the earth to the rider. It’s hard to say how much of that difference is a result of the slightly lower pressure or the higher TPI in each tire ply, but it’s certainly a welcome change. That translates to a smoother ride, and less vibration will keep you feeling fresh and strong for longer. The track we raced was relatively short, just over two minutes, so I can’t say I truly reaped the benefits of feeling less fatigued over the course of a long run.

It seems that front tires with a 2-2 center knob design have been regaining popularity in the last year or two. I’ve seen more and more riders moving from tires like Assegais and Magic Marys to High Rollers and Tacky Chans, perhaps because tire manufacturers have found a way to increase predictability in transitioning from center to side knobs without leaning on a transition knob. Of the 2-2 front tires I’ve tried, the DHX is certainly the most predictable during that transition, and that’s almost certainly a result of how large those center knobs are. They’re nearly touching the side knobs, so it’s no surprise that there’s no float or vagueness to the tire as you lean it over.

Mountain biker navigating a dirt trail surrounded by trees and blue markers.

Mountain biker racing through a wooded trail with blue markers.

With how deep the dust was on the race track, I didn’t expect the relatively wide and shallow knobs of the DHX to be the perfect tool for the job, but I was surprised by the level of grip on tap. I would have been curious to try something like a High Roller that I know is eager to dig its knobs into loose dirt, but I didn’t have one on hand, and truthfully the DHX performed very well. Biting through the dust was no issue for the DHX, and it found grip across loose dirt, rocks, roots, and even in the scattered shale.

A standout feature of the new DHX is how strong and supported the side knobs feel. When leaned over, they give a degree of confidence that I didn’t expect to find in the loose kitty litter of Silver Mountain, but these side knobs found a way to punch through to the hard pack underneath. I’m not sure if it’s the L-shaped side knobs or the reinforced edges running down the sidewalls, but I never had an issue with sliding out despite the incredibly loose conditions.

Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for the DHX, and I did puncture the rear during my seeding run. It was a high-speed section with a deep rut, and there must have been a rock or root hidden beneath the dust that took me out. Regardless of what caused the flat, there are points on the line for seeding, so I sent my rim to the promised land and finished my run. Luckily, I’ve got a rim warranty that has me covered! Upon further inspection, the DHX was punctured straight through the tread, and the sidewall is still perfectly intact. One could argue that the switch to 120 TPI in the new DH casing was a factor in this puncture, but it’s impossible to know for sure.

That actually led me to another discovery: While the DHX worked perfectly well as a rear tire, it didn’t perform quite as well as the DHR II. Its braking performance couldn’t match the DHR II, which isn’t too surprising considering that the DHR II is the best braking tire I’ve ever ridden. There was one section of track in particular that was essentially a 30+ mph straightaway into a tight flat corner over a couple of water bars that required you to slam on the brakes as hard as possible and then make a very delicate turn on the edge of traction, and that’s where I felt the anchor of the DHR II really shine over the DHX. Over the rest of the track, they felt very similar, and it was only in the section where I was looking for maximum braking power that the DHX wasn’t able to keep up with the DHR II.

Overall, the DHX is a great addition to the Maxxis lineup, offering a dedicated dry-weather DH tire. The DHX fills a gap in the lineup between the Assegai and the High Roller III, and I’m very curious to do some testing between those three tires. There is certainly some overlap in all of their intended uses, and I’m sure some riders will be left wondering which is best for them. For now, the DHX has performed admirably as both a front and rear tire in the loose summer conditions, and I’ll continue testing for a more in-depth review in the future.