Tioga Edge-22 mountain bike tyre review

The tread pattern on Tioga’s Edge-22 mountain bike tyre looks a little familiar with its blocks resembling Maxxis’ famous and revered Minion DHF front tyre, but is arranged in a strikingly different way with a large central gap between its four rows of knobs.

In Tioga’s heyday, its blocky Factory downhill tyre was used by trials riders through to downhillers for its famed grip and iconic looks. Fast forward to today, and the hustle for the best tyre has singled out certain tread patterns that work, and just as many that don’t, and while the new Edge-22 from Tioga doesn’t redefine the rules it renews a successful recipe.

The tyre uses large vertical blocks to aid with cornering traction in a bid to dominate the tyre world once again, and is best suited to front wheel duties.

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Tioga 27.5 x 2.5in Edge-22 specifications

Tioga claims its open centre design increases the amount of block edge in contact with the trail’s surface at any given lean angle. This is because the centre of the tyre has an open channel rather than being full of knobs, and the only vertical blocks are placed in two rows towards the tyre’s edges.

The more central blocks, Tioga claims, engage and bite into the ground as soon as a rider initiates a turn at small lean angles. As the lean increases, the centre knobs remain engaged, but the outer ones start to bite, too.

Tioga says that at the most “frequently encountered lean angle range” both the inner and outer blocks are gripping into the terrain.

It hopes this will mean more grip at lower lean angles and increased grip at more extreme angles. The design does this while also offering a more predictable transition onto the outer row of knobs as lean angles increase because there isn’t the gap between the central blocks and side knobs, seen on a lot of other tyres on the market.

The brand also claims the tyre has plenty of braking traction thanks to the vertical ramps on its centre blocks.

Currently available in a 2.5in width only, both the 27.5in and 29in variants share the same Magnum 120TPI casing to provide sidewall strength and puncture resistance.

The Edge-22 uses Tioga’s Synergy Dual Compound Rubber, where the outer row of shoulder knobs are made from a tacky 50a compound, while the inner row use a harder 60a compound to reduce rolling resistance and improve life.

Tioga Edge-22 27.5 x 2.5in performance

Out on the trail, it wasn’t the Edge-22’s lean angles that impressed me the most, but the tyre's predictability and general composure over a host of different terrain types and trail conditions.

However I found the Edge-22 wasn’t able to reach lean angles much greater than the Maxxis Minion DHF or Assegai – arguably its closest rivals – no matter where I rode it.

This was because its outer-most shoulder blocks aren’t significantly different in angle or shape to its direct competitors, meaning there’s no reason it should be able to lean over further in turns, which proved true during testing.

The DHF and Assegai are both famed for their ability to grip – and keep on gripping – in corners, and the same was true of the Edge-22. At higher lean angles, there was plenty of predictable traction that was easy to modulate and control, especially once the tyre had begun to understeer.

It didn’t suddenly break away or lose grip without warning, instead it steadily drifted around turns; the gradual nature of its slides meant that cornering hard and fast was predictable, controllable and, most importantly, fun. Weight shifts and body movements had a definitive and predictable effect on how the tyre behaved as well.

I couldn’t say I noticed the Edge-22 had more grip at slower speeds and less extreme lean angles, though. That’s not to say the grip it had wasn’t impressive, it just wasn’t more than I was used to or as good as Tioga had claimed.

What did impress was its consistency. The Edge-22’s grip was seriously easy to manage no matter the speed and lean angle, and it felt particularly at home on looser, rockier, drier trails, but also performed on hardpack, wet slop and even greasy ground.

Surprisingly, it gripped well in muddy conditions too, thanks to the large spaces between its blocks that helped it dig into gloopy terrain and clear mud well.

Over roots and rocks I had no complaints either. Its softer compound knobs stuck to obstacles well while helping to provide some damping to harsher bumps. Cambers were dispatched with competence and once again the Edge-22 performed no worse, but not significantly better, than its closest rivals.

Rolling resistance was low, though, and the Edge-22 was a marked improvement over an Assegai 3C MaxxGrip and felt marginally quicker than a 3C MaxxGrip Minion DHF on flatter trail-centre-style terrain.

As a front tyre, the Mangum 120TPI casing resisted punctures, tears and rips for the duration of the test period. It also proved to be tough enough to not roll, squirm or feel vague when ridden hard through turns.

Fitting it to my Race Face Turbine R 30 wheels did necessitate a tubeless inflator because the track pump wasn't able to seal the bead. However, once sealed, the bead fully sealed at 35psi and has remained leak-free during the testing period.

I did begin testing the Tioga Glide G3, designed to be the Edge-22’s rear-biased counterpart with the same 120TPI casing. Unfortunately I ripped it beyond feasible tubeless repair on its first outing, riding a trail centre red-graded descent.

The 120TPI casing feels like it sits between Maxxis’ EXO and EXO+ tyres. Until Tioga offers more robust casings, in my opinion Magnum 120TPI tyres are only suitable for use on the front of a bike or maybe on the rear when riding on light trail rides.

Tioga Edge-22 27.5 x 2.5in bottom line

There’s no denying the Edge-22 is impressively grippy over a seriously wide range of conditions and trail types, and its most attractive quality is the predictability of how that traction is offered.

Although the radical-looking tread pattern doesn’t appear to offer up a fundamental step forward in grip from the current crop of front tyre favourites, the Edge-22 is undeniably adept, beating Maxxis' tyres for predictability and controllability.

For that reason it is staying fitted to my Yeti SB165 long-term test bike for the foreseeable future and should be a top contender if you’re looking for new rubber.