<img src="https://bikerumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Maxxis-Minion-DHX-gravity-MTB-tire-with-all-new-dry-conditions-tread-and-reinforced-New-DH-casing_photo-by-Joao-Reis_Hangman-roots-1536×1024.jpg" width="1536" top="1024" alt="(Picture by Joao Reis/Maxxis)“>
Maxxis’ all-new Minion DHX offers a brand new more durable downhill racing tread design and an all-new DH building to the tire household that outlined gravity for many years. With much more supportive shoulders than an Assegai, and extra aggressive blocky heart tread than a DHR, the brand new DHX guarantees extra grip and management for high-speed gravity using in dry and hardpack situations. Now, pair that with a New DH casing that provides extra construction and improved safety, and also you get a wider vary of tire pressures to play with to get essentially the most out of the brand new grip throughout all situations!
Maxxis Minion DHX, all-new dry situations gravity MTB tire
Whereas the Maxxis Minion dominated gravity using – and being essentially the most dependable enduro & downhill bike spec – for greater than twenty years, it’s been years because it noticed an actual shakeup. It’s been virtually a decade because the DHR bought its II replace, or when Greg Minnaar’s signature Assegai lastly added a very new tread to the household. However Maxxis hadn’t simply been resting on their laurels, though there have been loads of these, too – Maxxis nonetheless counted 60 wins & virtually 100 extra podium spots in DH & Enduro final season.
As a substitute, they’ve been constructing this all-new, entrance or rear, Minion DHX to take these confirmed Minions to the following degree, delivering further help and extra confidence for the excessive speeds and arduous surfaces tackled by right this moment’s gravity racers.
All-new DHX tread
The obvious shift is to larger, blockier tread lugs throughout the board. Greater knobs merely provide elevated help, particularly when loaded arduous in high-speed corners. However in addition they provide extra supportive edges for extra exact braking and boosted stopping energy, once more shining most at excessive speeds.
By lining up tighter-spaced tread blocks down the middle, Maxxis says the brand new tread will roll sooner over hardpack, serving to keep velocity over tough, dry terrain, and in addition by packed berms. Then when pushed arduous in additional off-camber turns, the bigger shoulder lugs that reach additional down the sidewall preserve the tire secure and chunk arduous for grip. Additionally, the brand new L-shaped heart lugs promise a smoother transition onto the shoulder lugs as you push right into a nook.
Whereas it was clearly developed to fulfill the wants of the excessive speeds professional downhillers attain on dry World Cup tracks, Maxxis additionally says it’s their quickest tire for carrying velocity in hardpack bikepark-style terrain, making it a strong selection for novice gravity riders, too.
New DH casing
Plenty of the new-found gravity efficiency from the all-new Minion DHX additionally comes from a totally reworked DH casing building. Dubbed merely New DH, its core upgrades are a brand new extra inflexible butyl safety insert on the bead to fight pinch flats, wider casing overlap underneath the complete width of the tread, and a brand new secret sidewall safety materials tat makes the tires a lot more durable to chop on uncovered rocks in corners. Maxxis claims greater than 20% enhancements in cornering help, sidewall puncture resistance, tread puncture resistance, and pinch flat safety… all at primarily the identical weight because the earlier DH building.
Why select the brand new tread and new casing?
My key takeaway from talking with Maxxis’ race help group is that the brand new DHX is the brand new greatest tread for bikepark days or DH racing on dry tracks.
As for the New DH casing, it’s merely higher on all counts. Excellent for racing the place the added reduce safety now means each much less likelihood of lacking out with a flat in no-longer-protected quallies, but additionally extra safety for pushing the rougher strains on race day. Plus, for us common riders, that very same safety means much less having to fret about an unplanned ending to your bikepark day resulting from an sudden flat.
And the added bead and sidewall construction offers the tire extra help, letting you toy with tire stress much more to dial within the excellent grip, with out shedding help within the turns.
Using the Minion DHX…
Coming straight off an Assegai/Minion DHR II setup, I first bought to strive the Maxxis Minion DHX with New DH casing on the Leogang tracks simply forward of the World Cup earlier this season. The DH monitor itself was already closed for racing, so I spent my time using the World Cup Enduro tracks earlier than they had been closed, plus a couple of wetter trails, too.
Clearly, within the hardpack and free over arduous terrain, the all-new DHX tread did precisely what it promised – quick rolling, secure grip in high-speed corners & berms, and dependable braking.
…with the New DH casing
But additionally because of the power to run the New DH casing at even decrease pressures – I went down as little as 22psi – I used to be nonetheless in a position to keep management in wetter, barely muddy situations. (I’ll say, I additionally tried an excellent slick, rooty path within the rain simply to see, and the DHX was shortly out of its ingredient.)
After a couple of days using some actually tough tracks, with sharp rocks using in berms and loads of high-speed rock gardens, I used to be most impressed to see scratches and small cuts in another riders’ tires, however no flats and even air loss. What clearly would have been a sidewall reduce in a much less sturdy tire, right here… was merely taken in stride by the New DH casing.
I’ve since ridden these new tires in a couple of different Czech & Polish bikeparks, and so they proceed to impress – on dry or principally dry tracks. And I’ve had no points in virtually 2 months since I caught these tires on my park wheels (with the brand new MaxxSeal sealant inside). Not even the small cuts or scrapes I seen on a pair different journalists’ tires.
In case you are searching for a tricky bikepark tire to your DH or enduro bikes, or a dry situations DH race tire, you couldn’t go improper with some new Minion DHXes within the New DH building.
DHX & New DH – Choices & Availability
The brand new Minion DHX will first be out there in a New DH + 3C MaxxGrip for using & racing downhill, beginning in August in each 27.5″ and 29″ sizes. Then, from October you’ll have the ability to get extra DHX choices, together with New DH or EXO+ casing, and both New MaxxTerra or a 29er-only (entrance?) EXO+ and MaxxGrip combo. By the tip of the yr, there will probably be DHXes in Double Down casings, as properly.
The New DH casing is a operating replace to Maxxis’ earlier downhill casing, so from August you’ll begin to discover it on their core DH race prepared tires – all with 3C MaxxGrip rubber. That may embody the brand new DHX in 2.5″ widths for both 27.5 or 29″ wheels. It would additionally embody:
Assegai 29×2.5″ solely
Minion DHR II in 27.5 or 29″ x each 2.4 & 2.5″
HighRoller in 2.4″ for 27.5 or 29″
Notably absent, the DHF gained’t get the brand new casing. That tread gained’t go away for much less bolstered constructions (at the least not immediately). However they determine anybody searching for a DH-level tire would favor an Assegai, HighRoller, or new Minion DHX up entrance as an alternative.
Maxxis did say that extra New DH choices will come later within the years, additionally together with some long-wearing New MaxxTerra rubber.
Pricing-wise, the brand new tread doesn’t value greater than the others in its household. And the New DH needs to be about the identical because the previous. So we anticipate pricing to be about the identical as they begin to roll out of bikeshops subsequent month.
Maxxis.com
