Maxxis Maxxcross MX-ST Rear Tire

You have to capitalize on your assets. It’s just good business. And that is just what Maxxis has done by using long time Maxxis sponsored athlete Jeremy McGrath to help develop and test their latest full-on motocross tire, the Maxxcross MX ST.

The Maxxcross MX ST is an intermediate/soft soil motocross tire with a tread pattern never used by Maxxis before. The compound, carcass, and construction methods are also all new with the primary focus being on track performance above all other features. We grabbed a few minutes of Chris Meyer, Moto/ATV Marketing Coordinator, to talk about the new tires and how MC helped in its development.

Vital: How did working with Jeremy come about?

CM: The McGrath partnership happened incredibly organically. It began specifically on the automotive side with his professional truck racing. Maxxis truck tires are super competitive in truck racing. Overtime it morphed into using him for his expertise and notoriety in the moto world. When Maxxis USA requested to design a new tire for the US market, part of the thinking was that we could lean on McGrath’s testing abilities to hone in on a tire that would perform really well specifically in motocross.

What makes MC a good tester?

His ability to notice subtle differences in the tire carcass, which is really the area that we needed a lot of improvement for moto, was impressive. Every session he was involved in we started with benchmark tires and then we had three or four different specs to test. His ability to very specifically say this front spec performs better in braking entering corners. He can give details about what he specifically feels and communicate that to the engineers in a way that they understand. He’s done it so many times, he just knows what he’s doing.

The Maxxcross MX ST feels pretty light. Was that one of the goals for this new tire?

Yes, the goal was to lighten up the tires. Our SI and IT tires that are incredibly durable can last a three hour GNCC race, but they have a lot of rotational mass. So one of the goals with these tires was to lighten them, which involved a change in manufacturing process. When you design a tire, you are looking at the inverse relationship of performance and durability. The more performance you get out of a tire, the less durable the tire is. Finding that happy medium is something that every manufacture has to deal with. One of the processes that we normally include on motorcycle tires that really helps with durability and puncture resistance, which is great and you really need things like that for off-road and desert racing but in moto, most guys would trade some of that durability. They don’t plan on drilling a bunch of rocks in their 15 minute sesh’. Part of the process making this tire was ranking performance, traction, lean angle grip, higher on the priority list versus durability.

Did you start the design process with a blank slate or were you looking at other successful moto tires?

We did benchmark against the other top performing tires out there to make sure that the tire was tracking in the right direction. We also didn’t let that hold us back. We wanted to make sure that we could compete against those tires well, but when we got into R&D the guys went in all different directions to explore what worked.

Any plans for any motocross team sponsorship?

We’ve had some discussions and it’s on the table. Right now the focus is the tires and getting them in the hands of consumers. As we roll toward 2019 and beyond we will assess from there. We’ve been heavily involved in GNCC and WORCS for years now, which has paid dividends for us, in both four wheels and two. I think we will always be involved in racing at some level, and hopefully we’ll be more involved in motocross.

We know this is a performance oriented tire. In that regard, how is the durability?

Well, we are pretty well known for having durable tires that have a good wear life. It would be suited for the weekend warrior… The majority of people who will pick this tire up would be guys that ride moto more than trail. The front has a lot of appeal to our GNCC guys as well with the profile being a little more rounded. The tire is still built very durably, we aren’t saying that we gave up a ton of durability, we just focused on performance and the lifespan of the tire is going to be shortened by that. It’s not a “one weekend at the races and need freshies” kind of tire.

I went with Sipes to Muddy Creek and he ran practice and both his motos on one set of tires, granted he was on a 125 in the ideal conditions, but afterward the tire looked brand new. We expect great durability out of the tire.

Sizes?

We’ll have a full complement of sizes. We’ll have 18s, 19s, 120, 110, 100 and then we’ll have mini bike sizes.

Check out an array of Maxxis Tires in the tire section of our Product Guide.