HUTCHINSON GRIFFUS TIRE REVIEW

April 18, 2025

Hutchinson has been manufacturing tires for well over 100 years now, with their roots going as far back as the year 1853. Their first foray into manufacturing tires was close to inception of the bicycle tire itself, so it would be fair to say they know a thing or two about rubber. Offering tires across all disciplines of cycling, Hutchinson has a wide range of tires to suit every offroad discipline, from XC through to Downhill.

We’ve been rolling on the hard hitting Hutchinson Griffus Racing Lab tires over this last riding season, and it’s time to share my thoughts on them and their performance. How does over a century of skin in the tire game weigh up? Read on to find out

ABOUT THE HUTCHINSON GRIFFUS TIRE

The Griffus Racing lab tires are the toughest and most aggressive tire in the Hutchinson lineup. The Griffus is designed to cater for enduro, downhill and eBike riding, with a front and rear-specific tread pattern.

The Hutchinson Griffus 2.5 is designed for life up front, optimized for wider rims and featuring a tread compound that is optimized to deliver front wheel traction. The RR gravity compound used here applies three different rubber densities, aiming to support the tire knobs whilst retaining the suppleness required to generate the traction required when descending.

The 2.4 Hutchinson Griffus features a slightly different tread pattern, designed to be a rear-specific tire. In all honesty, it took me a moment to notice, as the differences are quite subtle. The rear tire features the same RR gravity rubber compound found in the 2.4, but with a slightly faster rolling tread pattern.

Both tires are offered in 27.5” and 29” and come in either a plain black or tan-walled finish. Hutchinson offers the choice of a cheaper “Sideskin” casing with Bi-compound rubber; single-layer 66tpi casing with their Hardskin reinforcement, or dual 2x66tpi casing for the most aggressive riding.

I’ve been running a full 29” pair on my enduro bike. The Hardskin casing 2.5” weighed in at a claimed 1100 grams for the 2.5” up front. On the rear, the 2x66tpi 2.4” Griffus weighed a claimed 1230g. They’re certainly on the lighter end of the spectrum for burly enduro and DH-rated tires, but what does that mean for the performance?

THE DIRT

Installing the tires was a breeze. Both tires made little fuss during installation and seated without an air compressor when paired with my DT Swiss EX511 rims. Initially I set the pressures to 25 psi up front and 28 psi in the rear as a baseline.

The first thing I noticed right off the bat was just how light the tire combo felt in hand, and in motion it translated to a fast-rolling tire combo that was very pedal friendly. Compared with your typical burly, sticky rubber, the Griffus combo made a breeze of fire roads and singletrack climbs alike. On technical climbs, the Griffus performed acceptably well, rarely slipping in all but the softest, muddy sections.

On the descents, the lower weight and slightly thinner carcasses at first had me slightly nervous about their durability when attacking the granite-lined chunk that makes up my local trails. I’m used to running a significantly heavier tire combination as an insurance policy against flat tires, which has been a regular occurrence for me in the past. However, over the test duration I’m happy to report we did not experience a single puncture or flat, despite more than a few strikes directly to the rim – a big win in my book.

The front and rear Hutchinson Griffus felt comfortable as a combination on almost all trail types, delivering decent and predictable traction. That said, the grip levels were far from mind blowing in rougher looser more enduro style terrain. On the flip side, they were able to maintain fantastic rolling speed in smoother hard packed flow style trails. Despite the side walls being relatively thin, they remained quite supportive and kept the tire from deforming too much when cornering hard and battering through rougher chunky sections of trail. I did find however that traction under braking, especially in the rear was lacking in drier and loose conditions. This directly influenced my braking zones, demanding that I brake significantly earlier into technical sections of trail and corners. However, the faster rolling speed mentioned above would typically make up for lost time in the tamer sections of trail in-between.

In terms of durability, the rear tire suffered some fairly rapid deterioration on the inner and outer tread blocks after a day of uplifting in the Tweed Valley, effectively removing the grippiest part of the tire and only worsening the traction under braking. Uplifted trail riding is a quick way to burn through tires, however I did feel this wear was slightly premature wear.

The Wolf’s Last Word

If you’re looking for a dependable, pedal friendly and fast rolling enduro tire combination that offers well-rounded levels of performance in most riding situations, the Hutchinson Griffus offers all of the above. However, durability potentially isn’t the best, and they do just fall short of offering class-leading traction when things get technical, rough and loose.

Price: TBC
Website: Cycling.hutchinson.com

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