Hutchinson Alligator Tires
By James Sharp

Tires wear out; it is as much an unpleasant and unavoidable fact as taxes. Most bicycles come with all-around tires, designed to work well enough in most conditions. When these wear out, the choice of tires seems endless. Hutchinson is a French company that has made significant inroads in the U.S. mountain bike tire market. The Alligator is one of their more general off-road tires. It is available in either an all black rubber, or as the Alligator Gold with a dual compound yellow and black tread. The Alligator comes in 1.85 and 2.00 (tested) inch widths. They weigh 625 and 640 grams, respectively. The Alligator Gold comes in the same widths as the Alligator and weigh 725 and 745 grams, respectively.

If you happen to live in the Pacific Northwest, this is your tire. They are large, the 1.85 is more like a 2.0 with knobs that are 5mm tall. Though they work fine in hard pack, their home is soft soil and mud. Designed as a front or rear tire, they are adequate at fire road bombing, but more at home in the slower technical single track. In fact, speed is one of the few areas where this tire gives something up to the front specific tread patterns out there. At slower speeds, there is plenty of bite, even when the tire is leaned over, front or rear.

The Alligator grips well, even on wet roots, just be sure that you run plenty of air in them. The casing isn't the stiffest, so it needs a fair amount of air pressure for being such a large volume tire. I didn't have an unusual amount of pinch flats, few actually, but the front tire wanted to roll on me if I didn't keep enough air in it. My narrow rims might have exaggerated the need for high tire pressure.

The rubber compound that Hutchinson uses is a little on the grippy, soft side. Pavement wears the knobs considerably. I never had any knobs rip off; they just wore fast. The tire that I was running on the rear developed an annoying warp in it. It wanted to duck and weave like a scared boxer. The knobs were very worn at this time, so I needed to replace the tire anyway. Still, I found the warp to be a bit unnerving, especially in a tire costing $34.99 for the all black version, and 39.99 for the fancy yellow and black one.

Summary: This is not a fast rolling tire, and they are a bit on the heavy side, but that is the cost of tenacious grip when you need it most. If you need vicious grip more than speed, you would be hard pressed to find a better tire, particularly for the rear. Ditto if you live in a wet climate. If you ride many road miles or just ride fast hard-pack, you might want to look elsewhere. I found this to be a great rear tire and an adequate front tire. I prefer something front-specific for the simultaneous turning and braking duties that a front tire is called upon to perform. Still, these tires are hard to fault in mud and wet.

James Sharp is a contributor to GearReview.com specializing in mountain biking.

For more information, contact:
Hutchinson Tires
59 Rue Marius Aufan
92303 Levallois Perret, France
(888)664-8824
tires@hutchinsonrubber.com