TESTED: Specialized Butcher/Slaughter Tyre Review

In search of fresh rubber for our Avanti Torrent longterm test bike, I came across the Butcher/Slaughter combo from Specialized. I originally had the Torrent spec’d out with Maxxis rubber, in the form of the High Roller II 2.3″ tyre up front and the Ikon 2.35″ out back. After fitting the super-wide Bouwmeester Tammar wheels however, I was finding the increased casing width to be a little unsettling due to the fact that it was sitting wider than the tread. Given that Specialized have been fitting the Butcher & Slaughter tyres to their own bikes with their own 30mm wide (internal) Roval Traverse wheels, I figured they’d be worth a shot on the Bouwmeesters.

Starting out originally as heavy duty 2-ply downhill tyre, the Butcher has been around for some years now, having morphed into a popular chunky 2.3″ trail tyre that’s designed to excel across a wide variety of conditions. The Slaughter is a much newer tyre however, and it has been built off the popularity of the Butcher. It’s also 2.3″ wide and it features the same cornering blocks as the Butcher, but uses a paired-back centre tread designed to reduce rolling resistance. This makes it an ideal rear tyre, and a perfect match with the Butcher up front for those aggressive trail riders or budding Enduro racers chasing more speed for less Watts.

I’ve been riding the Butcher/Slaughter combo for the past three months across as many different trail types and riding conditions as possible. Does the theory hold up on the trail?

Specialized Butcher Control 2Bliss Ready

“With a nod to the success of the Butcher tyres in downhill competition, we built this exceptional tread into a tyre for all mountain riders. The Butcher Control 2Bliss Ready tyre excels in the gnarliest terrain, with fast-rolling, ramped centre knobs and perfectly sized shoulder knobs that bite in the corners.” – Specialized

• Aggressive All Mountain tyre
• Rubber compond: 50a durometer
• Casing: Control 60tpi
• 2Bliss Ready w/butyl lined bead
• Available sizes: 26 x 2.3″, 27.5 x 2.3″ & 29 x 2.3″
• Claimed weight: 755 grams (27.5″ size)
• RRP: $49.95

Both the Butcher and the Slaughter are available in several different versions, and you can get them in 26″, 27.5″ and 29″ sizes. I’ve been testing the 27.5″ Control versions, which feature a folding Kevlar bead, a 60tpi casing and the 2Bliss ready design. The tyres still require latex goo to seal them up airtight, but the butyl-wrapped bead helps to provide a very secure and snug fit with a corresponding tubeless rim. If you’re looking for more durability, the Butcher & Slaughter can be had in a ‘Grid’ casing, which beefs up the sidewalls and overall construction for added pinchflat resistance and stability when running lower pressures. You’ll add 200 grams per tyre though.

Up front, the Butcher is the grippy and reliable tyre that many trail riders already know it well for. It’s a terrific all-condition tyre that holds onto rocks and dusty hardpack trails just as well as it digs into softer loamy surfaces and wet roots. During an unexpected downpour at the start of the 50km XC race at Bike Buller (yes, I rode a 150mm travel AM bike at a 50km XC race!), I had the pleasure of testing the Butcher in some very wet and muddy conditions, and I can confidently state that the open tread design not only sheds sticky mud quickly, the multi-edged blocks help to dig down into whatever traction may be available when the trail looks more like chocolate soup than dirt. The blocky cornering tread offers excellent stability when leaning hard into banked corners, with enough flexibility to mould to the trail surface, but not so much as to disappear underneath you in a cloud of dust and oversteer. Ramped centre tread blocks minimise rolling resistance, and the overall rounded profile delivers a smooth transition in feel as you tip the bike from left-to-right turns.

Specialized Slaughter Control 2Bliss Ready

“Riders have been asking for a tyre that can enhance speed, while also giving them confidence while cornering. And by lowering the centre tread of the Slaughter Control 2Bliss Ready tyre for high speed, while keeping plenty of knob edges for secure braking, the result is getting you to the bottom first. This tyre also features much taller side knobs that provide confident cornering traction. We’ve found that it’s proper for rear usage, but it can also be ridden as a front.” – Specialized

• Fast-rolling All Mountain tyre suited for rear use
• Rubber compond: 60a durometer (centre tread), 50a durometer (cornering tread)
• Casing: Control 60tpi
• 2Bliss Ready w/butyl lined bead
• Available sizes: 26 x 2.3″, 27.5 x 2.3″ & 29 x 2.3″
• Claimed weight: 755 grams (27.5″ size)
• RRP: $49.95

For those unfamiliar with the concept, the Slaughter is to the Butcher, what the Schwalbe Rock Razor is to the Hans Dampf. It uses the same cornering blocks as the Butcher to deliver stable traction through the turns, but it runs a much shallower tread pattern through the middle for added zip and lower rolling resistance. With its tight array of low profile centre blocks, the Slaughter is an impressively quick tyre. Specialized have employed a firmer 60a durometer rubber for the centre tread to boost durability and acceleration, while the edging blocks are made from softer 50a rubber. The Butcher runs 50a all-over.

The Slaughter accelerates like a lighter tyre than it is, adding a good deal of pep to the 150mm travel Avanti Torrent. Rolling speed is excellent too, which is most noticeable when pumping the bike through rollers and into berms, where the minimal rear drag allows for more exit speed, with less need to constantly gas it on the pedals. Despite my initial assessment, braking traction is actually quite good due to the Slaughter’s square profile, which helps engage the big edging blocks when pulling hard on the anchors. That said, climbing traction on loose surfaces does suffer, and gloopier conditions also highlight the obvious limitations of the Slaughter’s design.

In my experience, both tyres perform best when fitted to wider rims. While I initially setup the tyres on the Bouwmeester Tammar wheels, I tested them on multiple wheels with internal rim widths from 23mm up to 32mm wide. Without doubt, they’re much better supported on wider rims, where the casing has less chance to wobble and flex when being pummelled into the turns. On skinnier rims, they start to feel a little skatey on sandy and loose surfaces. The Control versions are mid-weight for an aggressive trail tyre though, coming in at 765 grams for the Butcher, and 757 grams for the Slaughter. As a comparison, the Maxxis High Roller II tyre these replaced weighs in at 908 grams. I should also note that they Specialized tyres are skinnier than claimed, measuring up at 2.2”.

The sidewalls aren’t paper thin, but halfway through testing I started to notice consistent sealant leakage dotted all the way around each tyre. Kinda like the tyre was sweating. This is typically indicative of porous sidewalls, and I have experienced it with other lightweight XC tyres before, but not so much wider trail tyres. Air retention was OK, but there was sufficient overnight pressure loss that meant I would have to inflate and re-check air pressure every ride. Of note there is that I tested the tyres with both Stans Sealant and Bontrager Super Juice, but the results were the same. I also use a Topeak Digital Smart Gauge to measure tyre pressure accurately.

I should confess that my local trails do look like a scene out of Mad Max though, with enough embedded rocks to make most tyres cower in fear. Lightweight tyre sidewalls don’t last around here, and if they don’t get sliced open on sharp rocks, they flop and flail about when the going gets tough.In the case of the Butcher/Slaughter tyres, that meant I was running pressures between 22-25psi, where I was running the previous Maxxis EXO tyres closer around 18-21psi. If you frequent rockier trails, or you’re on the bigger and more aggressive side of the scale, based on my experience I would recommend electing for the burlier Grid casing of the same tyres. Yes they’re heavier, but they’ll give you more support and more durability. I put a decent slice into the Slaughter tyre towards the end of the test period, which would have been far less likely to have happened with a Slaughter Grid.

The Verdict

At just $50 per tyre, the Specialized Slaughter and Butcher Control tyres are exceptional value for money. They’re a decent weight built with good quality rubber, and they’re simple to setup tubeless. The Butcher is a fantastically grippy tyre that performs in a wide range of conditions, and for those wanting maximum grippage without having to swap tyres depending on which trail head they’re driving to, running the Butcher front and rear is the insurance policy you’re after. The Slaughter is a brilliant rear tyre though, and it’ll add significant speed to your trail bike or Enduro race rig, with very little compromise in grip. This makes it an excellent combo when paired with the dependable Butcher up front. That said, make sure you consider what your local trail conditions demand, and weight up whether the heavier Grid versions are worth your while.

Specialized Australia

Website: www.specialized.com/au