Something of a fixture on the trails in the past few years, the Maxxis Minion, in all it's various iterations, has been living up to its name famously since its creation. Nimbler than its Highroller II Sibling and scrappy enough to stay standing through loose, white-knuckle sections of trail, we'd reach for the 29in Minion DHF EXO/TR Tire gladly on days that challenge us to stay engaged through every mile. As we mentioned, the Minion comes in different combinations of compounds and casings; this version is equipped with a dual compound rubber construction to give it speed on smooth singletrack or the occasional fire road, with dependable grip and traction when the going gets rougher and switchbacks appear. To give you the confidence to take on bumps and bruises and a few bigger-than-intended hits, this Minion also comes with the reassurance of Maxxis EXO protection beefing it up. Finally, a collection of squared off, ramped knobs are responsible for grabbing onto the trail and digging in, arranged strategically to give you traction while cornering without slowing you down too much on the straightaways and descents. The Minion's far from the speediest tire in existence, but it's not trying to be the fastest. Staying efficient on the smooth stuff and being ready to dive in when things get messy is the Minion DHF's mission, and it does so with aplomb.