This has become my go-to tire for my trail and enduro bikes. I think it is similar to the Maxis DHF/DHF tire family as far as grip and casing are similar to EXO but at half the cost. I use Grid Gravity and T9 on my enduro bike and Grid Gravity and T7 on my trail bike. They also wear very well. I usually stock up when these go on sale a couple of times a year. Overall I am a big fan!

Good price and quality tyre,on par with an Assagai yet half the price

Great tire (sticky icky). My evo comp alloy came with butchers on the front and eliminators in the back. Love them so much I bought the same set for my new Roval rims.

I run the Butcher grid on both front and rear, using the T7 compound on the rear, and T9 for the front. Great combo for the trails I ride here In Southern California, and also in the bike parks.

Great tire!

It is an excellent front tyre. Using it in front paired with the PURGATORY at the back. It has great grip and it is very predictable in all conditions.

Great tyre - T7 is great for the rear or harder pack surface Not as grippy as T9

Great tire!!

The Butcher is a great tire, have used for several years on my Levo's

I love it! To me it's faster, lighter and same grip as an DHF. Highly recommend it!

I'm giving this tire five stars because I got it on sale from Specialized and it does most everything well. I paired it with a 2.6 Purgatory Grid T7 in the rear. Both are mounted on 29mm internal width rims. I can say that together, they're certainly not the fastest rollers I've ever been on. In fact, on another bike I have a 2.5 Minion DHF DH casing dual compound paired with an 2.5 Agressor and when I switched bikes, I felt like those tires took off. The Butcher certainly looks the part of an Enduro tire. It's only weak spot that I can tell, is wet roots, more so than the dual compound Minion. Mounted on a 29mm internal width rim, the tread measures around the same as the 2.5s, but has around a 4mm larger radius. The 2.6s do feel like fun tires in that I don't have to worry about them not rolling over something or losing traction (except for those wet roots). The T7 compound plus the size of the tires will require some extra pedaling energy on the trails. You won't be first to the top of the hill, but you'll be in control on the descent. The inherent drag of the tire means that you can relax a bit on the downhills and let the tire do some of the work. I notice myself not even having to brake in places that I would have had to before. Like I said, they're fun tires. I'm going to mount up a 2.5 DHF dual compound on the rear and see if I can hit that sweet spot between speed and comfort. So yeah, I'd definitely recommend the Butcher for the front. This review is for the 2.6, the 2.3 may behave quite differently. BTW, I think if Specialized would offer the Purgatory in a 2.4 or 2.5, that would be sweet!

Super strong tire, with great grip!

Great tire!

Good tire for the price. I use these tires in dry, dusty, rocky southern California trails. The T7 compound holds up well on the back and the softer T9 provides good traction up front. I use these tires on both an Enduro and a Turbo Levo. The rear tire sidewall gets abused on the Levo but seems to hold up as long as the nobs. I may switch to the studier gravity for the Levo rear in the future.

Great tyre would recommend.

The new butcher is my new go to tire, it’s relatively in-expensive, it has great rubber compounds in both the T9 and T7 for both grip and wear respectively, it’s casing is light but offers pretty good puncture protection, and they last. For these reasons, I haven’t purchased a maxxis or schwalbe in over a year, and hopefully won’t need to in the future. This is kind of a unicorn tire, try it if you are on the fence and you will most likely be impressed.

Love these tires!

Great tyre, good amount of grip, feels pretty responsive, decent sidewalls

Great summer front or winter rear tyre for NZ

I love these tires.. they take a beating on the trail but still have been faithful and have yet to let me down. Im surprised as I thrash on these tires quite a bit.

Great tire set up for mountain bike riding in varying conditions.

The butcher is not quite as good as an Assegai but it's probably about 90% of the way there. Unless you're racing, for 25% less money the butcher is definitely the way to go.

I love the butcher. I run a T7 in the front and a T9 in the rear of my Stumpjumper. They're not cheap, but they're cheaper than Maxxis!

THE. T7 Is a good dependable tire generally my choice for a rear tire.

This tire is awesome for trail, for me! After it not working out using the Gravity T9 on my trail bike, I gave this one a shot and am certain I found the perfect tire for my style on the trail. I admit it took me a little bit to get the knowledge on the new tire lineup, but when you find it, it's solid!

Stock, this tire is pretty bad. Super tall center knobs make it very slow rolling and create a very rounded profile even on 30mm rims. That rounded profile makes the release from grip to slide very abrupt and overall very squirmy. I used it up front for 6 hours of riding and was pretty disappointed. So I took the tread cutters to it, shortened all center knobs by 50%, ramping them for lower rolling resistance, and now it's my favorite front tire for aggressive PNW XC rides in all the conditions from loam to high desert. If you're willing to spend $30 on a quality tool and about 30 minutes of effort, this is a great tire. Not sure why you'd do that unless you've already purchased it though... Please big S, shorten those center knobs. You've got a real winner on your hands, just need to flatten the profile so aggressive riders can take advantage of the side knobs and it rolls as fast as competitive tires.

I bought this Butcher GRID TRAIL 29x2.3 T7 on the front of my 2021 Trek Slash I also got the Eliminator 29x2.3 T7 for the rear. I have ridden Maxxis DHF & DHR2 as well as Highroller 2s all in EXO casing 3C. The tires do grow larger than 2.3 they are more like a 2.4 they are great volume tires with a great compound. I have very much enjoyed these tires. I have had them for 12 months now riding a mix of the dry shaley rock dust terrain in Kelowna, BC and the wet rooty terrain in Revelstoke BC. The casing of these tires offer what feels like infinite more puncture protection than EXO from Maxxis and the T7 compound is grippy but not so slow that it turns my bike into a slug while pedaling. Price excluded I would probably still buy these over maxxis, I am interested to try the EXO+ casing with maxterra but with the value/price that specialized offers it probably is not even worth looking. Highly recommend!

Grips down hill without losing too much on the uphill If you're willing to sacrifice a little speed going up for lots of fun going down this should be your choice

Haven't ridden it yet. Slightly annoyed by the fact that the 29x2.6 is 1103g on my scale compared to the 960g that was advertised. That's 15% more!

I have only ever run Spec tires for the last 20 years. Always mountain biking in tough, rocky, cross country/all mountain trails in Phoenix (first 15 years) and all around the Colorado Flatirons/Front Range (the last 5). I recently got the 2.3 Butcher Grid Trail to replace my well-loved 2.3 Purg Grid. I rode a couple Purgs on front on Arch Ex 29 wheels (about 21 mm inner) for a few seasons. Always Ground Control Grid 2.3 out back (used to be 2.1 but stopped being able to find 'em). I'll likely move my current front Butcher to the back when it wears down and keep replenishing them with new on front (traction), old on rear (speed). Loved the Purg! So far I am extremely pleased with the Butcher. Spec tires last me at least 2 years, and the new Grid Trail seems a perfect strength upgrade to fantastic Grid only. I have not had a flat or on-trail catastrophe in about 15+ years of riding Spec tubeless!!! (My one failure was likely due to my not topping up Stan's sealant). I am light to average (5'9"", 165 lbs with gear), I choose my lines carefully, and my CO rides are always intermediate rocky (Rockies!) trails with lots of climbing and equal descending. I'm on a 2014 Camber 29, aluminum. Beefy! Tough! Heavier feeling than the Purg, slightly worse at climbing—a bit of a bummer for my old body, but a trade I accept for overall terrific performance. Was running 17 psi in Purg up front, and am about 15 with the Butcher (23 in GC rear). When I get front/back rubber dialed in regarding pressure and my riding technique, I foresee loving this tire even more.

I was digging to really like this tire. They come with very aggressive and tall knobs but I'm missing some extra grip. In off camber or loose over hard you can feel the tire loosing traction. I'm sure for loamier, softer and even wet conditions the tire should work great.

It has handled quite well in the wet stuff so far. Grippy and predictable. Rolls pretty well. Sidewalls are pretty stout. The only minor gripe was the weight came in 75 grams higher than posted weight.

Been running this as a front, and it is grippy. This tire really hooks up better than the old Butcher through the full spectrum of lean angles (no dead zone). Have put this tire through the paces in loose over hard, wet and dry rocks, roots, and dirt, and am impressed. Lately things have been getting kind of moon dusty in sharp turns and this tire is performing just as I had hoped. Nice! The answer to the question is Yes, this is an improvement on the old Butcher tread pattern for sure.