I had Treks lead tire designer in the shop the other day, and I picked his brain real good. In his words, they listed a benchmark tire in each category, and set out to beat it. Obviously, a few of their tires look similar to other stuff out there. He said that they looked at the modifications that the DH team was doing to the Minions they were using, and tried to mimic a cut tire out of the box. Stop getting hung up on width. These tires measure to the size listed on the sidewall. Maxxis is notoriously optimistic with their measurements, and their 2.5 measure out much closer to 2.35, which is why Bonty chose 2.35 actual as their first size.

Been riding those long finger grippps for 3 weeks now. Love em, like 5.10's for your hands.

I saw the Dew Tour in Chicago, and he was the rider that stood out the most to me. He looked like he was having more fun on the bike than any of the others, like he had that much fun at every stop on the tour.