For its latest models – including this Vee Snap Trail Enduro Core Top 40 – Vee has worked extensively with Propain’s DH World Cup team to develop its technology and ride quality, so has this relationship borne fruit? Thai brand Vee has been steadily building brand awareness over the last few years and can now be found as OEM spec on the highly regarded Propain bike range. Which is how I was reintroduced to its rubber – on a Propain Spindrift test bike.

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Vee manufactures tyres for many other bike brands, and you might even recognise the distinctive sidewall pattern or ‘threads’ from E*thirteen LG1 and E+Thirteen TRS Race MoPo tyres. It’s a super-soft (40a) slow-rebounding compound that’s perfect for a front tyre where maximum grip and damping aid control.

Vee claims it has worked really hard with test riders to construct a slightly tougher casing than equivalent enduro tyres that still delivers excellent conformity and dullness (and therefore less of a wooden or springy feel). It has achieved this goal pretty well, since this ‘Enduro-Core’ carcass strikes a good balance between support, when hitting berms and minimising squirm at lower pressures, against accurate ground-tracking and comfort.

The weight is reasonable too, at just over a kilo for a tough 29in tyre with thick, cut-resistant, sidewalls. The Snap Trail tread pattern isn’t massively tall, but still pretty spiky and aggressive, with smaller, sharper blocks than E*thirteen’s TRS MoPo using the same rubber blend. This results in slower rolling on tarmac and smooth fireroads – likely because the tread is less squared off on the blocks – but more grip and bite in loose surfaces, mud and deep loam. Wear life is good, and, even with a very low durometer, doesn’t seem to fare any worse than other leading brands in terms of rubber degradation, so abrasion is very even and I’ve not had any knobs shear off completely either.