which is best for front and which is best for rear?
rolling and grip and what conditions?

I use Rons front and rear in dry to medium conditions ~ they aint the greatest in real clay type mud. In the height of summer dust season, I sometimes put a Ralph on the back for a bit of extra speed. Good tyres!

i fitted some rons ealry last year and haven’t been arsed to change them. Not brilliant in mud but cope, fast though.

I should point out they aren’t the hardest wearing tyres! the rear is showing noticeable wear in under 1000miles.

Only used the old ralphs which i wasn’t to keen on.

rons front and rear all year, a superb tyres. The 2013 is allegedly better.

Just had a cheapy 2.25 Ralph arrive from on-one this morning. One thing to point out is that it is absolutely tiny! Much, much smaller and thinner compared to the 2.2 Captains I have.

Will I die if I leave the Captain on the back, stick one on the front tubeless and head out into mostly hardpack stuff in the Dales?

Rons here too for most of the year. Got some of the new snakeskin ones to try out.

Have used Rocket on the front, Ralph on the rear, mainly in the summer months. If i recall, the Rocket has larger side lugs for grip? However, it was actually lighter than the Ralph as the latter came with reinforced `DD’ side wall protection which I don’t think is available on the Ron? To my untrained eye, both rolled a fair bit quicker than a nobby nic.

Either Ralph on both F/R or Ron on front and Ralph on the back, a nice combination

I started using Rocket Rons last November, I think they are great. Great combination of grip and fast rolling. I got some of the uber bling folders from chain reaction on a great deal.
Like them so much I’m going to put some on my singlespeed now too.

Rons F & R – seem capable of dealing with a good variety of conditions. They’ve doe the Gap Descent in Brecon without problems, BC Bike Race & sloppy Gorrick stuff pretty happily.

Slight warning though they are very light & not the hardest of wearing tyres. So great for racing, less so for casual use.

Mind there is a cheaper, heavier, hard wearing version around now I think but Ive no idea what they are like..

For me…

Good-Mid conditions = Front:Ralph Rear:Ralph
Mid-Bad conditions = Front:Ron Rear:Ralph
Bad conditions = Front:Nic Rear:Ron

Note that on the rear the Ralph and Ron are fitted “backwards” for improved grip. Some say it makes no difference, but I think I can feel the improvement.

Agree about them not being that hard-wearing.

If i recall, the Rocket has larger side lugs for grip? However, it was actually lighter than the Ralph as the latter came with reinforced `DD’ side wall protection which I don’t think is available on the Ron?

No, the Ron has more tread in the middle than the Ralph, but less on the shoulders. Weight is not just DD related – the Ron is a lighter carcass (same as the Fred and the Dan) whilst the Ralph is the same as the Nic and the Hans Dampf.

They’re different tyres, I use Rons if it’s loamy and Ralphs (or Freds) if it’s firm.

I read somewhere that Rons are to Freds what Nics are to Ralphs – something to do with them sharing the same carcass

Anyway I used a 2.25 Ron on the back of one bike last year and I have to say it was pretty good. Ultra-low profile – overall height was a good 10mm less than the same size Nic on the front – and IIRC it weighed 480g so not too shabby.

Needless to say it was fast and gripped surprisingly well in Cannock’s rubble but the wear rate was astronomical it was visibly frazzled after every ride

Hi sorry was thinking of going with the cheap rons on the on one site are they terrible they will used for xc stuff and a couple of 50k marathons cheers.. chris

bike discount de
good price’s on rr and rr
just ordered mine

I won’t tell you about the on-one schwalbe sale then…

You can do but they don’t have the snake skin tubless ready ones!