Eurobike 2012: Schwalbe’s New Rubber

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Schwalbe always has a huge stand at Eurobike and this year was no different. In fact we had to fight hard to get an appointment, so busy were the rubber reps.

While Schwalbe claimed that there wasn’t anything particularly newsworthy, there was still plenty to see. The Rocket Ron gets a makeover with re-designed, siped knobs, the Hans Dampf tyre gets a ‘Super Gravity’ casing and just about everything will come in the Middle Way 27.5in size too.

The new Rocket Ron. Race and trail tyre beloved of many fast folk gets a makeover.

 

It's not all skinny XC stuff either.

 

The Super Gravity tyre technology is a (patent pending) way of adding pinch flat protection without make thing tyre stupidly heavy. The sidewalls get extra beef, but the contact patch rubber is kept single ply for trail feel and suppleness.

 

We've just got a set of 26in (with Super Gravity) and (regular) 29in Hans Dampfs in that we're looking forward to riding.
Here's a regular DH Muddy Mary section.
And here's the new Super Gravity sidewall. You can see that the carcass wraps around the bead and heads back up the sidewall for strength.

 

Looks like Middle Way riders will be well served by Schwalbe. It'll even do 27.5in inner tubes.

 

Here's the 27.5in selection - in 2.25 and 2.35 widths.

 

And here's the 26in Rocket Ron tread in real life.

 

 

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 23 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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