Schwalbe Tacky Chan review

The name is weirdly quite problematic inasmuch as you’ve got to actually pedal around with it blazoned on the side of the tire :-/

Tacky “anything” is going to be hard to spin in Schwalbe’s normal namescheme, notwithstanding it’s desirability in terms of tire properties. Tacky Terry, anyone?

IDK why they didn’t do the obvious and go with something like “Audacious Amaury”.

I might want these. My trail bike has to cover some ground and it’s a chore with my current Maxxis jobs.

From my experience:

Its faster than a mary on the front, less mud grip, more dry grip.
Its faster than a rear betty, less braking and climbing grip, better cornering.

So if you want max wet grip I would still go MM Fr, BB Rr, but if you want more speed in more conditions, TC Rr with either TC Fr or MM Fr.

Hans Dampfs are never great at everything.

I bought my Trail soft/Ultra combo from a regular supplier so they’re out there.

I actually have a 29*2.4 Trail ultra soft I used for photos if anyone wants it – never been outside 🙂 #stealthad

@benpinnick I may take that off your hands if it hasn’t been snapped up already

@whatgoesup – beat me to it, although I was thinking “Sticky Sue.”

benpinnick

Full Member

Ive been running these a while now and I would say they’re a fast dry/middling conditions tyre thats really surprisingly good in the mud, as opposed to a mud tyre thats fast, but either way, a really good all round tyre. My new favourite for most conditions.

I’m running Trail soft rear, trail Ultra soft front FWIW.

benpinnick has it…

Those of you wanting to purchase a Tacky Chan off the back of Benji’s review might be a bit misled. It’s a fantastic tyre for sure, but it came about as a result of the Commencal/Muc-Off team predominantly wanting a “faster Mary”… That was the main design brief initially. Along the way, various prototypes were built and tested, and this is the tyre they ended up with…

All of the marketing for the tyre so far has been based upon its DH pace… But trust me when I say, it’s a fantastic UK trail tyre in the lighter casing versions (which are out there with distributors and shops, just not in vast qty’s yet). Yes, it behaves differently to a Mary at the extremes of conditions (it’s not as predictable as a Mary when it’s really muddy/sloppy, but it’s more predictable than a Mary over firm ground and hardpack/rock), but there’s a lot of crossover too where if you were running a Tacky Chan in place of a Magic Mary, most of the time you wouldn’t notice the difference except in rolling speed… The Tacky Chan is considerably faster rolling than a Mary! REALLY noticeable in fact…

are folks running these on the front or rear?

Is it a Magic Mary alternative? Or a Hans Dampf/Big Better alternative?

You can run either end… Or both… Depending on what you want to achieve.

I’d suggest as benpinnick has done above, a soft compound rear and an ultra soft front will make a good all round UK trail combo with the softer compound up front… Alternatively, as Amaury Pierron typically does, you could run a Magic Mary up front for that ultra predictable front end right into the slipperiest conditions with a Tacky Chan on the rear for quite a bit more speed and a minimal loss in grip… Or you could run one on the front of your trail/xc/downcountry/whatever the latest marketing term for just riding trails in your local woods is bike, in combination with say a Nobby Nic or even a Wicked Will on the rear, for that business up front party out the back type setup.

From my experience:

Its faster than a mary on the front, less mud grip, more dry grip.<br style=”box-sizing: border-box; –tw-translate-x: 0; –tw-translate-y: 0; –tw-rotate: 0; –tw-skew-x: 0; –tw-skew-y: 0; –tw-scale-x: 1; –tw-scale-y: 1; –tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; –tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; –tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; –tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); –tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; –tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000;” />Its faster than a rear betty, less braking and climbing grip, better cornering.

So if you want max wet grip I would still go MM Fr, BB Rr, but if you want more speed in more conditions, TC Rr with either TC Fr or MM Fr.

Hans Dampfs are never great at everything.

Again spot on… Though I will caveat that better riders than you or I have won EWS races with Hans Dampf’s F&R in the past!!!

@molgrips no personal experience but I think Pinkbike’s review may cover that for you

I described them to someone like dissectors on steroids. They roll like a dissector, but have way more grip as it gets wetter. Assegai is more like a Mary, reliable grip but rolling speed is sacrificed (alot in the case of the Assegai maxx grip!)

@benpinnick Thanks for the review.

If one was looking to pinch a Magic Mary off the front of his Forge hardtail (trail centres, long/xc style days out and full-suss deputising duties) and transplant it onto an Aether 9 (enduro/off-piste/rougher stuff), a Tacky Chan might make for a really quite nice replacement by the sounds of it?

Coming from Maxxis DHF 2.5 MaxxGrip up front, and a Dissector MaxxTerra out back, these tyres zipped along at an unbelievable pace.

That’s a fast pair of tyres anyway.

I suspect the bike you were demo-ing was quicker than yours?

When will they launch the Sticky Vicky ?

Or the Stuck Norris perhaps?

I described them to someone like dissectors on steroids. They roll like a dissector, but have way more grip as it gets wetter.

Anyone thoughts on these vs Conti Xynotal as a better Dissector for the rear?

About to put a Kryptotal Re on for the winter, but I’ll need something for next spring-autumn.

Looks pretty ace- anyone compared it with the Conti Argotal yet? They don’t quite seem for the same job but the Argotal is “mud tyre but randomly fast and good at hardpack” so maybe some overlap.

(for me the argotal enduro/soft’s made a lot of tyres pointless, it’s totally my one to beat now)

benpinnick
Full Member

I described them to someone like dissectors on steroids. They roll like a dissector, but have way more grip as it gets wetter.

Do they have better slidey manners than the dissectors? Really liked mine til it broke traction but then it was like an old DHR, just all over the place.

That will be the Assegai @molgrips. That’s a slow roller for sure.

Do they have better slidey manners than the dissectors? Really liked mine til it broke traction but then it was like an old DHR, just all over the place.

Much better. And they grip roots/rocks really well due to the Ultra Soft (but not especially slow) front.

I have little confidence in my Assegai.  The first time I rode that bike I laid it over into a rooty 90 degree corner as I was used to doing on my Patriot with Hans Dampf and it wiped out instantly and I almost died. From then on I felt very nervous and unstable on it.