Schwalbe Evo vs Performance spec

Apologies if this has been done before – I did a quick search and could only find comments from very many years ago and I think the situation has changed.

I’m looking at buying a Racing Ray/Ralph tubeless combo. Before pressing the button on the Evo versions, I would be interested in people’s experiences of the cheaper Performance spec.

There is a Bikeradar Youtube vid which looks at the latest version of each tyre and concludes that for the average rider (me!) there isn’t much difference between the two formats of tyre.

It seems that Performance was markedly worse in the past but that the latest version is a good tyre.

Does anyone have first hand experience? Thanks in advance for any help.

I can’t tell the difference between performance and evo tyres on my Hans dampf and my Mrs Nobby nics: They are grippy, last well, go up tubeless – no worries

The performance compound is still dual compound and is much grippier than the older versions. Akin to speedgrip, but a tiny bit slower to roll, not much different though.
Carcas wise, the previous Evo was supple, actually too supple for a lot of folk and certainly not stiff enough for low pressure tubeless setup. Now, I don’t think it makes much difference as the Evo is more supportive and feels like the performance one.
So really, just weight in it.

I’ve been told by a couple of racer friends that there’s no noticeable difference in performance between the “Addix Speed” and Performance tyres so they run Performance level Ralphs in the back with a Speedgrip Ray front and save a bit of cash.

Worth noting too that the Performance level tyres are a little heavier. This may or may not be a good thing depending on your perspective.

Many thanks for the feedback. Yes, there is a small weight penalty (approx 60g a tyre, about 8%) but I don’t think that will make much realworld difference to a rider of my meagre calibre!!

I’ve been using them for a few years.

I think 10 years ago there was an argument for immediately upgrading to the best tyres you could get. Now it’s more like the occasional tyre is a poor exception. I’ve not binned a tyre for being rubbish since Small Block 8s and the old specialized Enduros.

Just make sure its the latest version and not some new old stock. The older performance range was terrible in my opinion and experience.

Agreed with damascus. The old compound they used for Performance tyres lacked grip in damp to wet conditions and is probably the reason why many people used to hate Schwalbe (especially the Performance level Nobby Nics which would slide out from under you without a moment’s notice).

The newer Performance compound appears to be trickle down technology from Schwalbe’s pre-Addix Trailstar / Pacestar / blends. In fact, I have my suspicions that the new Performance range probably uses rubber similar to the Pacestar compound.

I ended up getting the last Snakeskin Addix Speedgrip Racing Ray from Wiggle for £20 and a very good Racing Ralph Evo on ebay for the same so I’m sorted I think. Thanks for the comments about the Performance version, I will fall back that if my bargain buys don’t work out!

Just noticed the Performance HD can be had for £25 – anyone else tried one? I’m thinking if it works it would be a billy bargain as a back tyre.