Definitely give the Ralphs a go! You’ll surprise yourself 😀
I can’t say anything bad about getting Schwalbe tyres to seat. If you have a decent technique to setting up tubeless then they are no harder than anything else. Never had one I couldn’t get on with a track pump.
Conversely, the Bonty tyres I’ve had in the past go on reasonably well but seem to lose the integrity of the bead (it seems to stretch somehow and go a bit floppy) which means they start becoming a liability for popping off before the tread has come to the end of its life. I guess different rims might factor in here but that is just my experience. Yes, they tend to have thicker sidewalls but with considerable weight gain over the equivalent Schwalbe. Given how cheap Schwalbe are in the German stores price isn’t a factor anymore either.
I would really give the Ralphs a try. If it is dry to mostly dry then you can ride anywhere with more than enough grip, certainly Gorrick style terrain. I rode a couple of hours last night in Cotswold slop on RR front and rear and despite a few interesting moments (I wouldn’t normally using them for such wet trail but was too lazy to swap tyres) the Ralphs are remarkably capable. A Nobby Nic won’t add anything over a Ralph besides weight and maybe some mental relief 😉 Snakeskin is also unnecessary as most people tend to get cuts to the tread area where both types of carcass are identical. The normal casing might get scuffed up quicker than a Bonty tyre but you’d be very unlikely to have a catastrophic failure.
Normal Ralph is the way to go! 😀
If you really can’t mentally get around the idea of a Ralph then a cut Bonty Mud-X is a very left field option although it will be quite a bit slower rolling than the Ralph, even with the central knobs trimmed…
