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I had issues with the 2024 radial trail casings being too squirmy, but have not had that problem with the 2026 Trail Pro casings. I'm happy to run those front & rear on my trail bike... will eventually replace the Grav Pro on front end of my ebike with one too once it wears out, might try it rear also as I'm on the lighter end of the spectrum. 2026 weights seem dead on for the 4 I've purchased & weighed.
Simply no „radial“ casings and instead the regular ones.
Sadly it seems like the best solution is going with a different brand that has a more robust trail casing. I just picked up a Gravity Pro casing Romy to replace my sliced Trail Pro version and as I'd expect it's a bit of a pig, but sturdy and nice to not have to worry about. It just seems like there's a big gulf between the two, with the Gravity Pro casings feeling like a pretty proper DH casing and the Trail Pro casings having absolutely paper thin sidewalls that at this point I don't trust to hold up, even if the support feels decent.
Yeah I’m kind of pissed they just added 2 layer of chasing to the gravity, when I need a gravity rear I don’t want a DH tyre, and now there’s no option anymore to stay with the radial, and imo radial front and non rear feels like 💩
FYI, casing, not chasing. There is no H in tyre casings.
It's not so much that 2 layers were added, its that now both of the 2x67epi carcass layers are now extend ontop of each other under the tread cap (before it was just one layer that extend to the end of the lap.
Here is some non radial tire talk - I’ve been running the Michelin Wild Enduro MS Racing Line front and rear for a season and a half now. In general I’d say it’s been the best set and forget tire I have used. Similar loose condition performance to other all-rounders like the Magic Mary or High Roller, but holds up better on hard pack. I really like the casing too - supportive without being harsh, not too heavy, and haven’t had any flats (yet).
Thinking I’ll try the new Performance Line option as a rear tire to get more life out of it. Hopefully the harder compound doesn’t sacrifice too much on wet roots/rocks.
I'm curious what you feel with the mixed setup? It looked to me like this was more common than not on WC bikes. I personally like it on all of my bikes but there's a chance that's an issue with an unrefined palate
Even the performance line still rolls slow af while being average in grip
It feels faster on smooth climbs/roads, definitely not as smooth/efficient on tech climbs, but where I noticed the difference I didn’t like at all was downhill, I feel like I’ve got 10mm less travel and a stiffer rear end, plus, they just don’t grip nearly as much on roots/of camber sections
So how much slower is a new gravity pro radial vs previous gravity radial in say an Albert, so same rubber, same thread
Correct my misunderstanding, but could we describe radial as a spectrum? Could we hope and pray for rear specific, faster rolling, semi-radial, or radial-light, tires in the future?
How about we you just post the data. Its been spoken about a lot but I haven't seen it. Would be cool to see actual numbers. Rolling resistance, impact resistance across the skus.
„Radial“ as used in the bike tire industry is already a spectrum of tread angles. If it was used as it should be, radial would only mean one angle, which is exactly radial to the wheel center. But it‘s the bike industry that likes to not give any fuck.
Just use the so called diagonal tires, which are exactly what you want in the rear, with a steeper angle between the carcass treads.
Thanks to you all, I finally made the switch from my trusty Conti and Maxxis tires onto Magic Mary and Albert Radials this year. For starters, the supple and conforming feeling over roots and rocks is satisfying. The biggest holy shit moment was me able to clean a local climb/hike trail that I always slid out on. It is very steep towards the top (20-26%) on off camber rock slabs. Most people hike or push their bikes up. The tires just wouldn't let go even when I was out the saddle trying to keep the front end down and crawl up. All my Maxxis and Conti tires's side knobs would just slide out. Thoroughly impressed and finally get the hype.
So the Scale is:
Vee tyre full radial 90º
Schwalbe radial trail
Schwalbe Gravity 2025
Schwalbe Gravity 2026
Specialized and E-Thirteen - closer to Diagonal
Delirium - unknown but sound like the are closer to Specialized
Diagonal tyres.
Exo/Exo+/trail casing
DD/enduro/super gravity
DH casing
Obviously, a full on DH diagonal is way stiffer compared to a radial but I'd be curious to see a test of EXO or EXO PLUS suppleness compared to a radial gravity tyre. Yes the Radial DH should be less prone to slashes.
From personal experience trail casing tyres with inserts is still not as supple or less bouncy than a Schwalbe radial gravity casing (2025 Shredda or 2025 Albert).
Thoughts?
I'm thinking we shouldn't let you get away with calling bias ply tires diagonal in the nerd thread haha
My experience with the racing line MS is they roll equal to or faster than an equivalent maxx grip Maxxis tire, which is my baseline. Not too worried if the performance line doesn’t roll all that much faster, mostly just want the tread to last longer. Different priorities than you, maybe.
What performance series tires have you tried? Wild Enduro MS? Or the older ones? I don’t know if the compounds/casings are the same between the old and new Michelin tires
performance wise the latest ones, precisely the MH performance rear, and E wild performance front, can't comment on how long they last as i had them to try for a few rides only, casing is different, bit more supportive i felt compared to the older ones from a few years back, rubber is apparently the same as what the Magi x. Gum x is according to the rep i've spoken to
Slowly been fiddling with the Tacky Chan Trail Pro 2.5 Soft tire pressures. I’m up to 30/33 psi and I think I’m finally at the point where I’m comfortable with the support. Running lower pressures gave a silly amount of grip, but pushing into corners with the front or pumping or preloading the rear felt like an absolute gamble. It never actually rolled the bead or anything, but loading up the rear and having the bike randomly change yaw by 3-4 degrees wasn’t great.
Still haven’t gotten the weird mushiness I felt with the Alberts or the super bouncy feel at this pressure, so either the tread or casing difference is an improvement.
Unless I'm trying to maximize grip in the wet I much prefer radial front/non-radial rear. I like being able to break the rear tire loose often and for better or worse the radial rear makes that much more difficult to do.
Horses for courses I suppose. I just want different things from my rear tire vs front.
Exactly my reasoning for picking up a Romy diagonal for the rear - I prefer being able to slide the back a little instead of the Velcro feeling of the Albert, and a little pep while pedaling goes a long way for our locals.
If anyone has ridden both, how would they compare the new radial tachy chan gravity super soft vs the dhr Dh maxx grip?
How many miles do people typically get out of the Schwalbe Soft in the rear? I'm at about 135 miles in 3 weeks on mine, and the knobs are nearly worn down past the siping already. We've got very abrasive, high sand content soil (it's tough on MaxxTerra also - only rubber that seems to last here is Conti). At this wear rate, I don't think it would last more than 250-300 miles / 3 months.
I am a light rider and do not skid a lot, my soil is mostly hardpack clay though. A Magic Mary in Soft lasts me like 1500km and 40000m of descending in the rear, depending on the conditions. That is, till the center knobs are barely there anymore. In the winter mud, it wears very slowly.
In GA, mostly loose over hard conditions I have ended up replacing the Soft Nobby Nick Super trail on the rear of my trail bike about once a year (probably around 1,000 miles), but that's from wear on the sidewall as much as the tread.
They wear better than Maxxis Maxterra on the rear.
I think I'm in your riding area.... probably 350-400 miles. Might get another 50-100 max if I wanted to squeeze some more out of it. I think swapping in the new Maven cams and adding modulation might be significant enough of a change to give me some more miles bc of less locking.
Alright, this seems like a topic for you all. It’s a weird one I’m trying to figure out.
My wife just got a new Stumpjumper this year, and we just went for her second ride on it and she HATED the tires. Not for reasons that you normally would consider, she hates getting dirty. The conditions were close to ideal out there. Mostly clay hardpack with some fine dust on top (typical desert clay after mild rain). The Butcher (1) in the front was throwing dust all over her legs. Maybe the Eliminator (2) was too but it was less of an issue in the back. My Tacky Chan (8) kept my feet noticeably less dusty when we got home. She has ran a Dissector (4) as well as Forekaster (5) on her other bike in the past and never brought this up. My question is, what is causing that? My theory is the wide horizontal siping through the entire block is grabbing the dust as compresses. I found when I ran a DHR (3) it always threw pebbles into my frame and it also has horizontal siping. But she never complained about the Forekaster, so maybe it’s the tread spacing? What do we think?
She said the tire is "unusable", so I must find something different (I tried reasoning). I'm looking for an aggressive all-round tires for an intermediate level rider. I also loved the radials today on my setup so I’m considering getting that for her because she loves the confidence of more grip and has no issues with punctures.
Based on that, I'm thinking the Magic Mary (7) in the front, Romy in the back. Tacky Chan (8) could work, but I think something that requires less lean angles since shes not aggressive. The Albert (6) has horizontal siping and tight blocks so I think it could cause the same problem. Other ideas? Maybe dual Dissector? Dual Romy?
How far off am I?
I have the same trouble with new butchers. Specialized tires are super sticky on the first couple rides. Seems like mold release or maybe the rubber is just extra sticky until it gets dirty/broken in.
This - they defo flick a lot up for the first couple of rides but after that they’re good.
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