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New Schwalbe "Assegai" coming:

Not much to add, they come in "soft" rather that ultra soft, weigh upward of 1400g, the thread rolls somewhat ok. I am not exaggerating when I say that I could ride them with 10psi, I was usually running the rear around 18psi (I weigh 75kg = 165lbs) and hammering down rocky track without a care in the world (my recently deceased ex511 rim might say otherwise). Only negative is you might be restricted to 2.6". Amaury Pierron won Fort William on them, which is basically the only test that matters.

Schwalbe Marathon Plus.....if you know,you know.

What is a really pinch resistant tire good for hard terrain with a high rolling speed. What is the stiffest casing between brands? ​​​​​​​​​Unfortunately stiff casings are slower rolling, so there is a trade-off here you can't avoid (the tyre consumes more energy deforming to trail as it's stiffer and therefore rolls slower). However running them at such high PSI as you do, a lot of it will be mitigated. I would say the Schwalbe DH casing or Michelin DH is the stiffest I've personally dealt with, but it is only marginal back to Maxxis. If you want to maximise...

This looks pretty good, but I'm left wondering how many people can stand on it?

Think it looks more like a Tacky Chan on the front of Richie's bike?

I’ve had good luck with car plugs. But for a permanent fix in the tread area you need to either glue it in with shoe goo or tie a knot in it and install from the inside once you limp it home. Otherwise they get pulled back out by skidding. never ran 2 cushcores in one tire haha. I’ve experimented with some weird DIY inserts from Home Depot. Also when running an insert- if I flat I’m riding the flat back unless it’s in an enduro race or 5+ miles.

yes, definitely possible that different rubbers could be changed by freezing differently. But I think once they are in the sun they will go back to soft. I’ll try today. SuperSoft DH tacky Chan. I agree that the tire shouldn’t blow off the rim sitting there, but I also don’t think you need to leave them at 45psi.

I have no personal experience but I read somwhere that schwalbe isn't that bad in cold conditions.

Yup, the damping part is also super important! I could kind of go on for days about tyres, but the damping is an interesting part because it is part of what generates grip too. Rubber is viscoelastic so has 2 modes of generating grip - the first is your regular mechanical friction between the surfaces, but the second is hysteretic grip which is where the rubber deforming sideways creates an opposing force in the material as it squishes. This is the "damping" part, and kind of similar to how a damper resists compression forces in a shock. So a bit...

The biggest factor affecting speed on a MTB (climbing and on the flats) is the tires. Not the bike weight or suspension travel. Most modern bikes are efficient enough that if you're seated the whole time, the rolling speed difference between a 100mm race bike and 160mm trail bike, given the same tires and wheels will be about the same, given the same power output. If the trail is very steep up or down, you will see the lighter bike pull a little time back on the climb and the enduro rig pull back time on the descent. It's very...

I was really happy with the Tacky Chan over the summer as a front tire. It's great on loose over hardpack that makes up the majority of the local trails as long as you are ok with the DHF style lack of transition knobs. I just switched back to a Magic Marry for the fall/ winter because it punches through the leaves on the trails better but the side knobs can fold as the trails dry out here over the summer, the Tacky Chan doesn't have this issue. Im happy switching front tires between Magic Marry in fall/ winter and...