Schwalbe Enduro DH Tire Reviews

Unicycles and Equipment
1

The new thing in downhill biking is called enduro racing, essentially it’s a downhill XC race, combining the flow of XC with steeper terrain, over a longer course. In some places (Europe) the races cover terrain that is really rugged, almost off piste, so tire abuse and failure is a real problem. No one wants to run 1500gm DH tires because these races are long and require significant amounts of pedaling.

In the past year or so, bike companies like Schwalbe have been releasing tires that are essentially beefed up XC tires, having armored sidewalls and added rubber, all in a lighter weight package than a DH tire.

I recently picked up a Schwalbe Hans Dampf Super Gravity Trailstar 2.35" tire. Sadly this tire is only available in 26" and 27.5" (650b), so I decided to go with the 650b and build a new wheel. Schwalbe makes four Super Gravity tires, all are available in 26" and 27.5", but only the Magic Mary is available in 29".

First look at this tire, it is much beefier than a standard Hans Dampf (HD), the sidewall is double thickness like a downhill tire, a thick kevlar cord serves as the bead, the center rubber is also thicker than an HD. Weighing in at 1040gm it is ~200 gms heavier than an HD, which accounts for all that extra rubber and casing.

In contrast to a Duro, though the HD SG is listed at $90, I paid much less than retail for this tire, so don’t get stressed over the price, it can be found on sale. At ~500gm lighter than a Duro, this may be the next best thing in “skinny” muni tires. I run a standard HD 29 x 2.35 now and it has a similar volume to a Duro, but the knobbies are a little narower on profile; the Duro is not really a 3" tire anyhow. In the Trailstar the HD SG rubber is a similar durometer to a Duro; and it feels very sticky out of the box.

I won’t be able to ride this tire until next week as I am still waiting on my new rim to arrive, so I’ll post pics and a ride review next week.

Here’s a link describing the Super Gravity tire series.

http://schwalbe.com/supergravity/en/#&panel1-1

If anyone has experience with other Enduro tires, please post a review, this appears to be where DH tires are going, and it may end up being a good tire for folks looking to go lighter than a Duro without losing the strength and stickiness of the Duro…

2

I now have a few rides on the 650b Hans Dampf Super Gravity. Overall it is a good tire, very similar to the standard HD, but with a much burlier sidewall, casing, and stickier rubber; my HD is Pacestar, the HD SG is Trailstar.

I am running the HD SG tubeless, which is my prefered set up, so far the tire is doing quite well, having a stiff sidewall prevents burps even when I run lower pressures; the HD had to be run at a much higher pressure when set up tubeless and still burped often.

I don’t really notice the ~200 gm weight difference; the HDSG 650b is 1040gm, the HD 29" is 850gm, but with the 650b I can run tubeless which saves ~200gms.

This tire and the three other Super Gravity tires are available in 26" and 650b, only the Magic Mary (prev the Muddy Mary) is available in 29".

3

I will get a Super Gravity for my 26 Guni shortly and go tubeless.

Sounds like your on a great idea here and positive feedback on the tyre and tubeless

Im wondering if to make a 650er or 29er single speed light XC muni. i cant decide. Weights will be about the same i guess but 650b SG tyre has the support going tubeless.

4

And Schwalbe, whats going on there? Why not a super gravity Hans for the all mountain 29ers in the world or is that unheard of…

5

It will happen :wink:

6

I have just ordered my 26’’ Hans Evo Super Gravity Trailstar for my tubeless Guni to be :smiley:

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Um… i think what the Aussie distributor for Schwalbe just said in a reply to my email is that the 2014 Hans 29" will be available in Evo super Grav…

Thats if we both didnt cross wires somewhere. The 2014 range has not been made public as yet.

8

Oh my… I’m so ready for a 29er one

9

Suppliers should start seeing them in a few months if they order them into stock. Mine has, can’t wait. Luckily UDC Australia is run by the same guy who is the Schwalbe distributor here!!!

I will go for a Hans SG make it tubeless in a kh29 for Xc. Thought about a racing Ralph but might stick to Hans? I found a cheap strong lighter mavic 29er rim about 24mm wide (external). Hoping I can run lower pressure than I usually do to get a footprint wide enough to not notice the narrow rim difference. Thanks for the ideas Ben and putting us onto enduro tyres and me converting to tubeless. Good times are about to get better!

SG for muni from your review seems ideal for muni and a must for total success converting to tubeless

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You’ll be wanting to avoid the Racing Ralph, it is very thin in the casing, not tough enough for rock abuse, not enough tread for slippery conditions, all in all it is a dry surface mtb race tire so it has a short life span and limited utility.

Most of the older tires have been tried and reviewed.

I rode my 650 HD SG yesterday on some tight rocky trails, worked great, ran very low pressures (~15psi) without a burp, felt like the tire was slow to turn, so bumped pressures to ~17-18psi and rolled much faster.

The Super Gravity provides a lot more support, on par with a Duro without being overly “rubbery”, Trailstar tread is nice and sticky :smiley:

I think folks are dismissing the 650b (27.5) wheel too quickly when comparing it to 26" or 29". Consider the size difference going from a 24’ to a 26’ (2") or Duro 24 x 3" to a Ardent 26 x 2.4 (1.5").

We don’t have gears (not including a Schlumpf), so changing gearing requires a change of tire diameter.

11

I am quite sure the next tire I will try will be Magic Mary. Currently I use a Muddy Mary and I think it’s an awesome tire. It has lots of grip and is quite huge for a 2.5" tire. Currently I use the Downhill Version which is the heaviest of all (if I remember correctly it’s about 1.3kg) but with the Magic Mary I will be able to cut down on weight quite a bit.

12

Great! Let us know, how you like 2.35 compared to 2.5.

13

Anyone know a release date on a hd in a enduro

15

Hans is already in super Gravity which i thought is their enduro tyre???

29er Super gravs will be released towards the end of the year when the 2014 range is available so i heard

16

Not in a 29, just 650b and 26".

The Magic Mary is available in 29" Super Gravity.

Maybe the other tires will come as an SG in 29"…