[Closed] Anyone tried the new 'Super' Schwalbe tyres?

I would go 2.6 as the new ones size up smaller.

I have that combo - MM & BB 2.4 super trail soft 29er.

I rate them highly, very happy with them, particular fan of the MM. Weight doesn't seem to be a big issue and they seem tough (got a couple of dings in my rims but no punctures or anything).

It's wet and miserable now, so weight doesn't matter, traction and grip matter and will outweigh the increase in weight of the tyre easily.

The Super Trail is just that, a trail tyre, not really that strong for anything jumpy or the likes, but a good one if you keep the wheels on the ground mainly, 2.4" for the new style does seem to be narrower than the old ones, maybe not a bad thing for winter slop, but i do prefer a 2.6 just for traction and more rubber on the ground.

Have to say, i do love Mary's, got two x 2.6s (super gravity's) on both the enduro's, they don't like slick rock or roots though, but what does!

Cheers guys. Not sure a 2.6 + mud will fit at the back, but will be fine up front. Maybe a 2.6 + 2.4 combo...

Any suggestions for good (I.e. cheaper) places to buy from? R2-bike.com have both in stock but the reviews don't seem great.

I got mine from bike components as they had the size and compound in stock I wanted.

I have used R2-Bike before and they were as good as any other online retailer

I´m also curious about them.

Regarding the weight, particularly it's increase vs the older versions, I think they did the right move in reinforcing the casings. When you look around, you'll notice a good deal of people are using tyres a "tier" above they're designated use. Like trail riders on DD casings and WEs, enduro racers on DHs, etc, and many with inserts. This tells us that most of the market offerings are underbuilt for their target audience.
It seems Schwalbe made the new casings with more realistic strengths for each purpose, and weights increase as a consequence. I think this is the right move.

They also mentioned on the press release at the time that the new range was developed to forego inserts. This would mean that typical insert weight needs to be discounted from your system. However, I'm yet to see any specifics on what they did to achieve this claim.

Any chance someone could measure the width of a new 2.4 mary on a wide rim (30mmish)? Curious about the above comments that it comes in smaller than the old 2.35 mary.

OP here, just placed my order for a 2.6 MM and a 2.4 BB. Looking forward to lots more grip! Cheers all

I have had one ride on a pair of Magic Mary SuperTrail Soft 2.6, they measure up at 2.5.
First time I have tried MM’s, good Grip in the mud but overall
I prefer the Maxxis I had which were the Assegai DD Maxxgrip.
I know heavier but think the softer compound is better, the Schwalbe Super Soft equivalents compound weighs quite a lot more for the same sizes.
So going to put the Maxxis back on.

I orderd a pair of 29 MM in 2.4 Super Trail and a BB in 29 2.4 in Super Trail from bike discount, should be here in a few days.

Any chance someone could measure the width of a new 2.4 mary on a wide rim (30mmish)? Curious about the above comments that it comes in smaller than the old 2.35 mary.

Also curious about this, will measure them up when they arrive

The Super Trail is just that, a trail tyre, not really that strong for anything jumpy or the likes, but a good one if you keep the wheels on the ground mainly

Currently running a snakeskin on the front and super gravity on the rear and manage on everything jumpy or the likes fine, I've order the Super Trails and think it'll be fine even more so in the winter slop

2.6's deffo measure up smaller at 2.5 on a 30mm inner rim even after a few days sitting at 35 psi ( Checked with Vernier's ) the Maxxis 2.5WT measure up at 2.5 on same rims. The MM are a little bit taller though than the Assegai so that must be in the side walls.

Hope they see sense and make the Super Trail Mary 2.6 in Ultra Soft at some point.

Should be an improvement in Soft anyway - if the carcass is a bit stiffer than the Snakeskin Apex - but with proper grippy rubber it could be amazing.

Update: 4 days later including Saturday and Sunday and I have my tyres from Bike Discount, not mounted yet, but out of the box they do measure 2.4, they dont look tiny.

Will mount up the MM and BB and ride later in the week

zezaskar

When you look around, you’ll notice a good deal of people are using tyres a “tier” above they’re designated use. Like trail riders on DD casings and WEs, enduro racers on DHs, etc, and many with inserts. This tells us that most of the market offerings are underbuilt for their target audience.

Equally, lots of people use the snakeskin Mary on the front, and don't need the heavier carcass. As with lots of people using Maxxis Exo, or Exo+

The Mary was Schwalbe's one good tyre, and they first decided to mess it up by making it narrower, and now they've decided it needs to be heavier than a DoubleDown Maxxis for trail use.

I'm all for more options, but I don't see the sense in making the only available trail tyre 300g heavier, and then having a DH-weight super Gravity option, and an even heavier DH version on top.

Tougher options for the rear, I'm all for it.

Yeah the snakeskin Magic Mary has always been fine on the front of my bikes with no insert.

But then I seem to get away with Maxxis exo at both ends with no insert too. Not doing enormous drops or gaps and generally a blue / red / red + (BPW) trail rider with some steep tech bits off piste and then occasional bits of black trail at uplift centres where they don’t have scary qualifiers.

Probably running lowest at 18psi for slower tech stuff or early 20’snfor everything else.

The Snakeskin Apex Mary 2.6 is/was fine for trail bikes.

Could definitely stand a bit of beefing up for enduro-ing though, IMO.

A magic mary inbetween snakeskin and super gravity would have been nice but now the lightest is heavier than the old SG.
I think they'll lose some customers over this.

Interested to see how these work out, I loved the old Supergravity, for riders like me that are reasonably quick, but light and not generally hard on tyres, they were superb. Like the old Specialized SX,tough enough for my dh bike and light enough for my trailbikes- at a time when everyone else was still doing massive chonky dualplies with wire beads.

The rockrazor SG was imo one of hte best tyres ever, which presumably is why they discontinued it 😉

Speaking of which, I see there's still only a 2.35 Rockrazor 29, and only supertrail while 650b gets a 2.6 and choice of carcasses. That's a wee bit annoying. Supertrail might be tough enough for me, Snakeskin was shite-all use though.

Hadn't noticed the Johnny Watts before, that looks pretty interesting

chakaping
Full Member

Hope they see sense and make the Super Trail Mary 2.6 in Ultra Soft at some point.

I suspect they can't make the knobs work in the really soft rubber tbh. Even the soft struggles a bit. Theres a couple of ultrasoft Marys but I am skeptic.

im interested to know how the big betty fairs against a mary on the rear

Noticed a new Schwalbe tyre on a Commencal ebike the other day, the Dirt Reynolds. No idea what it’s like, there’s nothing online!

So if the new 2.4 is narrower than the old 2.35, and the new 2.6 actually measures 2.5, Is there really a noticeable difference difference between the old 2.35 and the new 2.6??

Asking as i was thinking about new wheels to accommodate some bigger tyres. Have 2.35 MM on a 23mm rim (working well). But if theres bugger all difference now then I'll save my money instead.

Must admit i cant tell much difference so far and was a little dissapointed at the 2.6 coming up smaller than it says (30mm internal rim), so i save your money mate must admit i will probably go back to a MSC Hotseat and really rate it once the mary is dead.

Shit like that makes me want to buy a hundred tyres, fit them all, and then send them back as "not as described". Especially with the larger sizes where anyone buying them is clearly definitely after a large tyre- when you're getting a 2.3 then "sort of just a normal tyre" is fine but if you order a 2.6 or a 2.8 it's because you want a big tyre not a 2.5. And when it's 2.4, 2.5, 2.6 that's often because you're fitting the biggest you hope will fit in the frame.

On the other hand, Dirt Reynolds is a brilliant name

The 2.4” Magic Mary (Super Trail) and 2.4” Big Betty (Super Gravity) that I’ve fitted this evening have both measured at 60-61mm at the widest knobble, so pretty much bang-on 2.4”. That’s on 28mm id rims.

They are bloody heavy though, both are 0.3Kg heavier than the tyres that came off - 2.6” Hillbilly Grid on the front and 2.4” DHRII EXO+ on the rear 😳😳

Regarding the Super Gravity weight, one needs to consider that the de rigueur tyre for a very big slice of enduro racers is a DH casing Maxxis, which run around 1300g. That seems to be kind of the weight a tyre needs to be to reach an acceptable toughness level for enduro racing.

If Schwalbe markets the Super Gravity as "this is for enduro racing, it will perform well in that format and an insert is not critical", then I think the tyre weights what it needs to weight and they're doing a good job.

Who's not doing a good are brands like:
- Michelin selling the WE as their enduro tyre (which kind of protects the rim but is not that tough on cuts) and no pro athlete races with
- Maxxis selling the DD casing as the enduro racer casing (which is kind of tough for cuts but beats up the rims) and few pro athletes race with

My MM and BB turned up on Monday from Germany after ordering late Wednesday night.

I haven't had chance to fit them until today, but I've had them laid out flat to regain their shape for a few days. The sun was shining here today so I thought I would quickly swap tyres and get out at lunch time, but bugger me they are a tight fit on my 30mm Alex Rims.

I tried every trick in the book to mount them but gave up after an hour of swearing and sore thumbs. It was like i was chasing the bead around the rim if that makes sense. Anyway, gave up on the lunchtime ride and sat them by the radiator for a bit. A pair of gloves, some soapy water and a warmed up tyre did the trick so I got them mounted and went for a sunset ride after work.

First impressions:
- Slow rolling on the road (as expected) and draggy AF going uphill on road!
- They grip like shit to a blanket! I would go as far as saying they grip better than any tyre I've ever had, but also the priciest tyres I've ever bought.
- I found I was anticipating a washout and adjusting for it before the tyres let go. Hard to explain, but there is far more grip than I am used to so I was wimping out before I needed to.
- When they did break loose it was controlled and easy enough to correct without ending up on the floor. Managed to get my drift on a couple of times in the proper sloppy bits which was fun!

Overall I'm impressed after a quick hour on them this evening. My thighs hurt more than normal so the extra weight and drag should help my fitness too 😄

Has anyone tried the new nobby nic?

Super Trail MM and BB mounted and ridden on Sunday, 30mm rims and the 2.4's are wider at the same pressure than the 2.35s when put nose to nose and measure 2.4, no idea where the undersize comments come from.

The tyres went on quite easily, I was actually able to get them both on with no levers and just working the beads, I've never managed this on a super gravity tyre! Carcass of the super trail didnt seem too much softer than the SG either, felt fine in the rear at the same pressure, no rim bonks etc, as the casings harder in the front might creep down a few more PSI.

BB on the back rolled better than the MM it replaced and I couldnt tell any difference in braking power, the centre knobs of the BB are super similar to the DHR2 but with the sideknobs of the MM. Super happy with the BB, was thinking I wouldnt like it and would chuck another MM on the rear, but rode steep muddy tech on sunday and it was fine so will stay on all year round now.

oikeith, that's good to hear, no I have to decide on Supertrail with no insert, with insert or supergravity?

Has anyone tried the new nobby nic?

I've put 29er/2.6 /Super Trail / Speedgrip on my Hardtail.

Not had a chance to ride yet, but the rear was a bit of a bugger to get on with the rockstop in as well.

Will report back when I can, but anything challenging grip wise is probably out of the window for a while.

oikeith, that’s good to hear, no I have to decide on Supertrail with no insert, with insert or supergravity?

I am in the same boat, want a BB but not sure in which casing or insert combo.

I picked up cushcore last year to fit and run in Morzine, never got around to doing it and had no issues with SuperGravity in the rear and a snakeskin apex in the front, I rode all over the PDS too, I'm not light at 85kg and ride at a good pace.

Going Morzine next year and will just run the BB with no insert, I did read somewhere they had been designed to be run without. Guess start without and add it needed?