Schwalbe Racing Ralphs

Now that the trails are drying out (yeah right!) I've decided to fit a pair of German boots (courtesy of Larry at MtnHighCyclery) that have been taunting me from a shelf for the past 6 months. The winter months have been spent on my Bonty ACX 2.2, tubeless ready (but w.tubes!) Gumbi's and I've found them to be highly dependable all rounders, even in the gloop. The soft Gumbi compund means that you can really lean on them :)

The Racing Ralphs weigh in at approx 470g each whereas the ACX's are approx 590g (which is mighty impressive for tubeless) so I'm saving approx .5lb of all important rotating weight :D The 2.1 Ralph tread pattern is no more open than the ACX but the knobs aren't as high and it almost has a continuous centre span which should make for a fast summer tyre. Rob has better watch out :p

Fitting the Ralphs was easy, unlike the Bonty's which each need a substantial wrestle to get on/off my DT 4.1 rims. After ten days of seemingly continous rain since fitting them (sorry guys!) I finally found a dry spell to give 'em a try, albeit on a tame local trail. Although it's difficult to fully understand a tyre after just a single ride, I can tell you that these boots are fast. Just one half turn of the cranks has you leaping forward whereas it seemed that the Bonty's and XC Fire's need a good couple of turns. I haven't explored their limits yet but they didn't let go whilst gingerly pushing fast sweeping bends, tight turns or under braking on small loose gravel or hardpack. Nor did they squirm or wriggle their way through the odd water logged section, which was a surprise.

I'll report back once I've ridden the sand and roots of Woburn and covered a few more miles...