For enduro riders, things continue to provide new opportunities to rip down the mountain faster and harder than ever. For Schwalbe’s part, the all-new Fat Albert front and rear tire combo ushers in a new tread block design philosophy for the company in wide 29er and 27.5 options.
The tires’ tread blocks are rounded at the corners with a softer overall look, unlike anything they’ve done before on the mountain bike side. The underlying structure is a bit different, too, creating a tire they say is more flexible and maintains a better contact patch on the ground. They also hinted this could be a growing theme on future tire designs.
More Fat Albert and a close up look at the expanded tubeless-ready road/cyclocross/gravel tire line below…
The differences in tread lines are obvious when held next to one of their more popular tires.
Front is wide open spacing for good mud shedding, but with treads deep enough to bite into the dirt and substantial enough not to immediately squirm under pressure. The additional siping should help them wrap around the ground’s smaller features to maintain traction.
It gets their softer TrailStar compound.
Both use their 67tpi Evolution carcass and Tubeless Easy casing with Snakeskin puncture protection bead to bead.
Rear has a bit more of a paddle design for good traction when accelerating and decelerating, but also provide decent rolling.
It gets their PaceStar rubber compound, which is a bit firmer to decrease rolling resistance.
Both front and rear are available in 2.35 widths for both 29er and 27.5 tires. Weights for each are 740g (27.5″) and 780g (29er). Pricing and availability TBA.
Schwalbe believes in tubeless for road and beyond. To prove it, they announced an expansive collection of Tubeless-Ready tires for everything from ‘cross to gravel to sand, as well as additional road options. While the collection debuted in July, but most won’t actually be available until February 2016.
Perhaps their new Schwalbe X-One led them to the rounded tread profiles for the new Fat Alberts? Shame these won’t be ready for this coming ‘cross season.
The Big One is a beach racer tire that’s designed primarily for that style of competitive flat land racing in The Netherlands.
