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New Schwalbe Pro One delivers road souplesse & world’s lightest tubeless tires!

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Schwalbe’s Pro One was one of the first light, high performance road tubeless tires, but four years on and other tire makers are catching up. But Schwalbe hasn’t been resting in those years since, and has developed an all-new family of tubeless road tires adding more smooth rolling souplesse to their proven grip & durability. The new Pro One is such a big step forward, that Schwalbe’s race product manager calls it, “a tubeless tire with the feel of a tubular”…

2020 new Schwalbe Pro One tubeless road bike tire

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer
c. Schwalbe, all photos by Irmo Keizer

Apparently developed back from scratch, the Schwalbe goal was to create a new faster lightweight road race tire, while retaining safety & durability.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

Schwalbe calls the smooth, low-rolling resistance of the new tire souplesse, but it isn’t just about going faster, but also keeping road riders (& racers) fresh after long days in the saddle.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

The new Pro One gets an all new tire carcass construction based on both newly optimized Addix rubber compounds like we’ve seen off-road and updated manufacturing methods that ensure more consistency.

New Pro One – Tech details

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

Schwalbe describes the new Souplesse Carcass as a new ‘ turn-up’ construction with two main casing layers under the tread for smooth rolling and three layers in the sidewalls for support at lower pressures and higher abrasion resistance.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

A third partial layer under the tread of a 25mm tire is a 14mm wide V-Guard polymer puncture protection belt (wider tires do get wider V-Guards). Separate on top of the casing, the narrow V-Guard provides a high level of puncture resistance only under the centerline of the tire where it contacts the road, but still allows the casing beneath to flex for comfort and decreased rolling resistance.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

The addition of Addix rubber is something that’s easy to spot with the signature color detail like we saw in mountain bike tires. Here it shows up as the orange #1, denoting the multi-compound Addix Race rubber with much more silica inside for increased cornering grip without adding more rolling resistance or impacting durability.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

The tire tread pattern remains unchanged for the update, as we’ve heard from some wheel makers that it is one of the most aerodynamic in wind tunnel testing. Schwalbe claims 13% lower rolling resistance, 22% more cornering grip, plus increased  puncture resistance and longer wearing vs. the previous Pro One tubeless tire.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

Schwalbe says the new Pro One was specifically developed to be easy to install with or without a tube – a big part of that thanks to a new sealing lip incorporated into the TLE tire bead. We know of a few rim makers who work closely with Schwalbe to ensure smooth installation, and as a result of that Schwalbe claims the new tubeless tires can be mounted without levers and aired up without a compressor. The tire sizings have also been updated to measure accurately on 19mm internal road rims.

2020 Pro One options & pricing, including the “world’s lightest”

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer
2020 Schwalbe Pro One TLE

The new high-end 70€ Pro One TLE isn’t only available in Schwalbe’s Tubeless Easy tubeless casing.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer
2020 Schwalbe Pro One tube type

There is also a conventional 60€ Tube Type for those who prefer not getting messy with sealant, plus new 70€ Pro One TT Tubeless Easy variants as well.

A top level 25mm new Pro One TLE weighs just 245g (it also comes in 270g 28mm & 295g 30mm, plus 650b, 26″ & 20″ sizes). The comparable 25mm new Pro One tube type is only 4% lighter at 235g.

2020 all new Schwalbe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer
2020 Schwalbe Pro One TT TLE

The third Pro One TT TLE is a bit more unique and claims to be the “world’s lightest tubeless tire”. Developed as a lightweight, ultra low rolling resistance race tire for time trials and triathlons, the new skinwall only Pro One TT TLE uses a fast, single compound Addix rubber, and weighs just 205g in 25mm width (215g in 28mm). With a whopping 21% less rolling resistance than the new Pro One TLE, triathlete Patrick Lange rode its prototypes to a 2018 Ironman World Championship win last year, setting a record time.

2020 all new Schwlabe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer
2020 Schwalbe One

In addition to the premium new Pro One tires, a couple of all-rounder Schwalbe One tires get upgrades, as well. Basically, the old Pro One (which I’ve been riding happily for a couple years in 28 & 30mm widths) gets rebranded as the new One, with a new lower price tag. The newly renamed One still comes in both Tubeless Easy and Tube Type versions as well.

Schwalbe.com

________________________________________________________

Will we see more pros racing tubeless over tubulars?

2020 all new Schwlabe Pro One TLE tubeless road bike tire, faster supple souplesse, photo by Irmo Keizer

Schwalbe’s Road Race product manager gives his thoughts on developing new tubeless tire construction over other tech, with a focus on matching that special smooth rolling feel you get from riding tubulars, and something the pros are always asking for….

Are we going to see more pros switching to Tubeless in future?

Yes, I am sure. In the age of disc brakes and electronic shifting, young, innovative
pros riding for major teams such as Wallonie Bruxelles or the Women’s WorldTour
Team Canyon SRAM no longer accept a hand-sewn tubular tire as state of the art.
Tubeless tires are far ahead of tubular tires in terms of rolling resistance, grip and
comfort. We are not talking about marginal differences, but improvements of up to 20
percent! On top of that, they have excellent fail-safe characteristics. The great benefits
of the system are proven by a high level of acceptance in triathlon pro-sports, where
every second counts.

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23 Comments
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Robin
Robin
4 years ago

A video by BikeRadar claims that that Schwalbe indicated that this tire was made according to the impending ETRTO tubeless standard, with Schwalbe claiming that standard is to be released soon.

Pablo
Pablo
4 years ago

Seem like some nice upgrades to the Pro One. I’m running an older set, 28s on Hed Ardennes, and I love them.

onrhodes
4 years ago

Pro One TLE has been my go to tubeless tire for a few years now. Interested to see what the improvements are. Also going to compare them to the GP5000 when my current Pro One wear out.

Morten Knudsen
Morten Knudsen
4 years ago

So, ‘world lightest’ is approaching the weight of the far cheaper and better wearing Panaracer Gravelking 32mm, and the super subtle Panaracer produced premium ( and similar priced) Compass extralight 35mm – in 28mm,

Hardly impressive

Greg
Greg
4 years ago
Reply to  Morten Knudsen

World’s Lightest only applies to the TT version. The other sizes, while light, aren’t ground breaking.

Greg
Greg
4 years ago
Reply to  Morten Knudsen

Also, it’s the 30mm Schwalbe the weighs the same as the 32mm Gravel King. The 28mm tire is 270g, same listed weight as the 28mm Gravel King, which is not available in tubeless, probably due to Panaracer’s restrictive Max pressure when not using tubes.

mpulsiv
mpulsiv
4 years ago
Reply to  Greg

My 32mm Panaracer GravelKing is 276 grams and 38mm is 320 grams, both tubeless. Supple tire without reinforced sidewalls.

Schwalbe made the splash with “world’s lightest” so they got 28mm tubeless at 270 grams, tubed at 250 gram and TT tubeless at 215 grams. Perhaps they missed 28mm Panaracer Competition SX at 195 grams http://www.instagram.com/p/Buw3Lr0F3Es

Bmx
Bmx
4 years ago
Reply to  Morten Knudsen

Gravel kings dont take high pressure no comparison.

Sam
Sam
4 years ago

Anyone know when these should be available?

Steve Han
Steve Han
4 years ago

If you want light weight tires, get a set of average weight tires and let a cyclist friend use your tires for a year and wear them down to 50%of its usable life. They will come close to the light weight version and will last as long.

By the way, when will these new tires hit the stores?
The name is not clearly distinguishable from the previous version of pro one.

mpulsiv
mpulsiv
4 years ago
Reply to  Steve Han

@Steve Han
This is the non-sense “get a set of average weight tires and let a cyclist friend use your tires for a year and wear them down to 50%of its usable life.

You propose to ride 2000 miles on a tire and expect the weight to drop? I’ve gone through many tires over the years and expected weight drop never exceed 3 grams.

Dano
Dano
4 years ago

Hope these seal to they can actually be used tubeless. Of my 3 25’s, only one has sealed up on my DT Swiss tubeless rims, for a 33% success rate.

RCSpeed
RCSpeed
4 years ago
Reply to  Dano

For all the hype with Schwalbe Pro ones…out of a batch of 4 tires I bought last year only one didn’t have some sort of out of round anomaly and or be a total pain to get the bead to seat. Was hoping they improved compared to past road tires but left me disappointed once again. Likely wont ever give these a go as I am back on Conti’s and never looking back.

lawrencefalk
lawrencefalk
4 years ago

If this is an new-standard ETRTO tire, will only bike geeks like us know that? I am hoping the industry designs a new symbol or patch that identifies that the rim or tire is built to the new ETRTO tubeless standards. (So far, only Mavic, Hunt, Mavic tires, and Schwalbe tires are the only new ETRTO tubeless compliant brands. Hoping to see more at Eurobike.)

RCSpeed
RCSpeed
4 years ago

“triathlete Patrick Lange rode its prototypes to a 2018 Ironman World Championship win last year, setting a record time”

Though Lange won the overall race with a record time…he did it by running a wicked fast 2:41 marathon…not on the bike where he was 7 min behind the fastest split.

Colin M
Colin M
4 years ago

I love Schwalbe but no way would I ever go back to their Pro tubeless tires. They don’t last long enough and puncture easily. Happily moved over to Hutchinson and they are a much better tubeless tire.

Charlie
Charlie
4 years ago

I drank the tubeless road Kool-Aid for years but finally gave up when I finally realized that all the hoops one has to jump through to get a tubeless tire to seat on a rim were just not worth it (for me). After lubricating the beads, installing a tube and letting it sit all night, removing the tube and using a multi hundred dollar air compressor t only to fail to get it to seat into the rim, I realized that it was just better to leave the tube in and forget the rest. Better yet to use a regular tire that costs a lot less and weighs a lot less and use a latex tube. With a tube, when you get a flat, the tire just deflates; without a tube, the tire deflates and spews sealant all over everything. I’ve tried multiple brands of sealant and none seems to plug any hole above 40 or 50 psi. So now I have adopted the 40-40 rule for tubeless: the tire must be wider than 40 mm )so that it will seat in the rim) and the pressure must stay below 40 psi (so the sealant doesn’t spew forth). This is too simplistic, of course, but it does suggest an explanation for why tubeless mountain bike tires are so brilliant and road bike tires are so (for me) frustrating.

Karl Griffiths
Karl Griffiths
4 years ago
Reply to  Charlie

Couldn’t agree more

Zam
Zam
4 years ago
Reply to  Charlie

Right on Charlie.
Not into specialized at all, but I’ve been rocking a set of all-condition armadillo 32’s (w tubes) for 5 years now and they just wont die. Light, supple, grippy, they are rad. Ive had 1 flat… 4 years ago.

Robin W Perkins
4 years ago
Reply to  Charlie

Charlie, I have been using Pro One TL for three years. For me they guard against pinch flats and flats from thorns. Yes when the hole is bigger it spews sealant all over BUT for me the pressure doesn’t drop enough for me to have to fix it before I get home.

Brian
Brian
4 years ago

I’ve been riding a specialized tubeless Roubaix 30/32 on my Giant CXR1
carbon rims for the past 6 months every day no problems flats, seating, hand pump, just have to inflate to 70-80psi every other day. Try it.

Hitomi
Hitomi
4 years ago

Maximum load: 70 kg

I’m out of the game. I’m 71 kg plus clothes, shoes, helmet and ofcourse bike… 🙁

MARC
MARC
4 years ago
Reply to  Hitomi

70 kg for each wheel ..

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