Schwalbe Racing Ralph

CitizenLee

I have a 2.25" Racing Ralph EVO Snakeskin on the rear paired with a 2.35" Hans Dampf EVO up front and find it a great combo. I did have x2 Hans Dampfs but found the rear was dragging a little, however no complaints with the RR out back. It's both fast and grippy, although not so good in thick gloop, but it's predictable so when it's slides you can work with it rather than against it. I certainly think they're worth the money.

Your lnik is for American Football jerseys by the way. Try these instead...


http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/s?q= ... cing+ralph
http://www.bike-discount.de/en/praesenz ... ountry=190

nicklouse

CitizenLee wrote:

Your lnik is for American Football jerseys by the way. Try these instead...

err yes that is what spammers do.

CitizenLee

Delete the whole post then, rather than leaving my orphaned reply

CitizenLee

How do you think I feel, I made the effort to write a legit reply

Delete it Nick!

The Rookie

I'd be using Ron's with an HD anyway, not Ralph's, seems a big disparity!

njee20

Not so sure - a Ralph has more aggressive tread on the shoulders, and a slightly tougher carcass. Rons have a bit more tread in the middle, but less on the shoulders. I'd say the Ralph is the more obvious pairing.

CitizenLee

njee20 wrote:

Not so sure - a Ralph has more aggressive tread on the shoulders, and a slightly tougher carcass. Rons have a bit more tread in the middle, but less on the shoulders. I'd say the Ralph is the more obvious pairing.

This is why

They work really well together, at least for where I ride.

Saying that, now the trails are minging, I would be tempted to put the other HD back on but unfortunately they're the tightest fit ever on my Mavic rims so the only way to get it off was cut the kevlar bead with a Dremel. That was months ago and I'm still gutted about it

njee20

What!? Madness! They can't have been that tight.

CitizenLee

njee20 wrote:

What!? Madness! They can't have been that tight.

I wouldn't believe a 26" tyre could be that tight on a 26" rim either, if I didn't have the skinned knuckles to prove it! Apparently they’re known for being quite tight on certain high profiled rims. I don’t know the specific rim model Mavic use on their Crossmax ST wheelset, but damn they’re tall!

Before it beat me and I got the Dremel out, I’d already snapped two Topeak reinforced tyre levers and this was after heating up the tyre with a hair dryer for 15 minutes before hand in a vain attempt to loosen it off somewhat. So it was either risk bending or damaging the rim with a metal lever, or sacrifice 45 quids worth of German rubber to the Rotary Drill Gods. Getting them on in the first place cost me a few tyres levers too, and almost an aneurysm! I’m just lucky to have had no punctures over the whole summer.

To think I used to take High Rollers and Minions on and off with my bare hands

njee20

Technique. TLR Schwalbes are tight, but not that bad.

CitizenLee

njee20 wrote:

Technique. TLR Schwalbes are tight, but not that bad.

Again, I would have said the same had I not had first hand experience at how difficult it was. Maybe I just got a couple from an extra tight batch but there's certainly nowt wrong with my application/removal technique as I've been doing it successfully since the 80s

If you're ever in Aberdeen give me a shout and you can come and try it for yourself!

CitizenLee

cyd190468 wrote:

I'm not so sure about the hairdryer technique as rubber is one of the few substances that contracts when heated so heating would make it tighter as the rim expands and the tyre contracts.

It didn't come off at ambient temperature so seemed worth a try. Seriously, I wouldn't have cut the bead on a perfectly good tyre unless I'd exhausted all other options. The Ralph comes off with a bit effort.