A few weeks ago, shortly before easter in fact, i wandered into my lbs to see a nice shiny new Schwalbe Stand, and an equally shiny new Schwalbe rep.

So of course i decided to order some new tires, that were not on display.

I asked my dealer to pick me up a pair of Trykers.

He called his supplier, who called their supplier, who called Schwalbe who...

Well long story short, 3 weeks later a pair of Trykers turned up. mainly because the rep actually went to Germany to get them :-)

The tyres came in standard Schwalbe folding rim packaging. A blue 3/4 box with an open window, through which protruded some tire.

I'd post a picture, but I'm pretty sure that you all know what the packaging looks like.

the tires themselves when deflated have a very odd profile. They're practically pentagonal, with flat/non existent sidewalls, a flat shoulder, and a flat contact patch. (the rubber between the folding rim, and the thicker "cornering" surface seems very thin to me. on the other hand anything that's going to puncture the rubber there is going to have to puncture the RIM of your wheel, so this thinness is a good thing, as it makes for a better ride)

when installed and up to rated pressure, they round out nicely, but under load the contact patch is flat, and there's a distinct edge between what's touching the floor, and what's not.


The Central strip around the center of the tyre is smooth, and the cornering surface has rain channels, and alternating patterned/blocked wedges. IE alternating wet/mud and dry/gravel strips.


Now this bit is purely subjective, but ....

GRIP.

The central contact patch of the tires is slick. The shoulders have rain-guides and some tread patterning. If you're riding on dry road, then there's all the grip in the universe.

On Gravel or other loose surfaces, then there's a lot of grip with the gravel .... But less so with what's underneath.

If you wander into mud, then there's a certain amount of lack of grip... but it's not like they're entirely without grip.

On the other hand, it's not like i deliberately ride my touring trike off road.. so i don't consider this to be a problem. These are, after all, a road tire, not an off road tire.


ROLLING RESISTANCE.

Comparing the tires to what i had on there previously, Which was a set of Marathon supremes, there is NO comparison at all. There's practically NO rolling resistance at all.

Compared to A set of Marathon racers, it's still Massivly in favour of the Trykers. Comparing them to Primo Comets? I'd have to say it's possibly in favor of the trykers still... But only if i HAD to make a call.


LATERAL GRIP.

This is what surprised me the most. With the Marathon supremes, which i always thought had the best grip I've seen, The Trykers again win.

The way the tire is constructed, and the way the shoulder and central strip are connected means that there's a HUGE amount of rubber in contact with the floor.

The First time i took a corner a little fast and hard, as a deliberate test, i was almost catapulted out of the seat.

With the Supremes, there was a little bit of under-steer, as the tires deformed, or took that extra milisecond to find purchase,with the Trykers, my Catrike Expedition Cornered like it was on rails.

COMFORT.

Much better (even at the recommended maximum of 85psi) than the marathon supremes. Much better at any level of inflation for the Supremes. To the point that the first time i rode out of my Garage, i stopped and double checked the pressure. :-)

Better than a set of 65psi marathon racers, And i forget how strongly inflated the primo comets were, but i'd call it even there.

PUNCTURE RESISTANCE.


My normal Sunday ride route takes me along a Multi-use track, then a dedicated cycle lane, a dedicated cycle lane (with central divider) Along some country lanes, some side roads, and ends up on an A-road, with a partial cycle track.

or, as i like to call it, the corridor of certain tire destruction.

This takes me through a residential area, a light-medium industrial area, c hedgerow lined countryside, and through a small-medium town.

The reason that i no longer use Primo comets, is that they'd go flat if i even thought about going near the industrial area, or even said the word "Hawthorn"


The Marathon racers that were on the trike when i got it were actually Very good puncture resistance wise, but still managed to get punctures whenever anyone trimmed a hedgerow. (which around here are either hawthorn or hawthorn/holy.)

The Marathon racers have had precicely two punctures between three tires in 2 years.


So far i;ve only done an out-and-back on the Sunday run, and a few "to the shops and back with a weeks shopping" type runs.. but So far I'm liking what I'm seeing. There's plenty of rubber where i counts and Schwalbe's new race guard, whilst not the HD ceramic Guard on their Top-of-the-line tires, seems much better than the older system.

I have found a coupe of pieces of something sharp stuck in the rubber, but it didn't penetrate more than a few mm.


CONCLUSION.

if you have a Multi-track vehicle, With 40-440 tires, and you need some new rubber, then i cant recommend these enough.

They're surprisingly fast, ridiculously Comfortable, Grip like no-bodies business, Shrug off anything that's not going to be a definite puncture anyway, are *significantly* lighter than a Marathon Supreme.

OK, they had to be brought over from Germany in the reps' hand luggage...
They're not the cheapest tire you can use (Ok, i'm digging here) ..
and they don't really like being in mud or deep gravel..


over-all, I'd give these a 95%. 99% if i could pair them up with some appropriate slime filled tubes.
(subject to modification after i get to use them in a traditional Lancashire rain-storm. I'll let you know what the Sub-aquatic performance is like)

Very helpful review Oh Golden-one!

I was considering these for my Trail when the Racers wear out and will now try them. You mentioned 440 size, whereas all my trikes have 406 rims, if that's really the size you are using then maybe that's why they were difficult to obtain here in the UK.

"I thought of that while riding my bike." --Albert Einstein, on the Theory of Relativity

2007 ICE QNT
2008 Hase Kettwiesel AL27
2011 Catrike Trail.
1951 Engine in need of partial rebuild.

Thankyou for spotting the deliberate mistake i "intentionally" put in there. I Of course meant that the tires come in 40-406.

Somewhere between my brain and my hands that came out wrong....

oops.


FYI, they handle VERY well in the wet.. so long as you don't mind a fairly pronounced rooster tail. the tread pattern moves most of the water out of the way very well indeed, however the spray is more pronounced than the Marathon supremes...

I Do mind a rooster tail, but then again I've got full mudguards and extra spray stoppers in place, so i don't end up with wet elbows.

Nice review Golden-one :-). Been meaning to get a report on the Trykers. Would you mind if I twisted your arm for a few photos and permission to use it in VV44?

VV43 off to print tomorrow BTW :-)

Cheers!

Peter

--
Peter Eland - Velo Vision publisher

Not a problem.

What do you need photo's of?

E-mail me. I'll try to take photo's and upload them to my drop-box account.

Thanks! Might be a few days as I'm dashing from sending VV43 to print (done :-) to a funeral :-( and not sure exactly when back.

--
Peter Eland - Velo Vision publisher

I keep trying to find the perfect trike tyre. After running through Contis, Marathon Racers, Marathon Slicks, Big Apples, I thought I had settled on Big Apples on the Kett and Marathon Racers on the QNT. I don't think I could be persuaded to switch out the BAs on the Kett - they work well with its "go anywhere, do anything" attitude - but now I'm wondering if I should be going for Trykers on the QNT which is more of a speed machine (well, as much as it can be with me as the engine). Trouble is its difficult to justify switching with only 1000 miles on the Racers - and the way they seem to be wearing they'll be good for a few thousand more. Are they so much better that the switch (and cost!) is worth it?

Until recently I was running marathon Supremes on all three corners. The Carole Expedition its a big old Hector, and I wouldn't have described it as bring a speed machine. Turns out, I was just using the wrong tires. It feels like I've got a new bike again.

I do have a set of marathon racers. Not the slicks, just the racers. The trykers do have lower rolling resistance, its less of a blindingly obvious difference than with the Supremes, but its still there. The problem I had with them was down to the way they were constructed, and the type of debris I ran into. Anything pointy at all would stick to the rubber, go all the way around, and teeth they driven thought the race guard weave on the next rotation. A set of needle noise pliers should not be a standard part of a puncture repair kit.

The new"snake skin" seems to be doing is job.
The other reason I had to change tires was because I ran one side completely bald. Turns out that if you put 6 or 7 thousand miles on a tire then do about 50 with one below minimum pressure Bad Things Happen.

As for cost, they're not as expensive as a set of ice spykers, and they're infinitely cheaper than 4 pirrelli p zeros.

On the other hand, would I have replaced them if they were brand new?

Tough call. If I found someone with a set, and could figuratively and literally kick the tires? possible, but unlikely. if they were less new, our if I was less than happy with them? yes.

On the third hand, there's also the fact that these are kind of a sign that that funny contraption I rude around on, just got slightly less left field.

I guess the cycling hipsters have to go find something else to ride now.

Reverse penny farthing?

I had a look at the Trykers recently but decided on the Marathon Pluses this time for their puncture resistance. I did some research on the Trykers and there's a thread on BROL:

[www.bentrideronline.com]

and a very interesting aparaisal in German (just use Google translate):

[wimschermer.blogspot.co.uk]

Oddball

'I'm drinking wine and eating cheese, and catching some rays, you know.'

Have not tried the Trykers, but I have just tried Big Apples for the first time.

This was on my TranSport (load-carrying 2-wheel recumbent). This came with some 'no-name' tyres which had a central running strip (about 1cm wide) then a chunky tread at each side, so I thought they were good all-round tyres. I replaced them recently with big Big Apples (406 by 60 at the front and 559 by 60 on the back) and was amazed by the improvement.

Now this is not a speed machine (especially with me riding) but the unladen speed on the flat has increased from 10mph to 12mph - it is still slow when loaded, but well faster than before.

John Turvey

It was about time someone released square profile tyres for tricyles. Rounded tyres intended for 2-wheelers would result in less grip per wheel when used on a trike.

Trikes, like cars, do not lean into corners so round profile tyres are inappropriate.

If I ever get my velo, I think these are what I'll use.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blue 2007 Nazca Fuego rider

"Trikes, like cars, do not lean into corners so round profile tyres are inappropriate. "

Mine did.

Maybe I should have wrote "Trikes, like cars, should not lean into corners". Unless it is a "leaning trike" of course. I suppose with one of those you'd want round profile tyres on the leaning wheels but not on the rear wheel which doesn't lean.

For ordinary trikes (which aren't supposed to lean even if they do!) I wonder if the corners on square profile tyres coupled with the extra grip might make wheel lifting incidents less common.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blue 2007 Nazca Fuego rider



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 14/05/2012 09:10PM by AbrasiveScotsman.

I would think it would increase wheel lifting - with round profile tyres it is possible to drift (due to lack of grip) when cornering - with the greater grip from the Trykers drifting will be less likely, so wheel lifting could increase.

When I first got my Micro it came with early Brompton tyres and I found a severe lack of grip from these tyres - mainly when braking I will admit, but in the wet it was best to start planning to stop a long way in advance.

John Turvey

I think you're right John, unless, under hard cornering the tread starts to lift the inside of each contact patch and effectively leaves only the outer shoulder of each tyre in contact with the road. Only time and a video camera aimed at a tyre will tell.

Glad you liked the BAs. I've just replaced the rear one on my QNT which had covered around 5000 miles, there was several patches of yellow puncture guard rubber showing in the contact area! This compares favourably with front tyre wear on the same trike which gives around 3500-4000 miles per tyre.

"I thought of that while riding my bike." --Albert Einstein, on the Theory of Relativity

2007 ICE QNT
2008 Hase Kettwiesel AL27
2011 Catrike Trail.
1951 Engine in need of partial rebuild.