This is Schwalbe’s new Racing Ralph tyre, part of the all-new Evolution line. Evolution is a grab-bag of cunning tyre technologies all intended to get a bit closer to the holy grail of low weight, high strength, high grip and low rolling resistance.

All of the Evolution tyres feature a steeper bias angle on the casing fibres which makes the tyre more flexible to reduce rolling resistance. On top of that is a tread made of multiple rubber compounds (the Stelvio road tyres have a RaceGuard puncture-resistant belt under the tread too). Amongst the tyre range you’ll find Qualifier Compound, Offroad Racing Compound, Maximum Grip Compound, Gooey Gluey…

All of these compounds are combined in different ways on different tyres. So the Stelvio front road tyres have Maximum Grip on top of Qualifier, while the rear has more Qualifier and Maximum Grip just on the edges. The Racing Ralph has a tread made of Offroad Racing Compound on a foundation of Qualifier. And the Al Mighty DH race tyre is covered with super-soft Gooey Gluey.

Tread patterns vary between no tread on the Stelvio to huge great serrated lugs on the Al Mighty, optimised for braking and cornering. Racing Ralph has a combination of smallish centre blocks for fast rolling and serrated side lugs for cornering – it’s designed for XC and marathon events, but as well as the standard 2.1 it’s also available in 2.25 and a mighty 2.4in version. The biggun’s still claimed to be under 600g, which is pretty good going.

The joker in the Evolution pack is the Super Moto, a bonkers 26×2.35in road/beach tyre. It’s not a slick but it only has a very shallow tread. It’s a bit like a Maxxis Hookworm in concept but about two-thirds of the weight.

All of the tyres are very understated, with the Evolution “look” being black with white logos. They’re pretty clever but they don’t shout about it…

More details from Schwalbe or distributors Fisher Outdoor.