REVIEW: Schwalbe Ultremo DD Evolution tyre

The Schwalbe Double Defense -good but it has limits

REVIEW: Schwalbe Ultremo DD Evolution 700x25c tyres £35.19 (Wiggle)

This is not the tyre that most often crops up in the Schwalbe range - it's usually the Ultremo ZX, a pure road comp tyre, or the very popular Durano and friends.

I picked out the 700x25c for its relative light weight (260g) and widely touted puncture resistance (see below the many claims) - as a fast but commuter-savvy tyre capable of handling a rack and panniers laden up to about 10kgs in a commuting only situation. Fitted to my new Enigma Ethos on black Mavic Aksiums, they looked the part but I was always worried that the tyre was too light. For the spring and summer months I never had a problem, but when the rains came two weeks ago, I began to fear the worst - it just feels like a race tyre being stretched to capacity than operating well within its strengths.

Here's the highly persuasive marketing blurb from Schwalbe:

"Cuts by glass shards, or sharp flints are effectively repelled. Weight and rolling resistance remain low. Naturally with Triple Nano Compound. HD Ceramic Guard - This unique, high density fabric offers highly effective protection against penetration punctures. The additional coating of tiny ceramic particles blunts small shards of embedded glass, so that migration through the tyre is stalled. SnakeSkin. The addition of "snakeskin" protects the tyre shoulder and side wall against sharp rocks and broken glass. Although side wall defects are quite rare in road racing, it is still annoying when it happens. And worse, the tyre is often not just punctured by a cut, it is frequently completely destroyed. Double defense is the best prevention against this happening."

Here are the limits - don't know what caused this hole

Part of a winter, Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders - now for commute

Well I'm sorry to say this but my back tyre ruptured big time the other day, riding across London in the wet. I never got to see what I hit but it was probably a shard of bottle glass. The cut, pictured, went right through the tyre and I had no shoulder with me so rode home on 50 psi, gingerly, thinking that any more pressure would likely force the tube out through the hole and leave me stranded.

My immediate thought was that this is a summer tyre or maybe a three season training tyre, but it's not really strong enough for commuting.

Turning to the winter then, I considered buying new Duranos, or even Pluses, or maybe a combo (Durano Plus at the rear, Durano at the front). But I had these last winter and I know they're great. The point here is to try something new.

So I dug out the Vittoria Open Paves that have already seen serious cobble action, and am going to fit the pair with Panaracer Flataway between tyre and tube, a sort of kevlar fuzzy band with adhesive. Make no mistake this is a totally different philosophy of puncture prevention, before we even get to the Panaracer stuff: the Open Paves reply on density (320 TPI =threads per square inch), and a kevlar component, and also a profile where there is more meat in the actual tread than the walls, more so than competitior tyres. Plus, they're 700x24c - an unusual size - and I have always liked their feeling of just being that bit stronger. I'll report back come the Spring. If I have to estimate the weakness, it will be from cuts that just slice the rubber irrespective of the TPI. But if so, it won't be any worse than the piece of glass that just went straight through Schwalbe's HD Ceramic Guard.