Schwalbe LAB

With the Rick XC Pro, Schwalbe presents a tire that combines grip and low rolling resistance on a completely new level. It meets the exact requirements of the world's fastest cross-country riders. Thanks to an innovation - a reinforced transition area between the center and shoulder blocks in the form of a circumferential slight tread rise - it also meets a second core requirement of the world elite: very good SnakeBite protection. The Rick XC Pro in 2.4" has more rubber in the tread at the height of the sidewall of a rim with a 30 mm inner rim width. The 2.25" is optimized for rims with an inner rim width of 25 mm. Sidefact: a tire insert for the XC sector that raises snakebite protection to the same level is heavier.

Robert Mennen, himself a former Cape Epic winner and current MTB Product Manager at Schwalbe: "The Rick XC Pro is a tire that works excellently on most routes and in most conditions. It sets a new benchmark in today's XC racing with many more technical courses, higher power density and wider rims. We are delighted that the tire has already helped Loana Lecomte (Canyon CLLCTV) and Simon Andreassen (Cannondale Factory Racing) to World Cup victories.

The driving force behind the development of the Rick XC Pro was Olympic silver medallist Mathias Flückiger - a tinkerer in the book. Flückiger is someone who is always thinking about how and where the material can be improved. The development work began after the 2019 World Championships, during the development period Schwalbe repeatedly obtained detailed feedback from its various World Cup teams, prototypes were ridden in the World Cup and further developed.

The result is a tire that has even lower rolling resistance than Schwalbe's Racing Ralph. To achieve this, the tread design was optimized - the result is a mixture of Racing Ralph and Thunder Burt. The tread depth of the lugs lies exactly between the two tires. Thanks to pronounced side lugs, the Rick XC Pro has even more cornering grip and is grippier than Schwalbe's Thunder Burt. While the choice of the world's top riders has often been Racing Ralph at the front and Thunder Burt at the rear, in many places it is now Rick XC Pro at the front and Rick XC Pro at the rear.

To the tire