Schwalbe just dropped a versatile new mountain bike tire named Romy, which could become a new favorite for everyone from regular trail riders to enduro racers. But their 2026 MTB tire shake-up is a lot more than a fast-rolling, but grippy new tread design. Instead, Schwalbe is relabeling and clarifying their entire mountain bike tire line. Trying to make it easier to pick the best type of tire for your type of riding, then letting you think about tread patterns, casing, rubber compound, and mixing & matching.
Plus, there’s also a new Tacky Chan tread reshaped for radial flex. There’s a smoothed-off Magic Mary, a repositioning of Eddy Current as an indestructible radial, and stickier Ultra Soft rubber. Importantly, the Gravity Pro Radial construction gets more supportive. And 3 classic treads axed from the Schwalbe catalog!
There’s a lot going on here…
Schwalbe Romy: an in-betweener, all-rounder MTB trail tire
Schwalbe describes their new Romy as “maximum fun with more grip and control“. The new Romy slots in nicely between the more tightly spaced knobs of the recent Albert and the long-running open, knobby Magic Mary. The result is that this new Romy tread design promises plenty of grip in soft terrain, while still rolling relatively quickly on hardpack.
Romy’s aggressive tread design is a pretty clear mash-up of the Magic Mary & Albert. 2 of 3 of its large, supportive shoulder knobs take a capital-R shape adopted from Albert. While the 3rd is a big siped rectangle from Mary. Schwalbe again imports center knobs from Albert, with an extra pair of knobs added in. And all of that center tread is a tiny bit shorter to roll faster with less effort. Plus, everything gets spaced out a bit more than Albert for better grip in soft conditions.
Created as an all-rounder, it officially replaces the Hans Dampf, as well as the Nobby Nic on most modern trail bikes. When you don’t want to worry about which trail tire to pick, Schwalbe figures the new Romy will be your safe bet.
Schwalbe Mountain bike tires relabeled
Sure, Romy is new, but the first thing you’ll notice is that the tread name doesn’t stand out on the new Schwalbe sidewall label. In revamping their mountain bike line-up (and trimming some fat), Schwalbe is now simplifying labeling on all new tires.
The first thing you see after the Schwalbe name is the construction. Because Schwalbe first wants to make sure you get the tire feel that’s appropriate for your terrain, your riding style, and your bike. Gravity for those shredders amongst you who need the most support and protection. Trail for the regular mountain bike riders looking to balance protection with the ability to pedal up the hill. And Race for riders looking to prioritize speed and low weight.
Then, Schwalbe offers Pro-line for the top-tier performance with all the latest tech (previously called Evolution). Or you get the standard ‘Schwalbe-line’ that doesn’t say anything else, while still offering the latest treads and tubeless construction, but typically just a single appropriate rubber compound.
Only then in small print will you see the tread name – letting you mix-and-match front and rear while keeping the same hot patch look. Under that, you see the rubber compound. Plus, labels if it is TLR tubeless, what size it is, and you’ll only see a note if it is a Radial construction (standard diagonal casings are unlabeled).
Pro line in Radial or Diagonal casing, including new Gravity Pro Radials
Only the top Pro tires get the ground-breaking Radial construction. But interestingly, the Pro tires also offer many options for conventional bias-ply Diagonal casings, too. Because, while many riders (like myself) prefer the extra grip of Schwalbe’s Radials, they do add more rolling resistance. And many riders like to mix and match – especially like pairing a Diagonal rear tire for faster rolling to a Radial front tire for extra grip.
Plus, a lot of crazy fast, super hard-charging Enduro, Freeride & DH riders didn’t think that the first round of Gravity Radials offered enough support in high-speed cornering. And riders needed to increase pressure to get enough support, limiting the grip control you got with the Radial introduction. It turns out, though, that was a lot because when Schwalbe tried to simplify their construction offerings a couple of years back, they pared down their old Super Downhill & Super Gravity casings into the new Gravity construction, leaning more towards the lighter Super Gravity end of the spectrum. But with the more supple Radial construction, that wasn’t quite enough support for the biggest shredders.
So, Schwalbe have listened. And going forward, the new Gravity Pro tires get more structure reminiscent of Super Downhill. That means that the new Gravity Pro construction is now much more supportive, and riders now have the flexibility to change pressure a lot (up & down from what they are used to with conventional diagonal bias-ply tires) to dial in the grip they need.
Ultra Soft & other rubber compound updates
Another sneaky update that you can’t actually see…. All new Ultra Soft tires feature an all-new rubber compound that Schwalbe developed with their World Cup DH race teams. The new Ultra Soft rubber offers a claimed 50% increase in damping vs. the previous generation for significantly increased wet grip. But the big trick is that even though it is so much stickier in the wet, Schwalbe claims that the new rubber doesn’t break apart like most wildly soft tires. So even though it will wear faster than a Soft tire, the new Ultra Soft is just as durable as the previous iteration.
Also, at the faster rolling end of the spectrum, Schwalbe has renamed their red-striped Addix Speed compound as simply Speed, where it will really only target XC tires. And the previously ambiguous blue-stripe Addix SpeedGrip is now just Mid – striking the middle ground between XC speed and enduro soft grip.
New Tacky Chan Radial
This one is a subtle update but important, and makes this tire more interesting for me personally. We knew Tacky Chan for big shoulder knobs and big center knobs, and a lot of space between them. But the way the new radial tires deflect so much locally, having 1/3 of the center knobs tightly butted up against each other didn’t let them flex as much as they could. So the new Tacky Chan Radial eliminates those blocks up against each other. And instead, it shifts to two alternating pairs of center knobs, a bit further apart side-to-side to let them flex more with the radial casing.
The result is that the new Tacky Chan Radial has a smoother transition from straight-line grip to cornering grip. That should reduce the abrupt cornering feeling I wasn’t a huge fan of in the original bias-ply Tacky Chan.
Magic Mary gets smooth
OK, there’s nothing functionally different about the good old Magic Mary, just an updated tire mold. But now the Pro line radial tires get a smooth sidewall to match the rest of the modern Schwalbe MTB line.
Eddy Current is now Radial & rear-only
The big news for the Eddy Current is that it’s a Radial construction now. Only now there’s no longer Front- & Rear-specific versions – just an unlabeled version of the rear tread design. It is still meant to just be the super tough ‘indestructible’ tire for heavy eMTB use. It features the new, more supportive Gravity Pro Radial construction, and comes in 27.5 or 29 x 2.5″ widths.
3 classic Schwalbe treads retired
With that rear-specific shift, Schwalbe axes the Eddy Current Front. And Schwalbe now recommends pairing it with a Magic Mary or Albert front tire, depending what type of conditions you ride your full-power ebike in most. Or, if you want something ultra grippy, pair it with a Shredda F with the new Ultra Soft rubber?
Next to bite the dust is the old rear-specific Big Betty. Schwalbe explained that outside of high-powered eMTBs, which wear rear tires down faster, most modern trail & gravity tires can do just as good on the front or the back. So rear-specific treads like the Big Betty make less and less sense. If you are running a Magic Mary up front, now you’ll probably replace Betty with an Albert or new Tacky Chan Radial, depending on whether you ride more hardpack or loose terrain.
Lastly, say goodbye to Hans Dampf. Romy takes its place, as a more versatile trail tire combining plenty of all-conditions grip with faster rolling.
Schwalbe Romy – Pricing, options & availability
OK, back to Romy for second, which Schwalbe says is “lighter than many enduro tires, yet at the same time extremely robust and durable“, making it a great all-rounder. It is also good as both a front & rear tire, of can be combined with a more aggressive front for extra grip.
With its versatility, the new Schwalbe Romy tires come in many sizes and options: 27.5 & 29″; 2.4 & 2.5″ widths; Gravity & Trail; Pro Radial, Pro Diagonal & standard line diagonal; but all TLR tubeless. It is actually the first Schwalbe Radial to come in a slightly narrower 2.4″ version, as some trail bikes simply don’t have the clearance for a 2.5″ tire in the back.
Price-wise, the new Romy is in line with the rest of the Schwalbe MTB family. The most affordable are the high-value standard line tires at 45€, available only in Trail casing, Mid rubber, and 2.4″ width. Step up to Pro with a conventional diagonal casing for 70€ or go Pro Radial for 75€, and you get Gravity or Trail choice, more widths, and the option for either Soft or Mid rubber compounds.
Pick up any of the new Schwalbe Romy tires, or the rest of the revamped MTB gravity & trail tires, online and through your local shop starting today.
Schwalbe.com
