Paul Petch

Schwalbe Little Albert tyre review

Well it has been sometime since I threw on this tyre- the 5th March 08 infact. So how has it been?

I remember back in march I was not impressed at first with the Nobby Nic on the front of the Lynskey, but really loved the Little Albert on the rear (which I’ll discuss later).

Fast forward to  the end of August some 5 months later *time warp ripple*. Currently I’m riding two bikes…. a Cove Handjob and a GT Peace Single speed. The Cove has a Conti Mountain King Pro upfront and a good old Little Albert on the rear. Meanwhile the GT is running the Nobby Nic upfront and another Little Albert at the rear… and you know what? this is a fantastic little tyre! Why have I not ridden it up front? Put simply I like to ride with a bigger aggressive tyre up front…..

Little Albert – What do Schwalbe say?

First Impressions

These tyres are quite light weight for the amount of tread they provide. Its kind of nice to see a XC tyre with some grip! Once fitted to the bike it rolls “ok” – by ok I mean its not the fastest tyre once you get upto speed and you can feel it gripping to the road and trail…. it literally sticks to it and is quite noisy too. It feels predictable during breaking and also runs well as a lower Psi without the “squirm” which you sometimes get. Overall I liked it… but just knew that all that rolling noise meant one thing…. wear! As for the size of the tyre- its a true 2.1 which is on the narrow side.

Dry/ damp riding

Grip has been fantastic with this tyre on the rear… absolutely sticks to everything going up… and the same going down. It literally nails everything on the trail and shines in situations where some serious grip is needed such as under estimating a rock pitch or entering a switchback/ berm to fast. When you brake this tyre stops you fast…. and is very predictable in the dry as the sticky rubber literally feels like it is pulling you backwards as you lock up. Hitting loose over hardpack at speed also works really well with no loss of feeling at the rear at all… it hooks up really well and provides no surprises.

Wet/ muddy riding

Again,  the grip has been fantastic going downwards in the slop. Infact climbing over stuff never seems to be an issue either as long as some body weight is there to help. For such a skinny tyre it holds up really well over rocky/ rooty terrain…. as the sticky tread just seems to grab onto this stuff. On one particular ride at Craigieburn this tyre saw more wet roots than I care to imagine on a fast technical descent.  It saved the rear of the bike sliding out so many times while hitting these suckers.  You know that characteristic “holy shit! the rear is slipping sidewards feeling?” – well this tyre does slip… but just as It seems that all is lost it will hook up again and be on track. Brilliant! I doubt that there are many “fastish” tyres that could deal with the infamous wet root though…. but as mentioned this tyre does a great job most of the time.

In the really thick and slippy mud it also works really well and tracks sweetly once you choose a line through it. Being on the skinnier side helps during this situation too as it just cuts through it. It never seems to collect mud either and clears it fast fromthe tread pattern…. which again is a real positive and leans towards the tyres use throughout the wetter months.

On a negative note- that feeling of “holy shit! the rear is slipping sidewards feeling on wet roots?” well it seems to be a common trait if you have to lock up over wet ground in general- in particular the rocky stuff. It just slides out from beneath you and its a case of “fack!! will it bite in… will it….. BAM… bites in and your back online!”….. SOMETIMES. Other times it does not bite in and you are down. Having not ridden in the real wet for some years now I’m holding judgment on this tyre until I’ve ridden a few more “wet style” tyres next season. Ultimately though this characteristic is not a good one… but it can be a lot of fun :) You choose.

Snakebite protection?

I’ve had 3 incidents of snake biting on this tyre over the past 4 months. All three were while descending the Rapaki Track over some rocky conditions in a space of 2 weeks. Not rocky as in football size- just a continuous bed of rugged rock…. just perfect for snake biting! Ok ok… I had a super light butyl inner tube on the back…. but even so…..the anti snake bite protection did not work. Since replacing the tube for a more trail friendly one (read cheaper!)…. it has been fine on that section of trail. So maybe that’s the lesson learnt here…. no anti snake bite tyres will help you if you ride a 2.1 tyre on rocky with a 0.9mm thick inner tube? :D AMEN.

Interestingly, aside from the snakebite punctures… this tyre has help up really well against the general punctures. In particular glass on the roads which is common place here in Christchurch.

Wear?

This tyre wears really fast. You can literally hear it wearing down as you ride on hard pack or the road.  After a few hard lockups you can also see the centre tread being sanded off. You know what though? I ride a heap on the road to get to the trails… I also ride a fair bit in general and I’m aware of the compromise of soft/ sticky vs wear rate and it’s just the way it is. I’d rather have grip over wear rate any time….. but it is always a shame that this type of tyre tread is always more expensive! In reality too, if you compare the wear rate to other brands that use a similar sticky tread…. its a universal thing.

Overall I love this tyre as it provides great grip for climbing in the dry and wet as well as a low rolling weight. I just wish that Schwalbe would lower their prices!

Pros

- Reasonably Fast rolling
- Great grip for summer and winter trail conditions (unless you lock up in the wet)
- A nice light weight at 590g considering the amount of tread it has
- Dual compound helps the tyre to stick to the ground and corner/ bite in well

Cons

- Unpredictable in the wet when you lock up
- Wear rate is scary fast
- Expensive compared to other brands (considering the wear rate)

Related posts:

1. Specialized Enduro tyre review
2. Schwalbe Nobby Nic 2.25″ review
3. Specialized Eskar tyre review
4. Schwalbe Little Albert & Nobby Nic
5. Bottlelake revisited on skinny tyres!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 9:15 pm and is filed under Bike & Gear Reviews and tagged with review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.