for me likely would replace the tunder burt as rear, potentially rick/rick. it’s their first 2.4 so hard to say what they are coming out next. I do feel the thunder burt slides a bit on corners from time to time, rick supposed to have bit taller side knobs, curious how do they measure mounted vs 2.35s since they don’t have another 2.4 tire other than the wicked will which would be slower than ralph/ray/ron
The marketing reads like it’s an option between Ralph and Burt. Less center knob than Ralph, more than Burt. If anything it’s a slightly more grippy Burt.
That’s exactly what the Schwalbe rep said at Unbound when i asked him about it.
I asked the Thomas team what combo Schwalbe they would run in the slick conditions.
1- Ray-Ray if it’s not muddy, but wet
2. Get this….Dirty Dan if it’s really messy!! If you’ve ever looked at the Dan, it’s got some knobs!! It’s interesting that they would choose it for XC.
The Captain is probably best for dry, hard pack courses. Those low side knobs don’t look very encouraging to me for loose courses.
Have wondered about this combo, have a Ray Ralph SR on my training wheels, have a set of carbon wheels to use as ‘race wheels’ will use Ray Ralph SG 2.35 on, have an odd Ray 2.25 SG maybe will use that with a 2.35 Ray on front for my training wheels and have as a ‘wet’ wheelset for racing if needed.
I’m not seeing the need to get more grip out of the burt as rear tire, wondering how fast the rick is compared to ray if I were to run it in the front with burt rear
I was thinking the size alone would be worth running Rick F/R in the 2.4 would be great for sandy conditions like Fort Ord (@Jolyzara ) I might just do that for the Lone Wolf 75 in September.
Anybody else find the volume of racing ralph 2.35 sg a little lacking? I am coming off an aspen 2.25 and this looks and feels way smaller. I used to run rays in 2.25 and I am not even sure this one is higher volume.
You’re not wrong. They do feel smaller than advertised. Did you just mount them up? They do stretch a bit after they’ve been inflated.
Thanks. I mounted it on Wednesday. After two rides I am not that impressed about how it deals with mud going up. Breaking is very nice and corners are more fun.
Now that said, I had ZERO issues with them in the mud of this Year’s Lutsen99’er which was mudfest extrodnaire. minimum of 15 miles of mud. Some slurry, some CX, some vacuum forming suck fest. but so long as I kept of the cadence and had the right cog, Ray/Ralph just cut right through. I was passing riders on fat bikes that were apparently having issues. 
I am not familiar with that particular race. How much climbing and how steep?
It sure feels like a fantastic tire for flatter terrain.
@webdev511 Wider the better out here. 
Cant speak for that specific tire in sandy/loose over hard conditions but I run the 2.35 fast trak. I prefer more grip in the rear. I’ve run Sworks Renegade, Maxis Aspen & Ikon. Those were all similar and often lost grip climbing.
My favorite all time is ground control but a bit heavy for racing.
Yeah I found the same and it’s been said on this thread before. I done a side to side comparison with the 2.25 Barzo I was replacing a they were pretty much the same size on the same size rims. I haven’t checked again after a few rides, but very noticeable when I had 2.4s on before.
I ran 2.2" race kings at Lutsen (which measure smaller than that on 25 mm IW rims) and they have been great the last two years despite the mud. I was riding a bunch of stuff that many weren’t, but I also think that comes down to technique too.
I do have Ray/Ralph on my second set of rims, but elected not to use them.
Still convinced they’re the ideal Leadville / Lutsen tire because of the Rolling Resistance, combined with good durability and traction (for that type of course)
I can flat any tire on kimmons if I tried hard enough! those pokey and perpendicular to the trail “lava rocks” are a recipe for flatting tires. I think I see more people fixing flats on Kimmons trail than anywhere else on the front range. I guess that would be because it’s so easily accessible and a great fun DH.
Out of curiosity I just compared the captain to the current renegade.
Looks like half the amount of intermediate knobs and tighter center knobs. Plus I noticed that is a control casing tire with dual compound, which they have never made before. Before t5/t7 has only been sworks casing which I hear is paper thin. I’m intrigued.
I like the look of this tire, and specialized tires have been treating me well recently
any word on new schwalbe rick availability?