I've used various tires over the past 9 years for gravel and have since switched over to mountain bike XC tires for most of my gravel needs as they are simply superior in pretty much every way. However, I wanted to try these tires out (along with the G-One R in 45mm which I'm less impressed with), so I grabbed a pair of these in 50mm. The RX's are very fast in a straight line. I'd put them on par with my Race King 2.0's on the straights.....however, for my terrain (Sonoran desert single and double track with varying degrees of sand over caliche and rock), the Race Kings/XC tires grip far better in the turns than gravel tires do. Now, if you're mostly going in a straight line and the terrain isn't too technical/chunky/demanding (think something like BWR Utah, which I would definitely use these RX's on) and your frame maxes out with 50mm tires, these tires would be a good option. Got them on the rim very easily, although I had to use an air compressor to get one of them to seat......easy peasy with the Park inflator head, my single best tubeless upgrade/tool. The QC at Schwalbe could be improved though as one tire weighed in at 630 grams and the other was 670 grams. Not sure why there was such a large discrepancy. They ride and roll well though, very comfortable. They don't have the cornering confidence of my Race Kings, but "gravel" tires are generally always a performance tradeoff trying to balance pavement and gravel/dirt road performance. When I'm blasting through non-technical singletrack with cacti lining both sides of the trail, cornering grip becomes exponentially important as running into a cactus (especially cholla) sucks a lot. If you're lucky enough to have dirt trails and no real consequences for sliding out in turns where you live, the cornering grip will probably be halfway decent for a gravel tire. They are a bit on the pricey side though, would be a good deal if they were about $25 less expensive.
I got the 50s for my gravel bike to soften the ride and provide more traction over tech. Previously I had the same tires in 40. I definitely notice the improvement in ride going over square edges. As for the tires themselves I've done 50+ mile road and gravel rides and they're great. I primarily ride on San Diego asphalt and offroad in the Lake Hodges area.
I'm running the 50s on a stock Trek Checkpoint SL5 2023 and they clear all the tight points. Trek says the max tire for the bike is 45 so keep that in mind. You can hit the tire with your forward foot in tight turns, but that also happened to me with the 40s. Obviously your clearance between the tire and frame is reduced so keep that in mind for clearing mud/debris.
As for the value, at $91 a pop these are getting up there, but that's right where I would expect a newer tire that seems to have a marketing push and actual professional race success behind it.
700 x 45mm - Black Hutchinson Caracal Race Gravel Tires on a set of Reserve 40|44 wheels (Inner Width - Front 25.5mm, Rear 25mm). The front tire measures just over 48mm on my wheels at 35 PSI, so they do run big.
I almost immediately set out on a 340 mile fast bikepacking trip. I had no punctures over the three days and these rolled fast on the gravel and crushed stone of the C&O Canal Towpath and the Great Allegheny Passage trail.
These more than met my expectations for a fast gravel / mixed tarmac surface tire to use in dry weather.
I believe I would want more tread in muddy or slippery conditions!
I bought a set of these in the 45mm tan wall spec. These tires are definitely hard to mount, and if you're wondering why, it's because they are flat like a lasagna noodle due to the manufacturing process. The tire wants to lay flat, rather than arch up and press the bead into the wheel itself. Soapy water will help, and you may want to consider letting the tires sit in the sun for a bit to soften up.
Now that the tires are on, they have held sealant and air exceptionally well.
I've run them for about 200 miles on a mixture of gravel surfaces, pavement, and even a little of what we call Class IV/VI roads in the NH/VT area. The bike is a Cannondale SuperSix Evo CX/SE. With a total system weight of about 180lbs/82kg, I've been playing with pressures between low 20psi and low 30psi. The lower pressure offers quite a lot of comfort and grip without feeling sluggish or unresponsive. The higher pressure honestly doesn't feel like it's worth the trade on comfort and grip, but it is probably technically faster. Somewhere in the middle is likely best for me and my weight. I haven't run these in the wet yet at all, so I can't speak to that performance. I probably won't, since this is my fair weather speedy bike.
Would buy these again without hesitation, unless I just wanted to try something else.
