With the new radial tires for the Butcher and Eliminator—called Grid Gravity Radial—Specialized is bringing a redesigned casing concept to the trail. The goal is to increase the contact patch and make the ride smoother—without necessarily having to ride at very low tire pressure.&

The casing is designed to deform more vertically while largely maintaining lateral stability. The result is supposed to be greater contact with the ground and a smoother ride on technical trails. At the same time, handling in corners remains controllable as long as you stay within the intended range of use. 

What’s particularly exciting here is the market perspective: Radial tires are still new in the mountain bike sector, but not unique. Schwalbe introduced the first bike tires with radial casings back in 2024 with the Albert and Shredda models, thereby getting the ball rolling on this topic in the first place. Here, too, the focus is on a larger contact patch and better adaptation to the terrain. Schwalbe has recently introduced additional radial tires.

This marks the emergence of a small but clearly recognizable technological trend in the tire sector: moving away from pure tread pattern optimizations toward the question of how the carcass itself behaves under load. Whether radial constructions will prevail in the long term remains to be seen in rigorous, long-term use—for now, they are above all one thing: an interesting new approach in the already highly developed—and at times confusing—MTB tire segment.

specialized.com