With the trendy plus-size tires, tricky passages are suddenly child's play. Schwalbe is now responding to this and launching the "Sliding Slam" tire with an extra slippery tread - so that mountain bike tours are once again a challenge even for good riding technicians.

In places where the common mountain biker used to ride several times, perhaps even practicing for whole afternoons until he was able to master them, today he rolls over them without a care in the world. The reason for this is not primarily better riding technique, but innovations in wheels and suspension technology. The latest leap in performance in this department is the introduction of plus-size tires. This means that technical singletrail passages, previously reserved for professionals, can now also be mastered by less experienced after-work bikers without any problems. According to tire manufacturer Schwalbe, this sometimes leads to more and more mountain bikers being underchallenged or even bored on their home trails.

Schwalbe is now counteracting this by launching a special tire that is particularly slippery due to its slightly ribbed tread and very hard rubber compound. They call it "Sliding Sam", and the first test rides prove it: It turns wet roots into a challenge again. Tricky passages can be practiced for hours - just like before - until you can finally conquer them by riding. This makes mountain bike tours a challenging change again.

The tire is already being used by Brendan Fairclough (Downhill), Nico Lau (Enduro) and Sabine Spitz (Cross Country). They use the "Sliding Sam" to simulate the slippery conditions of rain competitions in good training weather. The tire is also popular for training runs immediately before the competitions, in order to then get a much safer riding experience in the race itself - back on traditional tires.

The Schwalbe "Sliding Sam" is now available from specialist retailers in the dimensions 2.1", 2.3", 2.6" and 2.8". Schwalbe has announced the same strategy for road sports, where the "Rudy Rutsch" is the counterpart to the "Sliding Sam". For safety reasons, however, this tire is not commercially available but is only issued to athletes from pro teams for training purposes on closed mountain passes.

Further information at www.schwalbe.com