Testing, one-two! 2026 BMX race tire rolling resistance test …
Testing, one-two! 2026 BMX race tire rolling resistance test …
We were recently invited, along with Bart de Jong of FAT BMX, to visit Schwalbe Tires in Germany who had set up testing of different brands in the BMX Race market and wanted some independent eyes on the results. Unfortunately, we were unable to make the trip this time, but Bart kindly shared his report with us, below. You can also read the report on FAT BMX.
Written by Bart de Jong / FAT BMX
Photos by Schwalbe (Paul)
Something that doesn’t happen enough is product comparisons. It gives an insight on what product is better than the other or does things differently which favors a certain rider. We got the opportunity to be part of a tire rolling resistance test in a laboratory in Germany. We couldn’t pass up seeing several BMX Race tires going through the test. How much do they expand when different pressure is applied. Will that affect the riding much, in other words, will tire pressure reduce rolling resistance? As measurements are facts, it still raises questions on performance. Will a slick tire slip on the gate? Is rubber compound something that will fix that? Does a wider tire have more grip, and does it absorb jumps better when racing with a carbon frame, forks and rims?
We put tires from the following companies through the test to get a good test result: Vee Tire, Tioga, Michelin, Maxxis, Vittoria, Schwalbe, and IRC. In fact, we tested a couple of different Tioga tires to get their results. Lower tire pressure might result in more rolling resistance, but will it necessarily be slower? Small bumps in the track surface or down the starting hill will be absorbed better when there’s not 8-bar pressure in the tire. It will also have more traction when you dive into a turn and speed out of it. How much will lower tire pressure benefit against less rolling resistance with pumped up tires that are about to explode?
Bigger wheels absorb bumps better. All tires were measured for their diameter at 6-bar. At 1597mm Tioga’s Fastr-X S-Spec 1.75 turned out to have the biggest circumference followed by Tioga’s Faster React 1.75 (1596mm) and Schwalbe’s SX_R 47-406 with 1mm less at 1595 millimeters. With each wheel rotation, bigger wheels will get you further. At 6-bar the Maxxis and Michelin tires measured in at 1553mm and 1552mm respectively.
Rolling weight matters so also the test tires were weighed without their packaging. Turns out that the heaviest tire of the nine BMX tires was the Maxxis DTH tire (430.2 grams) and Schwalbe’s SX-R came in at 293 grams which turned out the lightest of them all. So, with a front and a rear tire Maxxis will add 860.4 grams to your bike (without a tube) where Schwalbe makes your bike only 586 grams heavier. If you’re really weight conscious, every gram counts and you can save 274.4 grams if you choose between the lightest and the heaviest tire that we had in our test.
The rubber compound of each tire is different. The process there depends on the expertise of the brand, the materials used and the purpose of the tire. A heavier and thicker tire will probably prevent punctures better than a high-performance tire with a thinner rubber. Getting a flat tire because of a thorn or sharp item on the Michelin or Maxxis therefore is less likely than on a tire that uses less material. Although we did not cut every tire to see if they had a thorn prevention layer, we assume none of them have on these BMX tires as they would have on tires for city bikes for instance. We also did not test the tires on wear, so the ones with a softer compound will probably be replaced quicker than the ones where more rubber is used. So also here, there’s a consideration to be made when shopping for your next BMX tire for your race bike. The difference in width in tires between running 4-bar and 6-bar was about 0.7/0.8 mm for most. Michelin had the biggest difference with 0.9mm where the IRC Siren Pro Rise only had 4mm and the Tioga PowerBlock S-Spec expanded 0.5mm between 4 and 6-bar pressure in the tire. The tube used for all tests was an SVC 7 at 141g to keep things the same for every step along the way.
The test machine used in the lab was the Rolling Resistance apparatus. Which tire was the smoothest and had least friction. Obviously more factors come into play and each racer has their preferences, but the numbers don’t lie. The test machine supplied detailed measurements when tested at 4, 5 and 6-bar pressure in each tire. The speed that was used was 40 km/h each time, the same for every tire. The Vee Tire Speed Booster Elite 20 x 1.75 measured in at an average of 46.3 Watt. That turned out to be the tire with the most rolling resistance and was nearly double that of the winner of the test. In place 4 to 6, the Tioga tires rolled in with the Faster React getting a score of 33.9 Watts. IRC, with the help of Sam Willoughby, developed the Siren Pro Rise which got the bronze medal in the rolling resistance test with 28.8 Watts. The people at Vittoria have done their homework as they only released their BMX Race tire last year and created a fast one at 24.8 Watts. The lightest tire of them all also showed the best numbers as far as rolling resistance is concerned. The Schwalbe SX-R 47-406 is made for high performance and turned out to be the fastest tire in the tests with 23.9 Watts taken as an average over the 4-bar, 5-bar and 6-bar measurements.
Getting to see the testing done and the different numbers coming in, showed that a lot of work goes into making a good BMX tire. We only tested it on rolling resistance and not on wear, grip, compound, strength, thorn proof etc. The measurement results are listed, and you can make your own judgement. But numbers don’t lie …
01: 23.9 | Schwalbe SX-R 47-406
02: 24.8 | Vittoria Veloce 20” BMX-Reifen Tubetype Faltbar Race Formulierung Graphen + Silica 1.90
03: 28.8 | IRC Siren Pro Rise 20×1.9
04: 33.9 Tioga Faster React 20×1.75
05: 35.0 Tioga PowerBlock S-Spec 20x 1.75
06: 35.1 Tioga Fastr-X S-Spec Reifen Schwarz 1.75
07: 35.1 Maxxis DTH Tire – 20×1.75
08: 43.5 Michelin Pilot SX Racing Line 20” Tubeless Ready Foldable 1.70
09: 46.3 VEE Tire Speed Booster Elite 20” Tire -Fast 50-FB 20×1.75
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