Schwalbe Smart Sam: Tyres That Are Silent On-Road And Quite Aggressive Off-Road

[Stefan Mikes]

Well, ride that with Super Moto X...

It was a good couple of kilometres.

 

[Alaskan]

That on Super Moto X? No thank you. On my Delite Mountain with 2.8" Johnny Watts? Probably okay but Nobby Nicks would be better, I'm sure. Fortunately that is a "road" condition I do not encounter.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The local conditions here (Mazovia, Land of Lodz) are that there are rather small forests (off-road) connected with sandy, gravel or asphalt roads of varying quality. With e-bike range, you'd ride from one forest to another but then you need to use paved roads sometimes. That was making me suffer when I used to ride my Trance E+ on true off-road tyres (the tyre noise on pavement). Even in huge West Pomeranian forests you need to get to civilization sometimes. All of this made me swap tyres in Trance E+ to 2.6" Johnny Watts.

Still, I needed to ride my Vado on thinner 29" tyres in mixed terrain. Due to lack of JW of proper size, I have used Smart Sams on my Vado. These let me ride 50/50 paved/unpaved smoothly. I hope it explains my status

(The matter would be completely different if I lived in or closely to any Polish mountains, of course).

 

[linklemming]

That on Super Moto X? No thank you. On my Delite Mountain with 2.8" Johnny Watts? Probably okay but Nobby Nicks would be better, I'm sure. Fortunately that is a "road" condition I do not encounter.

Yeah, definately no thank you. I dont recall anyone stating that Super Moto X would be good in that kind of condition or 'best of both worlds'

My 2.8 Nobby Nics would handle that perfectly

 

[smorgasbord]

Schwalbe chart of their tires (from https://www.schwalbe.com/files/schw...s/Produkte/best-use/johnny-watts_best-use.png ):

I personally was excited that they've just brought out Smart Sam's in the 27.5 x 2.8 size (previously, max width at 27.5" was 2.6), but now I'm leaning towards the Johnny Watts. Been running Maxxis Chronicles at 2.75x3.0 and pretty happy, but they're going to be worn out by the end of this season.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

but now I'm leaning towards the Johnny Watts

Depending on whether you're riding pavement at all.

 

[smorgasbord]

I'm mostly pavement, but when I do go off-road I don't want to suffer much. I don't do highly technical stuff, but enough that I want do-it-all tires. The wide tires I run help in the soft stuff and I don't mind the extra friction on-road, as long as it's smoothish.

The Smart Sams are lighter than the Johnny Watts, btw.

 

[linklemming]

I'm mostly pavement, but when I do go off-road I don't want to suffer much. I don't do highly technical stuff, but enough that I want do-it-all tires. The wide tires I run help in the soft stuff and I don't mind the extra friction on-road, as long as it's smoothish.

The Smart Sams are lighter than the Johnny Watts, btw.

Im guessing JWs would be the the better choice for you. I have heard that women always prefer ebikers on JWs

While my SS in a 2.6 are ok on pavement, the JWs would be better. Alot of my rides have small crushed gravel which just get finer as its ridden more, turning into sand and the SS is just the better choice.

I do ride SS in the front and JW on the rear on a bike ands soon to be JWs all around on a new DIY build.

Perhaps a thing to do is ask yourself for mixed terrain rides, "Where does traction matter to me the most"

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I don't do highly technical stuff, but enough that I want do-it-all tires.

That was the answer I expected. Luckily, you can equip your e-bike with JWs now. My point is, JWs are not available for the tyre size I need but Smart Sams are available for a wide range of wheels.

 

[smorgasbord]

I'm still trying to balance out the pros/cons between the JW's and SS's. Anyone got a table/flowchart?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I'm so glad to have chosen Smart Sams for my Vado! My last Sunday's ride involved unexpected "mountain off-road riding" (but nothing technical really). I have talked with two MTBers on the ride: Both were surprised I could manage riding with a rigid fork off-road; to which my answer was "It is because I'm using proper tyres" to which both of them agreed!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Small stats for a single pair of Smart Sams I have been using:

No single flat. No signs of wear.

 

[Nomad]

I was converted by several notable members of these Forums to buy and install Schwalbe Smart Sam (standard issue) tyres on my Vado (47-622, 28 x 1.75"). It is impressive how quiet and fast rolling these tyres are on road, while I can ride them (with some effort) through the sand off-road. Smart Sams feel very sporty and dampen the road vibration very well even close to their maximum inflation pressure.

Some Forum member distrusted my word. Listen to Smart Sam compared to otherwise excellent but off-road only Maxxis Rekon. (It is hard to stand the trail-tyre noise on road for extended ride duration).

don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy. Really thou unless a tire is loud like the old 3" ground control tires of yester year I'm good. The silence of road slicks in the middle of the night at high speeds is very satisfying on the other hand.

 

[Drew]

I just replaced the original Smart Sam Active tires that came on my 2018 Cube Allroad. These "Active" tires are an "value" version of the regular Smart Sams and do not have the "GreenGuard" layer. Still, I put 6,000 miles on the tires, 90% on pavement and the rest on various trail surfaces. I really enjoyed the versatility of the Smart Sam tread pattern, but I had 3 flats each on front and back. Luckily all but one occurred within easy walking distance of a bike shop. The other flat occurred within easy walking distance of a friend's house.

The last flat occurred about a month ago and LBS informed me the tread wear indicator was showing through, so it was time for new treads. I ordered a set of Johnny Watts which arrived last week and they were installed today. (Sad to say, my old hands can't muster the force necessary to mount and dismount these tires). These Johnny Watts have the GreenGuard layer and I am optimistic that I'll have fewer flats (if any at all) with these Johnny Watts!