In a nutshell: the Schwalbe Magic Mary is a great performer for aggressive riding in UK conditions.

Read more: Best mountain bike tyres – front tyres and rear tyres for all conditions

Schwalbe has totally revamped its line up for 2018 with new compounds, denoted by that coloured band on the tyre. Tread patterns and casings remain identical, but rubber blends, and new size options, like 2.6in models we’ve already ridden, are different. Labelled, Addix, the new formula addresses durability concerns and tread blocks shearing off, as well as cold weather performance.

The orange strip here means ‘Soft’, which replaces the old ‘Trailstar’ compound. Damping is only marginally increased according to the makers, but we noticed the tread blocks noticeably dull little square edge hits and trail vibration better, and the tyre feels faster. The Magic Mary is already one of our ultimate 50/50 options for aggressive riding in mixed conditions, and with those on-steroids, reinforced edge blocks it’s still in full effect. For UK trail riders, the open spaced tread pattern makes a lot of sense year round with good mud clearing in gloop, and this new soft compound and tread feels super confident in the steeps on wet rocks and roots.

In terms of casing, there’s a choice between the reinforced, single ply Snakeskin at around 840g, and Super Gravity around 200g heavier. The SG tyre has thicker sidewalls and a nicer, more composed feel, but is obviously slower to accelerate, and possibly overkill if you enjoy your climbing. One excellent compromise is to run the SG Rock Razor out back and snakeskin MM front combo, which is good for three-season use. So far, we’ve put around 150km into the Schwalbe Magic Mary and it looks fine, but we’ll have to rely on the brand’s claims for wear life enhancement for now, since the Addix range is still relatively new.