Schwalbe G-One RS Pro review: surprisingly versatile gravel race tyre that goes straight to the top of my list

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Schwalbe claims the G-One RS Pro is its “fastest gravel tyre”, featuring a semi-slick design with recessed side knobs for grip and traction.

Priced at £74.99 / $80.89 / €74.90 / AU$147.95, the G-One RS Pro is available in a healthy range of sizes up to 700c x 50mm.

The G-One RS Pro shone in testing, proving to be tangibly fast and surprisingly versatile, although being an intentionally racy tyre, it isn’t the most durable.

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Schwalbe G-One RS Pro tyre details and specifications

The G-One RS Pro sits alongside the G-One R Pro and G-One RX Pro, with the three forming Schwalbe’s top-of-the-line gravel race tyre range.

The G-One R Pro is the brand’s all-rounder tyre, with the G-One RX Pro essentially a souped-up version with the most aggressive tread pattern of the range. That leaves a hole in the range for hardpack rubber, and that’s where the G-One RS Pro fits in.

It features a striking tread pattern, with a semi-slick design in the middle.

The edge knobs alternate between large teardrop shapes, with three smaller ones in between. The middle of these smaller knobs is then positioned slightly closer to the tyre edge.

The casing features Schwalbe’s new Race Pro (replacing the older Super Race) construction, which is designed to offer lower rolling resistance and improve rider comfort, while boosting puncture resistance.

Schwalbe has also widened the tyre’s three-layer sidewalls, along with the V-Guard vectran puncture-protection belt. Like the rest of the G-One Pro line, the G-One RS Pro uses a 67 TPI (threads per inch) casing.

Also updated is the Addix race rubber compound, with Schwalbe claiming a 10 per cent reduction in rolling resistance and improved grip on the shoulders.

The tyres are available in 700c x 35, 40, 45 and 50mm widths with black or ‘transparent’ sidewalls, although the 35 and 50mm widths are only available in ‘transparent’. There’s also a 650b x 45mm option in a ‘transparent’ sidewall.

It’s a shame there isn’t a 55mm option, given the trend for wider gravel bikes with wider tyre clearances. Schwalbe offers its Thunder Burt mountain bike tyres in 29x2.1in (54mm) and 29x2.25in (57mm) sizes, but the tread pattern differs completely because it is intended for cross-country, rather than gravel riding. 

The 50mm tyres on test weighed 581g each on my digital scales, 24g lighter than claimed.

That’s much lighter than the brand’s G-One RX Pro tyre at 617g, and it undercuts Pirelli’s excellent hardpack-oriented Cinturato Gravel H at 652g.

Schwalbe G-One RS Pro tyre installation

I first set the tyres up tubeless on a set of WTB KOM i27 wheels on a Kona Ouroboros gravel bike with Muc-Off sealant. 

Both tyres were easy to install on the rims, which measure 27mm wide internally. 

The tyres wouldn’t seat onto the rims with a track pump, but seated on the first attempt when using a dedicated tubeless pump, measuring 51.5mm wide on a digital caliper at 25psi / 1.72 BAR. 

I then moved the tyres onto my Niner RLT 9 RDO with Fulcrum Rapid Red 500 wheels, which have a 23mm internal rim width.

This installation proved much easier because the tyres seated using just a track pump – likely because of the narrower internal rim width. 

The tyres measured 50.04mm on these rims at 25psi / 1.72 BAR. This is interesting because the Schwalbe G-One RX Pros (in the same 50mm width and tyre pressure) were slightly undersized when installed on these identical rims at 48.01mm. 

I queried this with Schwalbe and after re-measuring both tyres (after leaving them at maximum pressure for over 24 hours), there was still almost a 2mm difference (48.51mm for the RX and 50.31mm for the RS).

The brand reassured me that “this would be well within our assigned specifications”, and some of this can be explained because “the added rubber of the RX prevents the tyre from bulging out as much as the RS”, meaning it typically measures narrower than the RS.

Schwalbe G-One RS Pro tyre performance

I tested the G-One RS Pro tyres over 1,400km around my usual trails in Bristol and the Chilterns in the UK, as well as day trips to Salisbury Plain and the New Forest.

The tyres were also called into action for Mother North in Norway, a 1,010km ultra-endurance gravel race with a gruelling 16,800m elevation.

After some experimentation, I settled on running 25psi for the front and 27psi out back for my current 74kg weight. During my race, I increased this to 29psi front and 30psi rear to account for the extra load of the bikepacking bags.

I found these pressures suitable for all of my off-road exploits, and they felt good on the road too, with no squirming.

The G-One RS Pro’s sheer speed and the suppleness on offer immediately became apparent on my first ride on Salisbury Plain, dispatching the rutted singletrack of the Ridgeway and the sweeping ‘Champagne’ gravel trails of the Plain with ease.

I was particularly surprised by the tyre’s abundant grip, considering it’s a semi-slick tyre, with the extended shoulder knobs biting into the corners.

These traits carried through the rest of my testing, where the tyres impressed on the more technical, flint-infested Chiltern trails, as well as in Norway, which was essentially ‘Salisbury Plain on steroids’ mixed with some tech.

It also didn’t matter if the surfaces were wet or dry – I raced through some truly horrid weather in Norway, and never once did I doubt the tyres' grip (outside of mud).

Independent testing from BicycleRollingResistance.com found a 50mm G-One RS Pro tyre generated 18.2W of rolling resistance at 28psi / 1.9 BAR.

That’s lower than an equivalently sized Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H, which generated 21W of rolling resistance at the same pressure.

However, in a 45mm width, it’s pipped by the Continental Terra Speed TR, which generated 16.4W at 31psi / 2.1 BAR. It’s worth noting the Terra Speed isn’t available in a 50mm size, though, so if you want a larger-volume tyre, it may not matter.

Notably, smaller sizes of the G-One RS Pro performed better, with the 40mm version producing only 16.2W of rolling resistance. Bicyclerollingresistance.com notes the tread on the larger tyres is thicker, which increases rolling resistance but also improves puncture protection, so there’s something of a trade-off there.

Either way, I struggled to tell the difference in speed between the G-One RS Pro and the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H – I thought they both rolled as fast as each other in the real world, on the same trails.

The speed and suppleness of the G-One RS Pro isn’t quite as visceral as the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H, though – I felt a smidge more feedback through these.

That said, the G-One RS Pros trump the Cinturato Gravel H in terms of their grip on more technical terrain and are more confidence-inspiring on muddy sections.

On the subject of mud, the G-One RS Pros were better than expected, bearing in mind soggy gloop is never going to be an area a semi-slick tyre excels in.

The tyres were unfazed throughout my predominantly dry UK testing, even on a Chilterns ride where it had really belted it down for three or four days before, leaving some of the descents in a sorry state.

It was only on two occasions in the fairytale-like forests of Norway that I found the G-One RS Pro’s mud limits.

I haven’t experienced any complete blowouts during the 1,400km test period, although I experienced a mid-ride puncture on a ride later in testing, where I snagged the rear tyre on what I suspect was a rock, but the sealant did its job (but thoroughly sprayed my bike’s seat tube in the process) and sealed the cut.

The rear tyre has quite a few cuts now, but none have fully penetrated through the carcass, and the centre tread looks slicker than it did when new. The front tyre is still in very good condition.

Like the G-One RX Pro, I would say long-term durability is the G-One RS Pro’s weak point – this is very much race-focused rubber.

Pirelli’s Cinturato tyres are heavier than Schwalbe’s G-One Pro line, but I’ve found them to have better durability (perhaps as a result of that added material).

Finally, in terms of value, the G-One RS Pro is not a cheap tyre. At £74.99 / $80.89 / €74.90 / AU$147.95, they’re dearer than the Pirelli Cintuarato Gravel H in the UK and Australia, at £64.99 / $88.90 / €72.90 / AU$99, but similarly priced in the US and mainland Europe. 

Both are excellent tyres worthy of your consideration. You’ll need to determine whether you prefer better durability, a slightly more visceral ride quality but worse performance on mud – in which case, go for the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H – or lighter weight and better overall grip, which is where the Schwalbe G-One RS Pro excels. 

Schwalbe G-One RS Pro tyre bottom line 

Schwalbe’s G-One RS Pro thoroughly impresses in testing, excelling on dry and wet hardpack, and proving more versatile than expected, should you encounter the odd mud patch or particularly technical section. 

My only concerns are their long-term durability – it’s important to note they are positioned firmly as a race tyre. 

Alongside the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H (albeit for different reasons), I can’t think of better dedicated race-focused hardpack tyre and as such, they should go straight to the top of your list. 

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