Hutchinson Blackbird Tubeless Ready Road Tyre The art of cycling ultimately comes down to one thing: three square centimetres of contact between the road and the tyres. This small surface has been at the heart of Hutchinson's story since its establishment in 1890. The Hutchinson Blackbird Tubeless Ready Road Tyre marks the next exciting chapter in this narrative. It represents an evolution resulting from over a century of equipping champions and transforming Hutchinson's consuming passion for innovation and performance into technologies that advance the sport of cycling. Over four years of extensive research and development have contributed to the creation of the Blackbird, resulting in Hutchinson's fastest tyre ever. Rolling resistance has been enhanced by 10% compared to the previous Fusion 5 generation, while maintaining a leading-class lifespan of over 4,000km of real-world riding. Central to the reduction in rolling resistance is Hutchinson's new SwiftEasy casing design. This new construction involves wrapping the tyre's casing around the bead and bonding it directly to a central polyamide puncture protection strip, instead of the usual process of overlapping these layers. A final layer of casing runs from bead to bead to minimise air leakage. The SwiftEasy casing ensures a much more flexible point of contact with the road, significantly enhancing both rolling resistance and comfort, while reducing weight due to the use of just two layers of 1227 TPI casing. The result is a super-fast, comfortable, and lightweight tyre, with the 28mm Blackbird weighing in at a competitive 290g. Another technology debuting on the Blackbird is Mach Tread 3.0, the fastest and most efficient tread compound ever developed by Hutchinson. The compound is a completely new formulation with incredibly low rolling resistance and high rebound, providing a 25% increase in energy return when it comes into contact with the road. Mach Tread 3.0 is also 10% harder than the previous 11Storm compound, meaning the tyre offers improved resistance to tearing if cut by road debris, and boasts an impressive lifespan of over 4,000km. These improvements are achieved while still maintaining the same high levels of grip found in Hutchinson's previous generation of performance road tyres. The tyre has been specifically designed for modern, wider rims, with a tread surface that is 15% wider than previous generation tyres. This, combined with the more flexible SwiftEasy casing, means the tyre's contact patch with the road is wider than it is long, enabling aggressive cornering and reducing rolling resistance. The tyre is available in both Black and Tan Wall colourways across a range of three sizes: 26, 28 & 30 mm. Weighing 275, 290 & 310 g respectively.