Hutchinson, The French pioneer of cycling tyre technology has today announced the launch of Blackbird, a new benchmark in performance developed and tested by professional athletes.

The art of cycling ultimately boils down to one thing: three square centimetres of contact between your tyres and the road. This small surface has been at the heart of Hutchinson’s story since its inception in 1890.

The Blackbird is the next exciting chapter in this story. An evolution that is a result of over a century of equipping champions and turning Hutchinson’s consuming passion for innovation and performance into technologies that propel the sport of cycling forward.

Four years of extensive research and development has gone into creating the Blackbird, resulting in the fastest tyre ever developed by Hutchinson. Rolling resistance has been improved by 10% compared to the previous generation Fusion 5 but with an increased, class leading 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 sees the tyres casing wrapped around the bead then bonded 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 reduce air leakage. SwiftEasy casing ensures a much more flexible point of contact with the road, greatly enhancing both rolling resistance and comfort while reducing weight due to the use of just two layers of 127TPI casing. The result is a super fast, comfortable and lightweight tyre, 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 that has ever been developed by Hutchinson. The compound is a completely new formulation with incredibly low rolling resistance and high rebound that gives an increase in energy return of 25% when it comes into contact with the road.

Mach Tread 3.0 is also 10% harder than the previous 11Storm compound, resulting in its impressive lifespan and also meaning the tyre has improved resistance to tearing if cut by road debris. These improvements come while still retaining the same high levels of grip found in Hutchinson’s previous generation of performance road tyres.

The tyre has been specifically designed around 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 tyres contact patch with the road is wider than it is long, enabling aggressive cornering and reduced rolling resistance.

The Tubeless Racing Lab tyre is handmade in France and available in both Black and Tan Wall colourways across a range of three sizes, 26mm, 28mm and 30mm, weighing 275g, 290g and 310g respectively. The 28 and 30mm versions are hookless compatible. The Tubeless version of the Blackbird will retail for £61.99/€69.99.

The Blackbird is also available in a tube type version that forgoes the SwiftEasy casing to offer enhanced puncture resistance necessary for a tubed tyre. The tubed versions are also available in Black and Tan Wall colourways and weigh 225g, 245g and 265g. The tube type version of the Blackbird will retail for £43.99/€49.99.

Full details are available for customers at cycling.hutchinson.com