vandeda
11-26-2005, 11:25 AM
Hey all ... I guess this a ride report/product review. I originally had gotten my 700x28 T-Serv's in August for my fixed gear ride because they looked fairly rugged (well, by the advertising they looked rugged). I tried to do some research on them, but didn't find much, but I figured ... 20 bucks a tire, what the hey, I'll give them a shot.
I liked them, until I cut the sidewall ~200 miles into their life, yet couldn't find any debris in the road worthy of cutting open a sidewall. Normally I would just chalk this up to bad fortune, but the Pasela Tourguards are very similar (and less than $2 price difference), and I found people had problems with cutting the sidewall in those tires. And looking at the cut, the sidewall looks very very thin. Well, crap .... up to that point I really liked the tires, but not if they have fragile sidewalls.
Well, last night and this morning they have redeemed themselves. Last night I set out to ride to my friends place, which is about 11 miles, 9 of those on a bike path. Well, once I hit the bike path, it was still 80% covered in snow. I thought "well, this is going to be a fun experience ... lets see how far i make it". The grip of these tires in 1/4" to 1" of snow is ... well ... incredible. No problems braking, steering, even riding up steep hills (capital region guys ... I'm talking about the hill on the bike path near the twin bridges, and also the hill by KAPL, which isn't as steep as the one by the twin bridges). It completely had me scratching my head because I wouldn't have imagined that they would be worth anything in snow.
The only thing I can figure is ... the tread pattern seems to do a good job of holding snow, like a good snow tire for your car since snow to snow friction is higher than straight rubber to snow friction. Since the tires held snow in the tread well, they were able to provide reasonable snow traction.
As a result, instead of dreading my 9 miles on the bike path ... I loved it. Way fun. So ... the snow traction of these tires has redeemed them of their thin sidewalls (well, at least until when/if I cut the sidewall again, then I'll probably change my mind haha).
Anyone else have a similar experience, where a product almost excelled at a task they probably were never meant to be used in?
Dan
I liked them, until I cut the sidewall ~200 miles into their life, yet couldn't find any debris in the road worthy of cutting open a sidewall. Normally I would just chalk this up to bad fortune, but the Pasela Tourguards are very similar (and less than $2 price difference), and I found people had problems with cutting the sidewall in those tires. And looking at the cut, the sidewall looks very very thin. Well, crap .... up to that point I really liked the tires, but not if they have fragile sidewalls.
Well, last night and this morning they have redeemed themselves. Last night I set out to ride to my friends place, which is about 11 miles, 9 of those on a bike path. Well, once I hit the bike path, it was still 80% covered in snow. I thought "well, this is going to be a fun experience ... lets see how far i make it". The grip of these tires in 1/4" to 1" of snow is ... well ... incredible. No problems braking, steering, even riding up steep hills (capital region guys ... I'm talking about the hill on the bike path near the twin bridges, and also the hill by KAPL, which isn't as steep as the one by the twin bridges). It completely had me scratching my head because I wouldn't have imagined that they would be worth anything in snow.
The only thing I can figure is ... the tread pattern seems to do a good job of holding snow, like a good snow tire for your car since snow to snow friction is higher than straight rubber to snow friction. Since the tires held snow in the tread well, they were able to provide reasonable snow traction.
As a result, instead of dreading my 9 miles on the bike path ... I loved it. Way fun. So ... the snow traction of these tires has redeemed them of their thin sidewalls (well, at least until when/if I cut the sidewall again, then I'll probably change my mind haha).
Anyone else have a similar experience, where a product almost excelled at a task they probably were never meant to be used in?
Dan