adamhell
07-25-2016, 11:30 PM
I work from home, and today spent some time procrastinating by mounting & riding some new tires, and converting another set of tires to tubeless.
1. WTB Horizon 650b X 47c (though they measure to be a true 44.34)
I removed the Soma Grand Randonneur Tires (which are basically Compass Babyshoe pass: extra light supple casing 42c randonneur tire made by Panaracer) because they have been picking up a lot of glass and flatting on my rides around the city here in SF. I figured these Horizons would provide the perfect balance of speed and flat protection, somewhere between something like a Schwalbe Marathon and the aforementioned Soma GR tires. I was on the money. I only rode these around the block a few times in my neighborhood, but the first thing I noticed was that they are not ultra supple like a compass, but still very fast rolling and strong-gripping. As such, I think they will be a perfect tire for SF. I will report back after having experimented with a few tire pressures.
Here are some pictures:
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h184/adamleibow/4802E04D-E682-49E2-A54F-E6B862DCE62F_zpsskieva4x.jpg
the clearance on the frame (Rivendell A Homer Hilsen) is maxed out, but the brake clearance looks nice. As stated before, this measures closer to 44c.
2. I Bought some Bruce Gordon Rock N Roads which, not like their moniker, have been pretty cool. I converted them to tubeless today with my Airshot. They were pretty painless to get the bead seated (on Velocity A23s), and ride better, I think, in tubeless mode. My other experiences with tubeless have been strictly 29+, with the stock Krampus wheelset as well as a Velocity dually rim to a Maxxis Chronicle TLR (tubeless ready) tire, so doing it on a smaller tire was interesting; time will tell how this setup holds up. I am really loving tubeless so far, despite being a peculiar (flat out weird) process of getting tires mounted.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h184/adamleibow/6D40BCE0-B9B1-4773-BB40-1461C00BACC2_zps5jmybjyz.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h184/adamleibow/018C3294-D017-4B91-A5D3-BE6C2A7CD90D_zpsewwzhjfs.jpg
I have heard mixed reviews about these tires. Some people think they roll pretty slow and I think everybody is getting very used to the speed and ride quality of compass tires (i see them everywhere in SF). My intuition tells me people were riding these RnRs at a dirt (low) pressure on the road, which gave them the impression they are slow. However, I have found that they don't rumble/buzz on the road, but they roll, grip, and corner fantastic on dirt. I also appreciate this particular width (coming from a WTB Nano 40c). Some people have put 2.1 Nanos in this frame (black mtn cycles) but that requires cantilevers, and I've got Paul MiniMotos, which don't clear em. This size is perfect for my setup.
Thanks for reading. I'm just excited about both these tires and felt like sharing.
cheers braw.
1. WTB Horizon 650b X 47c (though they measure to be a true 44.34)
I removed the Soma Grand Randonneur Tires (which are basically Compass Babyshoe pass: extra light supple casing 42c randonneur tire made by Panaracer) because they have been picking up a lot of glass and flatting on my rides around the city here in SF. I figured these Horizons would provide the perfect balance of speed and flat protection, somewhere between something like a Schwalbe Marathon and the aforementioned Soma GR tires. I was on the money. I only rode these around the block a few times in my neighborhood, but the first thing I noticed was that they are not ultra supple like a compass, but still very fast rolling and strong-gripping. As such, I think they will be a perfect tire for SF. I will report back after having experimented with a few tire pressures.
Here are some pictures:
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h184/adamleibow/4802E04D-E682-49E2-A54F-E6B862DCE62F_zpsskieva4x.jpg
the clearance on the frame (Rivendell A Homer Hilsen) is maxed out, but the brake clearance looks nice. As stated before, this measures closer to 44c.
2. I Bought some Bruce Gordon Rock N Roads which, not like their moniker, have been pretty cool. I converted them to tubeless today with my Airshot. They were pretty painless to get the bead seated (on Velocity A23s), and ride better, I think, in tubeless mode. My other experiences with tubeless have been strictly 29+, with the stock Krampus wheelset as well as a Velocity dually rim to a Maxxis Chronicle TLR (tubeless ready) tire, so doing it on a smaller tire was interesting; time will tell how this setup holds up. I am really loving tubeless so far, despite being a peculiar (flat out weird) process of getting tires mounted.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h184/adamleibow/6D40BCE0-B9B1-4773-BB40-1461C00BACC2_zps5jmybjyz.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h184/adamleibow/018C3294-D017-4B91-A5D3-BE6C2A7CD90D_zpsewwzhjfs.jpg
I have heard mixed reviews about these tires. Some people think they roll pretty slow and I think everybody is getting very used to the speed and ride quality of compass tires (i see them everywhere in SF). My intuition tells me people were riding these RnRs at a dirt (low) pressure on the road, which gave them the impression they are slow. However, I have found that they don't rumble/buzz on the road, but they roll, grip, and corner fantastic on dirt. I also appreciate this particular width (coming from a WTB Nano 40c). Some people have put 2.1 Nanos in this frame (black mtn cycles) but that requires cantilevers, and I've got Paul MiniMotos, which don't clear em. This size is perfect for my setup.
Thanks for reading. I'm just excited about both these tires and felt like sharing.
cheers braw.