velotel
08-25-2016, 02:41 AM
Been about a month now since the stoner bike landed and thought I’d pass along my experiences with the brakes and tires. Initial reaction to the brakes were that they’re super powerful but lacking smooth, subtle moderation and thus a bit tricky on loose surfaces. They’re still super powerful but either they’ve settled in or I’ve settled into them because their modulation is verging on excellent. The biggest test for them was the descent off Col du Fréjus, double-digit grades with a gravelly surface. Never locked a wheel for even a fraction of time and my fingers never got tired at all. Just easy, smooth braking action all the way down. I’ve no doubt that the same descent with my Record brakes would have been vastly more finger exhausting.
The tires have turned out to be sweet. The hard part was finding the good pressure. Most of the time I now have them around 55 psi, maybe a little less in front. I’m vague on the numbers, lack of a good pressure gauge. I have no idea if the one on my Lezyne floor pump is accurate or not but at any rate it’s semi-worthless because no pressure is registered until air is pumped. (As an aside, I truly do hate that stupid ass screw-on head! No idea why I bought it now.) Anyway pumping the tires up I put in a little less than 60 in back and around 55 in front then just do thumb press checks over the following days.
At first I thought the tires were slow but then realized that the slowness was me; I was worn out from working too hard on the house and attempting to ride regularly. Maybe at my age I should back off a touch or two. Anyway since I’ve found the tires to be plenty fast but that is purely by feel. I have nothing that measures my speed. I like the minimal knobs on the shoulders as they don’t interfere with fast cornering on pavement. I did one dirt road ride that’s pretty rocky and had softened the tires and the handling was excellent. Might have been as low as 35 psi! I should probably add that I only weigh about 143 lbs despite being just under 6 ft.
I’d probably get another pair of Almanzo tires if they had a fatter version. There is a fatter tire, the Gravel Grinder, but the shoulder knobs are too pronounced for my taste. My dirt loops are almost always at least 80% paved, no need for the knobs. I’m definitely ready to roll on some fatter tires to see what that serves up so will be returning from the states with Barlow Pass tires. See what those do.
For the bike itself, all I can say is that Kent nailed it for me. The position is perfect, exactly what I wanted. I like riding in the drops and that’s where my hands just love to fall on this bike. In a hard, technical climb on dirt, in the drops is where I want to be and the bike is exactly that, perfect position for precise weight shifting for traction and steerage. I’d say that Kent’s experience as an excellent mountain biker and road biker is brilliantly displayed, at least for me, in this bike. His insistence that I want brakes that will handle up to 40mm tires was right on. The performance of the oversized head tube and Enve tapered fork that he also insisted I want is outstanding, the best front end handling I’ve ever felt.
Thus my thinking about these fat-tired road bikes has definitely evolved. I used to think who needs tires fatter than 28mm, no need for that huge tapered fork and oversized head tube, and that calliper brakes are more than enough braking. Et voilà, I love the fat tires and am ready to go fatter, the bike’s front end performance is exceptional, and the brakes are excellent in every respect. On the other hand I still don’t want disc brakes. Nor electric shifting. And yea, doing a fat-tired road bike with Campy isn’t so easy but again, I like Campy and have zero regrets on that score.
The tires have turned out to be sweet. The hard part was finding the good pressure. Most of the time I now have them around 55 psi, maybe a little less in front. I’m vague on the numbers, lack of a good pressure gauge. I have no idea if the one on my Lezyne floor pump is accurate or not but at any rate it’s semi-worthless because no pressure is registered until air is pumped. (As an aside, I truly do hate that stupid ass screw-on head! No idea why I bought it now.) Anyway pumping the tires up I put in a little less than 60 in back and around 55 in front then just do thumb press checks over the following days.
At first I thought the tires were slow but then realized that the slowness was me; I was worn out from working too hard on the house and attempting to ride regularly. Maybe at my age I should back off a touch or two. Anyway since I’ve found the tires to be plenty fast but that is purely by feel. I have nothing that measures my speed. I like the minimal knobs on the shoulders as they don’t interfere with fast cornering on pavement. I did one dirt road ride that’s pretty rocky and had softened the tires and the handling was excellent. Might have been as low as 35 psi! I should probably add that I only weigh about 143 lbs despite being just under 6 ft.
I’d probably get another pair of Almanzo tires if they had a fatter version. There is a fatter tire, the Gravel Grinder, but the shoulder knobs are too pronounced for my taste. My dirt loops are almost always at least 80% paved, no need for the knobs. I’m definitely ready to roll on some fatter tires to see what that serves up so will be returning from the states with Barlow Pass tires. See what those do.
For the bike itself, all I can say is that Kent nailed it for me. The position is perfect, exactly what I wanted. I like riding in the drops and that’s where my hands just love to fall on this bike. In a hard, technical climb on dirt, in the drops is where I want to be and the bike is exactly that, perfect position for precise weight shifting for traction and steerage. I’d say that Kent’s experience as an excellent mountain biker and road biker is brilliantly displayed, at least for me, in this bike. His insistence that I want brakes that will handle up to 40mm tires was right on. The performance of the oversized head tube and Enve tapered fork that he also insisted I want is outstanding, the best front end handling I’ve ever felt.
Thus my thinking about these fat-tired road bikes has definitely evolved. I used to think who needs tires fatter than 28mm, no need for that huge tapered fork and oversized head tube, and that calliper brakes are more than enough braking. Et voilà, I love the fat tires and am ready to go fatter, the bike’s front end performance is exceptional, and the brakes are excellent in every respect. On the other hand I still don’t want disc brakes. Nor electric shifting. And yea, doing a fat-tired road bike with Campy isn’t so easy but again, I like Campy and have zero regrets on that score.