On Mon, 2009-05-11 at 13:49 -0700, Damian wrote: > Lovely, how do you like the Hetres? How tough are they?
They are marvelous. They're very fast, they're very cushy, they have a lot of grip and they give me a marvelous sense of confidence on gravel roads. I can't say enough good things about them. I've got just under 200 miles on them now: a 55 mile road ride where I averaged at least 1 mph faster than I've ever done on this bike in over 10,000 miles, and two paved/unpaved rides of roughly 40 miles each. The dirt roads were all fairly well maintained hardpack with some washboard, some loose gravel and some potholes, but no large stones and nothing that looked like rip-rap. The tires show no wear, but of course at 200 miles you wouldn't expect to see any. Some say be careful on dirt, because Hetres have sidewalls that are fragile: thin and unarmored. I believe that's true, and I can see that in some conditions they would be quite vulnerable. Fortunately, that doesn't describe any of the dirt roads I ride on. The ride on rough roads is incredible. You go out of your way to ride over rough stuff just to laugh about it. You don't slow down when the pavement changes from blacktop to gravel. This is what 650B is all about. Fine as the 32mm tires are, and nice as it is to have small wheels to fit small people on little frames and still have room for a plump tire, that's not what makes this size great, it's tires like the Hetre. If there's anything even remotely like this tire in the 700C world I am unaware of it: big fat monsters that roll like a Michelin racing tire and ride like a 5 series BMW and can support a 200 pounder on 45 psi. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
