My daily commute includes ten miles of dirt roads, with three significant downhills. I have found that the Pasella 32s do better than Ruffy Tuffys on dirt. My wife uses the 35s. In winter and spring I use a 37 mm Avocet Cross Tire which works great.
Downhill on dirt requires a different technique than on pavement. On pavement I get a good grip on the center of the bars, one knee against the top tube and tuck my head down to build speed and minimize the possibility of front end shimmy. But that doesn't work on dirt. Instead, set your feet at 3 & 9:00 o'clock, lift your touche of the seat but keep your knees flexible. Don't hold onto the bars, but instead keep them lightly hooked over the outside of the brake levers. Relax. If done right, very little of the bounce will get transferred to your body. Michael On Jun 27, 8:16 am, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > I've done a fair bit of Minnesota/Wisconsin bluff-country gravel on my > Marathon Supremes (26x2.0). They offer plenty of traction, and I > always felt confident even on fast descents. A friend did the great > divide on Marathon XR 700x50, and thought they were ok, but on the > heavy side. > > On Jun 25, 4:47 pm, GeorgeS <chobur...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > I don't regularly ride on dirt or gravel except when I come to Vermont > > in the summer. Now I'm riding on gravel all the time and I find > > descents in particular very unpleasant. Lots of bouncing around and > > skittishness. One of my bikes has 700c Grand Bois tires and the other > > has Ruffy Tuffy's. I have plenty of clearance on both bikes. Are > > there tires that will make me feel more comfortable that won't break > > the bank? Jack Browns? Fatty somethings? > > GeorgeS --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
