I'm not sure that it's specifically a racer thing, but more an experience level thing. Most of us are noobs compared to wheeled warriors like the Oregon Outback riders.
Grant espouses "underbiking" where you try your bike on challenging surfaces that it may not have been designed for. However, it took Jan's specific experience to convince me to try true gravel (not just crushed lime bike trails). Jan's writeups of his exploits on gravel and B roads in the mountains lent me the confidence to ride gravel on my Rivendell Road, shod with 650 x 38b Lierre tires. Result: big, gritty grins. The bike rides great, floating over most of the Iowa gravel (.5 to 1 inch crushed limestone, mostly). Now, I prefer my KOM with its 2.1" micro-knobby tires on gravel, because I can ride it just as fast but with even more control and float, especially where the gravel is soft, irregular, or loose. (Hence why I bugged Jan in another thread for some >2" compass tires!) The wider tires are definitely more confidence inspiring. Of course, Jan and Ira's experiences are backed by years and thousands of miles of serious riding (racing or otherwise). Most of us don't have that background, and correspondingly aren't as experienced with handling a bike over challenging terrain. In summary, tire selection is a tricky subject because of all the variables involved: terrain, speed, durability, and don't forget rider experience. Jan and Ira can rock the 38's over mountain passes, and while I can ride 38's on gravel, >2" tires are still more comfortable for me. I'm going to ride ~200 miles tomorrow and Sunday as part of TOMRV. Gravel-free, and my Riv on Lierres will shine. Tim Gavin Cedar Rapids, IA On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 2:46 PM, Anne Paulson <anne.paul...@gmail.com> wrote: > While I don't doubt your and Ira's experience, I'm not sure how well it > applies to non-racers. Maybe I *should* be comfortable riding 42 mm tires > in deep sand and deep gravel, and down steep dirt descents. But I'm not. No > sense choosing equipment I ought be able to use, if I can't use it. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
