This just in! I took the Furiously Fred-shod Fargo (say that six times quickly) to church and back today via pavement, firm gravel, and sandy dirt and I must say that I am very, very impressed favorably with the Furious Freds. Perhaps it was simply new-bike-stuff adrenaline, but I was bombing along on pavement, tires at ~ 30 psi, one gear higher than usual -- 68" versus 64" for the Exiwolfs and even the Big Apples -- of course, the FFs measure 28 1/2" instead of the BAs ~29 1/4", but still, the greater ease of pedaling was obvious -- again, perhaps just adrenaline. And I do have new, 172.5 mm cranks.
Still, I was cruising happily along in the 68" gear on the firm gravel alongside the paved bosque trail, much to the wonder and admiration of all beholders. (Maybe.) On the way home, I deliberately took some flat but winding and very sandy -- lengthy stretches of 2-to-3" silt -- and while the FFs at 30 psi don't float over it like the 61 mm BAs at 12-15, I was still able to maintain momentum in the 60" gear. In fact, all round, I seem to be consistently 1 tooth higher in back and I am debating whether to change the gearing from 38/24 13-15-16-17-18-20-23-36-32 to 13-14-15-16-17-18-20-23-28 so as to put the new cruising cogs closer to the center of the cassette. I am not sure, though, that off-centering the chain by a cm or so, especially with 45 cm chainstays, is a cause for concern. The 30 lb psi figure is more or less arbitrary -- I pumped until the tires "felt right" to my thumb. I may drop pressure to ~25 in front. But while FFs at 30 ride harsher over bumps than BAs at 15, they are noticeably smoother over bumps than the BAs or Exiwolfs at 25-30. This is a very, very supple tire. And the loss of about 500 grams per tire on the circumference really does make the bike feel much more lively. Removing the f and r racks and the dyno lighting system, and swapping BAs for FFs takes off some 7 to 8 lb, of which 2 on the tires and the Fargo simply feels much more lively. I'm so tickled by these tires that I just may go ghetto tubeless for slightly more weight saved (24" tubes versus 28") and even more suppleness. On Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 2:10 PM, Tony DeFilippo <[email protected]> wrote: > Cool, I'm putting in my order soon. Was pretty set on Nomad Resist tires > but now I'm considering the fast freds... the light weight, thin walled > doesn't scare me based on my Hetre EL experience on my 650b wheelset, but > the price difference is pretty hi. Decisions, decisions! > > -- > 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 [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- *RESUMES THAT GET YOU NOTICED!* Certified Resume Writer http://resumespecialties.com/index.html [email protected] http://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ Albuquerque, NM -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
