> I will preface this post by saying that I tend to not have the most > nuanced tastes with anything, i.e. wine, food, cars. But I have 3 > Rivendells. Homer, Hunqa and Roadeo. I by far put the most miles on my > Homer, which I've had for 3 years now. I've mostly run Riv tires, although > I had Schwalbe Marathon Racer 28s when I got it. They were the first tires > wider than 23s I had used. Contrary to everything I've read, I rarely had > flats on my old, too small, stiff, go-fast Cannondale, and before that a > go-fast Raleigh, but once I went to the wider Schwalbes on the Homer, I had > flat after flat. I was careful about mounting and air pressure, and I was > putting in lots of miles training for a cross country, Southern Tier ride. > It was really frustrating. I'll bet that season I had close to 20 flats. I > switched to Roly Polys later that year and had fewer flats, but still much > more than the old 23s pumped to 110psi. I've mostly ridden Jack Browns > since. With all these tires I have never felt that I was faster or smoother > than any other tire. The biggest difference in comfort to me has been > higher volume, lower pressure, which has had me leaning more toward Grant's > tire philosophy. Las spring I bought a set of Gran Bois Extra Legers, the > light, supple tire, after reading Jan's blog. Again, I didn't feel like I > was riding any faster, and the Jan's recommendation is to go with a bit > higher pressure due to the suppleness of the sidewalls, and thus the ride > was not as cushy as the Jack Brown's. I have to add that I had put on a lot > of weight, nearly 40 lbs, to around 240, so I can't imagine feeling fast on > any tire. But I had flat issues and after not all that many miles the tan > sidewalls began to show threads. I came to the conclusion that Jan was not > wrong, but that I was too heavy for such a supple tire. Now this year I've > lost weight and to encourage me have set a goal to ride brevets again. I > continue to read Jan's blog and want to try his new line of Compass tires. > I've ordered the Stampede Pass 32s to replace my current Jack Browns. I > didn't get the extra light version this time. If Jan is right, and I tend > to think he is, then the decrease in rolling resistence over the course of > a 200, 300 or 400km brevet should result in less riding time, or less > energy expended, or both. If it results in more flats, though, I have to > wonder if there is really a net gain. The tires should be here next week > and I'm looking forward to using them on training rides leading up to the > May 7th, 200km brevet. >
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