On 2017-12-14 07:14, jbeattie wrote:
On Wednesday, December 13, 2017 at 8:24:56 PM UTC-8, Tim McNamara
wrote:
On Mon, 11 Dec 2017 11:54:52 -0500, (PeteCresswell)
wrote:
snip
For me, the relevant Compass slick widths are 35, 38, and 44 with
two case options: Regular and Lightweight. I'm thinking that
anything below 35 would defeat my purpose, which is a tire that:
snip
I have a pair of Compass 26 x 1.8s that I bought for my birthday,
which was the only way I could justify such extravagant tire
prices. I'm sorry but nearly $90 for a g*****n bike tire is just
too damn much money. Compass is by no means the most expensive
tire on the market, indeed they seem to be in the middle of the
spectrum these days. My baseline comparison on that bike is
Panaracer Pasela 27 x 1.75, which were about $25 each.
I will also say up front that I am delberately skeptical about
Jan's various tests and claims. My tastes in bikes are somewhat
similar to his- with the primary exception of not liking very low
trail bikes- and I am suspicious of confirmation bias on my part as
a result.
Conclusions:
1. If you run at Jan Heine's recommended pressures and weigh 230
lbs ike me, handling will be unstable. The tire starts to collapse
as you lean it into corners. I run 50 psi in the front and about
55 ps in the back and that solved that problem. The threshold of
this phenomenon is pretty sharp.
2. Jan makes various claims about the tires. The ones that I can
say are true my experience are (a) the tires are very, very quiet
on the road; (b) rolling resistance seems a bit lower but I find
this only noticeable at low speeds and while climbing, where it
really does seem noticeable. At least the feel of the tires is
different. The quietness is my favorite feature, actually- the
Pasela tread gives a little buzzing noise. They are a pleasant
tire to ride and I would say I enjoy the bike a more than I did
with the Paselas.
3. The claims I can't confirm are (a) that the tires are faster
than my Paselas- my average speeds over my usual routes are within
.1-.2 mph of each other. Nothing else on the bike is different
other than the tires- even the same inner tubes were used; (b)
tread longevity as I only have about 400-500 miles on them so far.
4. The tires (I bought the extralights) are noticeably lighter
than the Panaracers. I don't have a suitable scale to weigh them.
This is not apples to apples as the Compass tires have folding
beads and the Paselas do not. But the tread is obviously thinner
and the casing feels thinner. There are testamonials of getting
5000 or more miles on a set of these tires- if that works out for
me, probably about 5 years of riding on that bike, I will withdraw
my complaint about price and buy another set.
5. The tire casings seem more consistent than the Paselas- the
Compass tires don't have a wobble or distortion at the joint
whereas every Pasela I have ever used does. They fit well to the
rims; mounting on Sun CR18s was about par for the course with
folding beads. I have old school fabric rim strips on those rims
and that makes mounting just a smidge more difficult. I have not
had any flats and have not tried to remove them yet.
I found the Paselas were prone to sidewall damage. I also had a
problems mounting Gatorskins on a CR18s because of the shallow rim
well, so choosing a tire that fits that rim is important.
I'm still amazed at the $90 on price tag. What about all the
Schwalbe tires?
My complaints about tires typically involve tires that are sluggish.
I've rarely felt like a well made 25/28mm tire was beating me to
death on the road, although I've had some larger hard-case tires that
rode like wagon wheels.
Do you know any 25mm that ride like wagon wheels? If that makes them
more sturdy and maybe longer lasting I want wagon wheels.
... Tire dimensions are no guaranty of comfort.
I've got some 35mm studs that ride like tank tracks. I'm riding 32mm
tires on my commuter for better footing in the rain, which has gone
away for the last few weeks (bad news for snow at the resorts).
They're fine, but nothing special in terms of comfort. They really
feel no different than my 28mm Gatorskins except they're heavier and
a little more sluggish.
The knobby tires on my MTB (currently trying Geax Saguaro) ride like a
tank. On the road and MUP they are so loud that people hear me coming.
They sound like an approaching light rail train.
--
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com/