(Wheels and) tires are to bicycles what speakers are to hi-fi

Trying to improve performance by upgrading components can be something
of an ethereal pursuit - sometimes it's hard to tell the difference; a
lot of the time you can't help but "feel" a difference just because
you expect it; and sometimes you can actually spend (a lot) of time
and money and wind up backwards because multiple "upgrades" don't jive
as a total configuration.

But I am here to testify that - just as they say in hi-fi to spend
your money on the best loudspeakers (and phono pickup) that you can
afford, tires are where the rubber hits the road on bicycles. After
riding for almost 4 months on the stock tires (Continental Contact
700x37) that came with my LHT complete bike, I finally managed to get
a pair of Vittoria Randonneur Pro 700x32's. At first the ride
differences were not so immediately pronounced as I had expected
(considering the new tires look to be about half the size of the old
ones), but the Vittorias straight up give a familiar ride about like I
remember the 700x28 Randonneurs (60 tpi, non-Pro) that I used to ride
on. But after leaning into a few turns, I am in 7th Heaven on these
babies :-)

These are my first ever non-wire bead tires. They mounted pretty
easily. Because these are spendy tires and I don't want to wreck
them, I stopped pumping at the sidewall recommended max 75 psi - even
though I used to pump my 700x28 Randonneurs *well* past the
recommended 80 psi (I think it was), and kept the 700x37 Contacts 5-10
psi above the recommended max 85.

I'm sure the Contacts. BTW, are fine tires (costing almost as much as
the Vittorias) - they rode decently enough as big hoses go, never slid
out from under me, didn't flat too terribly much (never flatted the
front), and don't show a lot of wear after at least a few thousand
miles (the front looks practically unused).