while we’re talking tires…good compromise between gravel and slick?

[hozn]

I am sure you would feel a significant difference riding more supple tires, tubeless, maybe bigger casing (if frame supports), etc. Whether that made a measurable and significant difference on your commute times, etc. is probably more doubtful.

I will say that the Specialized Roubaix Pro 2BR that Raymo853 recommended originally above really are a great value: nice size (32mm), roll relatively fast, tubeless, seem durable, and are only $40 per tire. If I regularly rode the C&O or Loudon gravel, I would just leave those on as my daily tires.

OTOH, if you can find a good deal on some Schwalbe One 28mm tubeless tires, those are exceptional commuter tires. The S-One might be good too, but I would probably just save $ and buy the Specialized Roubaix Pro 2BR.

[sethpo]

This one looks very tempting…

May 21-22. Somewhere in WV.

https://www.bikereg.com/mountain-state-dirty-double-roubaix

Each stage of the MSDD is 36″ish” miles in length, with around 4000ft of climbing. Road conditions for each stage consist of paved, tar & chip, gravel and dirt roads.

Anyone want to share a ride and camp site? I can drive the family minivan which now serves as bike transport vehicle since it’s paid off, beat to hell, and still runs good (enough).

[KayakCyndi]

@sethpo 138850 wrote:

This one looks very tempting…

May 21-22. Somewhere in WV.

https://www.bikereg.com/mountain-state-dirty-double-roubaix

Anyone want to share a ride and camp site? I can drive the family minivan which now serves as bike transport vehicle since it’s paid off, beat to hell, and still runs good (enough).

I’m registered for both days in the duo class with TinaP. We’re camping too. Come along! Looks like silly fun. Not sure about carpooling yet but let’s stay in touch.

[Raymo853]

This morning a piece of glass punctured my Roubaix tubeless. Sealant sprayed out but it is not sealing well.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Tania]

I’m currently trying out the Teravail Lickskillets (tubeless set up) which are considered to be an “all road” tire.

They started out pretty tacky but after about a 100 miles the center part is much less so although they still grip nicely in corners. Guessing if you hate gatorskins, you’d hate these too but I like that feeling of security and didn’t have any issues (first ride on them was 84 miles). But then I usually ride a treaded tire.

I’ve ridden them mostly on paved roads although I did take them in the bigger gravel there on the WOD between the Little Falls and Great Falls (no issues even at a higher pressure) and the fine dust that’s on the south side of the WOD between Vienna and Tamarack Park (not great, I felt my back tire slipping when I pedaled).

The 32’s on my DT Swiss R24 rims look almost as big as the clement mso 40’s. Not sure they’ll fit under the front fender on my other bike with the Aileron rims.

[Raymo853]

You wrote “Guessing if you hate gatorskins, you’d hate these too” about the Lickskillet

What characteristics about the Gators are you referring to?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[hozn]

@Raymo853 140230 wrote:

This morning a piece of glass punctured my Roubaix tubeless. Sealant sprayed out but it is not sealing well.

That is a pretty big cut! Not surprised sealant failed there.

I have used this style plug patch quite successfully for after-the-fact repairs:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]11823[/ATTACH]
Install from inside (and trim the neck) down near flush with the tire. The proper installation of these patches involves using glue etc. but since I have sealant in, I just wanted something that would provide some structure for the sealant to adhere. This has worked great for me, anyway, on MTB tire and on my 23mm Pro One when I cut it in the gravel last race.

[Tania]

@Raymo853 140268 wrote:

You wrote “Guessing if you hate gatorskins, you’d hate these too” about the Lickskillet

What characteristics about the Gators are you referring to?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Seems a lot of people hate how heavy and slow rolling the gatorskins are (lots of posts about them in this thread). I’ve never noticed it myself.

[hozn]

I think it’s less the weight and more that they just feel “dead”. I know I’m a big hater (I guess there are a few others). Of course, I didn’t know what I was missing until I switched to GP4000S tires and thought “wow, these feel velvety”. Probably that feeling is most pronounced on smooth asphalt. But the grip seemed to be lacking from the Gatorskins too. That might be in my head, but I did fall a few times on Gatorskins on wet roads and have had fewer incidents on other tires. (Of course, this is probably more due to increased experience and risk aversion.)

[huskerdont]

While we’re talking tires…

I did not purchase Gatorskins because of comments here. Bought Vredestein TriComps instead. Love them. On my three bikes with 23s, I have the Vredesteins, some cheap ($15) Kenda Kadence K1081s, and Michelin Pro4s. The Pro4s are actually my least favorite. The Vredesteins stick when I want them to and slide when I want them to (on a fixie) and have a good firm ride without excess rolling resistance (such that someone like me would notice). They feel fast and solid and handle well in the wet and just give confidence in the city. The Kendas are cheap but not that heavy and also have decent rolling resistance while I feel like they are bombproof (will get a flat tonight now I’m sure). They do have the a stupid line from the mold though, which always bothers me. The Pro4s are pretty fast but with a max psi of 115 I sometimes feel they’re a bit squishy when I have my pack loaded up. That bike really shouldn’t be used as a commuter though so it’s me own fault; without the pack they handle much better.

[Tania]

@Tania 140236 wrote:

I’m currently trying out the Teravail Lickskillets (tubeless set up) which are considered to be an “all road” tire.

They started out pretty tacky but after about a 100 miles the center part is much less so although they still grip nicely in corners. Guessing if you hate gatorskins, you’d hate these too but I like that feeling of security and didn’t have any issues (first ride on them was 84 miles). But then I usually ride a treaded tire.

I’ve ridden them mostly on paved roads although I did take them in the bigger gravel there on the WOD between the Little Falls and Great Falls (no issues even at a higher pressure) and the fine dust that’s on the south side of the WOD between Vienna and Tamarack Park (not great, I felt my back tire slipping when I pedaled).

The 32’s on my DT Swiss R24 rims look almost as big as the clement mso 40’s. Not sure they’ll fit under the front fender on my other bike with the Aileron rims.

Took the Lickskillets out on proper loudoun county gravel this past weekend and they did great. I was too lazy to put my Clement MSO 40’s back on for the ride but I’d ridden the terevails on some short (and unexpected) stretches of smallish pea-sized gravel on the metric century the day before so I had a feeling they’d be okay/okay-enough. I’m digging these tires!

[hozn]

To follow up on this thread, I just removed my rear Schwalbe One 28mm (tubeless) tire this weekend, since casing threads were starting to show through and it had developed another leak (which had sealed up, but figured probably pushing my luck to expect sealant to keep saving me once casing is showing through).

So that was 3500 miles on the rear tire, which in my experience is probably as good as – or better than – anything else I have used. Several punctures, but no flats. Tubeless FTW. I will say that switching to a Pro One tire is a difference I can feel. It might be a little bit in my head, but I’d wager that I could pass a blind test on this one. The Pro One tires feel as nice as GP4000S tires, but also tubeless.

Normally this time of year, I’d be thinking of switching to thicker/heavier tires like the Duranos, but after riding last winter on tubeless (and studded tires, when needed) and not having any flats I’m going to keep running these. (I may also swap on some 30mm S-One tires just to get some experience with those if I can find some at a $40-45 price point.)

In other news, I’ve been using 35mm Schwalbe G-One tires a lot more too this summer. They are really nice tires. The on-road ride is pretty great. Not as fast as road tires, but a great tire if you want to ride off-road too. I would say they’re similar to the 38mm Specialized Trigger tires, including similar in size (the Triggers run a little small). I think the G-One are a more supple ride, but the Triggers feel similarly fast riding on pavement and both do surprisingly well on singletrack. I’d probably stick with the G-One since they’re cheaper [on gray market from UK] but the Specialized is a good tire and I’ll switch back to finish wearing mine out when the G-One tires are done.

On the whole, I’d say that Schwalbe makes some top-shelf road and gravel tires. (And their MTB tires seem pretty nice too, though I have a lot less experience there.)

[huskerdont]

This weekend I put the old 25s back on my fixie for the winter (removing the 23s ) so I’d have more traction in wet leaves. Then I put the Tufo Calibras on my nice bike, replacing the Pro4s that had about 3k and several cuts in them. The Pro4s were always difficult to put on on the Ultegra wheels, but these Tufos were even harder (living up to their name–they’re Tufo to put on?). I actually had to use a tire tool to do the last part, which I don’t like to do, and I broke one that had a steel core. And I did manage to pinch one of the tubes, natch.

The Tufos have a max psi of 145, whereas the Pro4s mad a max of 115, which I never felt was quite enough if I was carrying the weight of my pack. I put 120 in the Tufos and they felt a little soft. Raised the rear one up to 130 and the ride was good this morning, although I’m not sure if I’m imagining them feeling a bit soft on the bumps. Really not sure what to make of 145 and if it would ever be needed, but I’ll experiment.

[hozn]

Wow, that is a lot of pressure! I have run increasingly lower pressures, trying o shake myself of assumption that road tires start at 100psi. Or at least trying to see how low I can go before I start noticing problems. Tubeless helps here; maybe carbon rims do too (on the road bike). I have started running 85/90psi for my 23mm tires. Typically that is without backpack. I am running the 28mm tires now at 60/65psi. And 25s I guess I will run at 75/80 or 80/85 (we’ll see what works better; haven’t been on 25s for awhile).

I think by some/many tests my pressures are too low for optimal rolling resistance, though I will admit to being intrigued by Jan Heine’s comment that our perceived speed is often wrong because we associate vibrations per second as speed; however, when the rider is experiencing the road vibrations that is an inefficient dissipation of energy (i.e. so softer tires feel slower, despite being faster).

[huskerdont]

@hozn 146469 wrote:

Wow, that is a lot of pressure! I have run increasingly lower pressures, trying o shake myself of assumption that road tires start at 100psi. Or at least trying to see how low I can go before I start noticing problems. Tubeless helps here; maybe carbon rims do too (on the road bike). I have started running 85/90psi for my 23mm tires. Typically that is without backpack. I am running the 28mm tires now at 60/65psi. And 25s I guess I will run at 75/80 or 80/85 (we’ll see what works better; haven’t been on 25s for awhile).

I think by some/many tests my pressures are too low for optimal rolling resistance, though I will admit to being intrigued by Jan Heine’s comment that our perceived speed is often wrong because we associate vibrations per second as speed; however, when the rider is experiencing the road vibrations that is an inefficient dissipation of energy (i.e. so softer tires feel slower, despite being faster).

I would not be surprised if I ended up going with 120 to 125 in the rear and 110 or so in the front after playing around with it a bit. I think some of the softness I’m feeling is just a different compound and shape, with the addition of my overactive imagination due to paying close attention. When I look down at the rear tire, it is not spreading out sideways like happens when pressure is too low.

90 psi for my weight on 23s has always seemed too low for me. I am always thinking I’m getting a flat and can see the rear tire spreading. I weigh about 160, and if carrying the pack, it adds maybe 15 to 20 pounds (unless on the way home from the grocery store, which is almost always too much weight for the 23s to perform well). Probably depends on the tire, and, as you say, tubes vs. tubeless.

I might try lowering the pressure on the 25s on the fixie a bit, to something approaching what you’ve tried. It’s a steel bike and a harsh ride at 110-120. I’ll probably start with 90 and see how that feels.

[Author]

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