chaadster

Yeah, I've rolled off a few rides on the S-Ones, and think they're really nice tires. I didn't have the chance to race them as hoped for the Waterloo Grit & Gravel due to an arthritis flare-up, but I have done both pavement and gravel rides.

Specifically, they perform well on both surfaces for fast rides; the tires did a great job of rolling over the copious irregularities of Michigan spring roads in decay, allowing me to stay comfy and relaxed, focus on pedaling, and carry speed through rough areas. On the dustless hardpack of this part of the season, grip feels assured and the volume gave surefootedness when transitioning over loose rocks.

I've struggled a bit with pressure, because I've never had tires so big, and the low pressures used just sound absurd! I did a 63 mile pavement ride with a couple of buddies last, and the 75/80psi f/r was probably about right for my 220lbs mass, allowing an easy 18.5mph average endurance ride. Probably the front would be a little too soft for aggressive rides with hard, out of the saddle efforts, so maybe I'd move closer to parity for that kind of ride. On gravel, 70/75 seemed a bit high, delivering a little bump-kick off the rear which suggested maybe I could lower it a bit, but man, the thought of planting my big butt on 70psi is just too much for me to wrap my mind around at this point! This is also a new bike, and I'm a bit surprised to find even f/r pressure may be recommended; just not used to that, and usually see a rear high pressure bias.

I still have not changed the battery on my calipers, but the S-Ones look like 32c on the Victory30s.

With regards to the wheels, I'm not sure I love them. I've had some sensations of instability in the rear while riding, which may have been the bike, wind, tire, or the wheel, I'm just not sure. In any case, they don't have the crispness and snap of the as-deep but wider Argents I own, and I can't help but wonder if the narrow flange spacing and uniform flange height of the Victory rear hub is the issue. As I get more rides on them, I'll get a better sense of what's what.

Same goes for the S-Ones; more rides under a variety of conditions will be more revealing, but so far, I'm happy with them. They've hit what I wanted them to do right away. I'm not expecting them to perform great on the hard/fast road rides, but I'll take them out for that at some point and see what they do; I'm totally open to being surprised and delighted!