brad

Ah, the Speedster. My steed of choice since Aug of last year. I hope you get as much enjoyment out of yours as we do ours. I had the same question you posted, on this very forum when we first got ours. Mark L. gave me some good hints as well as many others but, I ended up going a little diff route.

First off does your Speedster have the Velocity Dyad rims (mine came stock with them)? If so, they are a bit wide of profile to mount a 23c tire. Velocity makes a very nice product but, the Dyad was made with 28c tires in mind. They tend to swallow a 23c. If you have Dyads and want to stick with them you'll be needing to stick with 28c's or some 25c's.

After trying several tires in a 25c & 28c and still not finding what I wanted. I had Mark at Velocity build a new set of wheels for me. He used 36h Fusion rims on HuGi hubs w/ DT swiss spokes. The fusion is a combination of the Velocity Aero rim and their Deep V rim. They are an awesome looking set of wheels. Might not be the lightest wheel on the road but, for a tandem wheelset they are pretty lightweight. They are very strong and I trust them to do what they are made to do.

I then tried a series of tires by Hutchinson, IRC and the Gators you are using. What I ended up with, what felt best to me for ride quality and handling quality are the Hutchinson Gold Elite 700x23c over inflated to 130psi (they recomend 125psi). They have their "4x extrusion" that adds flat protection and adds to the longevity of the tire. We've got 591 miles on the current set as of last weekend.

After a club ride and cleaning the bike Sunday I scrubbed the tires and gave them the once over to check for wear. Well, they dont even look like they've been on pavement after dang near 600 miles. They've done 4 tours on pretty new chip-n-seal roads too. One tour was 20 miles of chip-n-seal that was less than a week old, very sharp. The same road completly distroyed a set of 25c IRC Tri's.

Our team tips the scales at 390 including bike and gear. The tires are preforming as well as they do on our single. We here in Texas are not really known for our nice roads so, hear me when I say you have to stay clear of pot holes but, I dont think a 25c or 28c would survive a direct hit. You being the captain have to steer the boat on a good line.

Bottom line is you need to hear what a bunch of diff. folks tell you, then draw your own conclusion. Welcome to the Co-Motion family! It was pretty cool on the ride we did last weekend as almost 50% of teams were on Co-Mo's.

See ya,
Brad