irwin7638

I love the 32's I have on my Hillborne. It's the ride of choice anyday and especially for a metric century. They provide a comfortable fast roll with reasonable flat protection for the price.

Marc

Leebo

Really like the paselas in 700x 35 for my mixed commutes of pave, dirt road and sometimes single track. Work well, no issues.

tarwheel 

Paselas are excellent all-arounders -- good but not great for just about any use. The tan sidewalls are a plus if you are wanting the retro look, but also available with black sidewalls. I've got 32 mm Pasela PTs that I use on my touring and cyclocross bikes, and they have provided very good wear and flat resistance. The rolling resistance and noise level are higher than my other road tires, but the tread is good for riding on trails, dirt roads and unpaved surfaces. The width on my tires are exactly as spec'd, and I haven't had any problems with the sidewalls. The sidewalls do get streaked with black after riding in the rain but are easy to clean with Simple Green. The folding versions are reasonably light weight, and the price is very competitive.

ThermionicScott 

Re: the discolored sidewalls. I've found that if the tires last long enough without damage, the streaks from rim wear and other schmutz even out and they'll turn a beige-ish color. Not as pretty as a virgin tanwall, but not that objectionable, either. I'll try to post a good picture of the remaining 4-year-old 26"x1.75" Pasela on my fixed-gear when I get a chance.

09box

I found a pair of Pasela TG's on CL for cheap:

2x Panaracer Pasela 700x32c touring/commuting tires

Do they look too far gone or worth picking up?

noglider 

They look OK but upon close inspection, you might find some damage. But at $15 for the pair, I would take the chance.

ThermionicScott 

+1. They're dirty, but don't look bad yet. You could use them for rear tires and keep fresh(er) ones on the front if you're worried at all.

cyccommute 

I would disagree. If you look closely at the 3rd picture, you can see "checking" of the lettering on the tire. This says to me that the tires are quite old and are degraded from exposure to ozone. They certainly aren't worth $15 for the pair when you can get new ones for around $20 each.

ThermionicScott 

Sure, I can see a little of that, but I've seen far worse. There's still a sheen to the sidewall fabric in the other two pictures. Maybe the OP could use these concerns to talk the seller down a little.

Do you have a source for the $20 Pasela PTs? I might start refreshing mine more often if I could find them that cheap...

cyccommute 

Niagra Cycles has Pasela for $18.99. Not the PT, however.

ThermionicScott 

That's about the price I've been paying for the regular versions -- the TG/PTs always seem to be $5-10 more each whenever I look.

chas58

+1
I went down HARD on a set of new tires once. Very slow speed tight turn, but they just lost it. They have been fine since then, but I learned the lesson the hard way!

chas58

So, how big are the 32s?

I had some 32 gatorskins that fit my bike great, but 32mm 4seasons don't fit at all. Which model, and what is the actual size?

tarwheel 

My bikes have 700c wheels with different rims. On Mavic Open Pro and DT Swiss 540 rims, the Pasela 32s measure almost exactly 32 mm wide. On Velocity Dyad rims, they measure closer to 34-35 mm wide.

canklecat

Yup, my then-new Michelin Protek Cross Max tires felt hard and slick on the surface at first. I only noticed some squirming on fast tight turns and rode carefully for the first few rides. After that they stuck like Velcro to just about any surface. When I rotated the tires last week after a year of use the original front still felt a bit harder and smoother on the surface but it'll wear in more evenly now that it's on the rear.

The new Innova tires (same chevron tread pattern as the Michelins) originally installed on my Univega had that same slick, hard surface feel. I rode them only a few times before switching tires around to find something I wanted for mostly pavement riding. Good tires for gravel and light trail riding, but I wanted something more citified.

I planned to order a set of Panaracer T-Servs, but the night I was about to order them there was a one-day half-off sale on Continental Speed Rides so I got those instead. Safe bet at $12 apiece (they're back up to $25 each as of now).

I installed the brand new Speed Rides on Wednesday and they immediately felt grippy, not at all slick. Might be the fine diamond file tread pattern. Conti describes it as "semi-slick", but that's nowhere near accurate.

The Conti Speed Ride seems like a good all around city/trekking tire for folks who are looking for something with a little more bite than the Panaracer Paselas and T-Serve tread. The diamond file tread pattern feels grippy but not squirmy and I don't hear any unusual road noise so it feels like less energy is wasted on squirmy tread like my other all-terrain tires. Even at the 50 psi recommended by Conti the Speed Rides feel sprightly despite the cushy ride.

However the Speed Rides are available only in 700x42, although the actual width is closer to 38.

ThermionicScott 

I've never had an issue with residual mold release, but a very light sanding with some sandpaper (akin to what you'd do when patching a tube) might be a good idea for new tires.