Six jours

Well, maybe not.



But when a company claims to make a 42mm tire with the same casing as their top-of-the-line racing tubulars, well, you have to try it. I honestly can't tell if they're any faster than the "standard" Hetres. They might be, but really, any advantage is lost in the noise of daily fluctuations in form, winds, phases of the moon, etc. They certainly are more comfortable than the standard version, which surprised me. The standard ones are already like marshmallows, but the Extra Legers do actually smooth out the ride even further. Are they worth the extra $20? Well, for me, yeah, I guess so. One more evolution and we'll be in $100/tire territory...

Homeyba

I love the white walls, that's pretty slick.

Barrettscv 

Nice looking. I've got 700x50 Schwalbe Marathon Supremes on one bike and 700x40 Vittoria Hypers on another. I'm not sure I'd want to do anything more than a century with them, however. I imagine the extra-lite Grand Bois are super smooth. I'd like to try them in the 700x30 size.

Six jours

I enjoy the white walls too. They even got me to looking for true whitewalls for my touring bike. The ones I've found so far promise to be dog-slow...

I still am surprised at how well wide tires can roll. People look at the bike and assume that it must be for cruising only, but it keeps up with the club riders about as well as my 700x26 bikes. I do not think I'd care to try a field sprint with them, though - spinning up all that weight probably takes forever!

unterhausen

I was surprised when I put some 2" wide tires on my commuter and it actually didn't feel that much slower than my road bike. I usually just go with wide tires if I'm riding on gravel.

Road Fan

Nice looking!

unterhausen

what rims are those in the OP?

Six jours

Thanks Road Fan. I really like them. They're screwing up my riding though: I'm avoiding all my favorite fire roads because I don't want to get them dirty.

Unterhausen, those are V/O rims. The rear one actually needs to be replaced (the truly horrific V/O "Squeal free" brake pads dished out the braking surface in less than a thousand miles) but can't decide whether to use another V/O rim (works great, looks fine, reasonably cheap, really heavy) or the Pacenti rims (look fine, pretty expensive, maybe too light).

Commodus

try the grand bois

noteon 

Purty!

howsteepisit

Well they are bigger for sure.

max-a-mill

speaking of these larger volume lower psi tires and all that and coming from the mtb background i can't help but wonder are any randos out there experimenting with tubeless?

i can't really say conclusively since i am not one to really notice such things too much and since i ride it on dirt 95% of the time but it seems like tubeless tires do roll a little better. seems like with these large tires you could probably get away with a standard mtb tubless conversion since your probably not rolling super high PSI's anyhow???

Six jours

I recently read a blurb somewhere indicating that on-road testing showed tubeless may well be significantly faster. I think it's something to keep an eye on - I don't know much about tubeless in general right now but suspect that will change. I do know that Pacenti's new lightweight 650b rims for road riding are advertised as appropriate for tubeless.

CliftonGK1

I know how you feel. I went back to tan-wall Pasela TG tires after wearing out my blackwall Urban Maxes, and it seems a shame that 2 more rainy commutes and they'll be all fouled up.

Which VO rims are they, because bang-for-the-buck, the Sun CR18 is a tough one to beat as a replacement and they come in a huge variety of sizes. Using KS Salmon pads exclusively, I just wore out a pair of CR18 rims with the ABT brake track after 14,000-ish miles including 3 Seattle winters.

Six jours

I'm actually at the point where I have a "rain bike" - not because the bike is cheap or disposable, but because the sidewalls are already fouled up!

The Sun rims bother me because they (like nearly all manufacturers of 650b rims) didn't get the diameter right. I am too lazy to struggle with installing tires these days. The V/O (Diagonale) rims look good, are properly sized, very strong, and build up easily. They're just really heavy.

The Rohloff bike in the picture presented a novel problem with the rear brakes. Because the rear spacing is so wide, the brake arms are a long way from the rims. I had to put all the pad spacers on the inside of the arms, which makes a big long lever arm to oscillate and squeal. The V/O "no squeal" pads promised a solution and did deliver - but I have never seen a brake pad so abrasive! I am back to the Kool-Stop salmons exclusively, even if they do make a little noise occasionally.

rowebr

Have you tried cleaning the tire sidewalls with SimpleGreen? That worked like a charm for me.

Jan Heine has a good post with some tips to solve tire mounting issues that are common with 650Bs, here it is:

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/0...th-deep-wells/

Six jours

Thank you for the link. I am already familiar with the practice, though, and prefer to simply buy rims that are made correctly.

I will try the Simple Green trick!

bmike

heh heh heh.

have a look at fat bike tires....
knobby? in something better than 27tpi?
i just shelled out $280 for 2 Nates, in 120tpi.
yeah, its a 3.8" wide tire.

studded? breaking the bank
$225 each for the dillingers...


and none of these will ever be seen at the top of a BQ tire test...

Six jours

Jaysus. The last time I spent that kind of money on tires was for handmade silk pursuit tires for the track. At some point the tires are going to need to do the pedaling for me...

Chesha Neko

I am also running Hetre EL tires. I can give a thumbs up to the Pacenti rims. A bit expensive yes, but beautifully made.

What kind of pressures are you running? I find I have had to largely ignore the 55 to 75 psi recommendations on the sidewall, and I am currently using 45 psi front, 55 psi rear. I may try 40/50 next.

Six jours

For road riding I keep them at 60 or so. Off-road about 40. I still haven't quite decided if they're worth the extra $20. I probably will buy them again, but if only the standard Hetres are available when the time comesI won't be bothered about it.

Chesha Neko

I winced when I bought them, but given the full cost of the conversion (Riv doesn't stock fixed 650B wheelsets, so I had to go custom), it seemed one might as well go all the way with it. I'm a bit of a weight weenie when it comes to tubes and tires so I'll probably stick to the EL's unless they aren't available, though I kind of covet the white tread tires. At this point just waiting to have a flat so I can swap in some extra-light tubes.

Six jours

Heh, yeah. I still fall prey to weight, sometimes. But speed really is not my highest priority any more. I mean, I'd gladly take it if there's no trade-off, but I don't get excited about theoretical gains - and I don't know about you, but I really haven't seen any speed increases with the ELs vs. the standard. The only real difference I've noted is the extra smoothness, which - with a 42mm tire - is gilding the lily.

I do like the white wall look, though...

Chesha Neko

Riding fixed gear seems to have made me more sensitive or picky about rolling weight. Originally I wanted the 650B wheels to weigh the same or less than my 700C wheels once mounted up with tubes and tires -- part of why I sprung for the Pacenti rims, but it was not to be. Track hubs are engineered to be bombproof, thus heavy, which is probably best anyway. The weight penalty going from 23mm racing tires on 700C to Hetres will only be 50 grams per wheel once I can get the new tubes in, so can't complain too much given the ride quality.

Bekologist

I like my tires fat and supple.

Why does "Samoa" come to mind?

High thread count fatties are so nice to ride, but have never stepped it up to this level. I tend to default to a more 'sporty' bike for long distance pursuits.

Bravo, six jours.