Originally Posted by Porschefan

I've been riding a couple of years and am thinking of my next set of tires. I've only had 3 variations of tire/wheel combinations and my total mileage is probably around 3K, so I don't have the depth of experience to have figured out much about what is my next best move and I've been reading and listening to podcasts on the subject--but it's obviously a huge amount of information to absorb and also a very subjective analysis in the end. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge and experience demonstrated in this thread so I thought I'd attempt to hitchhike onto the thread with my own situation.

Bike: 2015 Trek Domane 4.3, size 58 cm. My second road bike and although I've been tempted to "upgrade" I think it's probably a fine bike for me.

Riding: I do 3-4 groups rides with a local (ABQ, NM) each week and 1 or 2 supervised sessions on a Computrainer. While I'm proud of what I've accomplished at my age (71!) in a couple of years, I'm definitely not really fast and not a great bike handler either, but I like training and improving and I can now hang with some of the faster guys on the rides. "Mid-pack" is probably a good description. ABQ has a lot of bike lanes and MUP's which range from excellent to fair (IMO) as far as condition goes.

Wheels/tires tried:

Stock Bontrager wheels and tires that came with the bike-25mm.

A set of Fulcrum "2.5's" (which are supposed to be an OEM version of the Fulcrum Racing 3's). "2-way" rims with no interior spoke holes. I bought them from a forum (Paceline) member and they came with 23 mm Schwalbe One tires.

The Schwalbe One's wore out really quickly for whatever reason and I then had an LBS install a pair of Specialized "Roubaix" (IIRC) tubeless tires--really pricey @ $90/each. I have those tires on the bike now and overall they seem "OK" but early on I had a big puncture on the rear tire that required a plug to seal up. Then that plug heated up on the Computrainer and came out. I've put a tube in now and that seems to be working OK, but I am pretty disappointed in the tubeless experience. Ran them at 90 F 95 rear and the comfort factor seemed mildly noticeable. The flats with sealant are a mess and I'm ready to just go back to tubes.

The Domane is described in the marketing hype as a "plush" bike, which I find kind of hilarious when I hit a stretch of road with bad expansion joints.

So I'm looking for a new set of tires that will actually be more "plush" but don't want to give up grip or speed. I have a subscription to Bicylcle Quarterly and Jan H's writing on the Compass brand of tires has me imagining (?) that these might be the Holy Grail....but I kind of doubt it. The only Compass tire that will fit my bike is PROBABLY the Cayuse Pass 26mm (possibly the 28 mm, but risky). The Fulcrum rims are pretty narrow and the clearances on the Domane are enough for 25's, but there have been reports that 28mm is too wide for the back.

The Compass's are pricey @ $75/each, but crikey, those Specialized tubless tires were more than that.

Don't want to hijack this thread, and am willing to move it/start a new one. But this seems like a place where I might get some good recommends. This isn't life or death, and I'm willing to experiment some to figure out what might work best for me.

TIA.

STP



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