Hmmm, like I said earlier I tried the Open Pave's for awhile too. I wouldn't consider them harsher at all. The ride seemed pretty much the same. I was running the 700 x 27 vs my normal Conti 700 x 25. I was hoping for a bit more volume from the "bigger" 27c tires but in most cases that just wasn't the case. I ran the Open Pave's on 3 different bikes trying them out and can't say any of the bikes rode worse with them on. I just flatted a couple of times on them, something that I don't usually have happen with the Conti's. Could have just been the 'luck of the draw". In my case the Open Paves just didn't give me a reason to switch from my dependable Conti's.