Originally Posted by
jamesdak
Maybe but not how I look at it. When you ride a Softride you have to really focus on smooth spinning of true circles or you will bounce a bit. There's always a feeling in your legs that they are a bit more engaged. Not sure how to really explain it. I have always believed that it was the the way you have to perfect your spin on the Softride there truly contributed to it's higher speed. But hey, who knows, you could be right. But I would then expect the same to translate over to the bikes I have run the fatter tires on, yet my own logs say different.
Maybe this year if I ever get cleared to ride again I will try fatter tires on something again and see what happens. I think the Rickert might have clearance for a bit more.
It is strange that the smooth ride on my Softride was always appreciated while on it. Yet not "appreciated" on other bikes the times I've tried fat tires. Maybe I'm a hypocrite?
Or maybe that's one of the reasons I hardly took the Softride out despite how fast it was, it lacked the overall feel I enjoy. Who knows?
Never really thought about it much. Checking Strava I only show 109 miles on it. So I only took it out on a few fast rides over all the years I had it. It was obviously not a preferred ride. In comparison I show 378 miles on the Krapf bike. That was built up and used after my knee replacements and before getting pulled back off the bikes last summer. So not all that many actual miles ridden during the time period compared to probably around 15,000 miles put in the years I had the Softride.
In fact, the Krapf is a bit of an enigma to me. It can only fit up to its current 23mm tires and I had to remove the adjustment screws in the rear dropouts to allow that. Plus it has those super short chain stays that required the seat tube being crimped for tire clearance. I truly expected it to a a harsh ride on the ride. Yet, it's now a current favorite and to me feels super smooth and yet responsive when I ride it. I guess for me there's a line of enjoyment where a bike goes from feeling fast and smooth to just dull. Now dull may be faster but I honestly don't care. If dull doesn't get my juices flowing and doesn't make me want to ride the bike what good is it to me?
Anyway, my early morning ramblings on how I see this. Not sure if they really make any sense but there they are.
About the Krapf bike and its ultra-short stays and tire width and comfort in general: you're in Utah. Guessing you don't have to contend with a lot of poorly maintained city streets (such as, e.g., those here in Baltimore).
It's not surprising that the (educated guess, having done lots of road miles on a true track bike in my day) supremely confidence-inspiring stable ride of the Krapf bike more than makes up for however little chatter you feel on your predominantly smooth pavement.
At that, the topic of road bike comfort has always been a little perplexing to me. Even on the roads around here, I spend maybe a total of a couple of minutes per ride, if that, negotiating bad stretches. Big deal.
I was happy riding 22-mm tubulars in the '60's and '70's and 23-mm clinchers in the '80's and '90's. I'm maybe slightly happier these days riding 28's on my road and fixed-gear bikes and 38's on my utility/bad-weather-training bike.
But happier not because of so-called comfort but because the incidence of flats has proven to be inversely proportional to the width of the tires I ride.