A while back I posted about wobble on the front when braking at fast speeds. Yesterday I put a Kinetex hub with Dynamo hub and a brand new Big Apple on the front of my Speed P8. Today I have ridden probably 25 km or so on the bike configured this way and got screaming fast....50 km + three times and hit the brakes. Not one tiny bit of wobble.

I really don't think it's the rim as I had two Kinetix rims that it did it to and the constant is ONE Big Apple Tire. I think the tire is out of round and in fact it's out of round enough I took the wheel twice to the LBS to be trued because of the visible wobble. Both times the shop mechanic barely did a thing, in fact he set the calipers closer to the wheel than I would have.

If I had time I'd mount the old tire on the new rim and double check but I don't see it happening. I may take the tire back to the LBS and try a warranty swap but I speak English and the LBS doesn't really have any English speakers there. I could take my wife but she'd never get a grip on the technical merits of it, plus she's liable to look around and figure out how much some of my bikes cost.

After riding on the P8 with the Dynamo hub I can say I don't really feel a huge difference in rolling resistance. And certainly nothing 5 more lbs of air in the tires wouldn't compensate for. But harder tires equals harsher ride and my P8 is my utility running errands bike and never intended to hammer out a ride or bust a sweat on. In short it makes no difference to me.

The bike is heavier and requires a little more oomph to push uphill though. If you have a Dahon and want to train harder and ride faster maybe you better stick with the wheels you have. If you're like me and have a bike with a mission and another bike with another mission you'll NEVER notice a difference the heavier wheel makes.

One thing I do like is I have some steep hills to climb. I drop in granny gear and crank and sometimes the very light front end of the Dahon tends to want to pop a wheelie. No more. A much more solid balance. Bike feels more like a work horse now.

At any rate I've still got the old rim and tire and I can change the front wheel in about 4 seconds if I'm inclined to do that.

Keep riding.

Kaito....if you're seeing this I'll be at the cove around 1700 or 1730 (unless it starts raining like nobodies business). If you can swing in I'll buy you a beer and show off my P8.

John