I totally deserve the stick for those tires - I took some stick at our east coast ride in April, too. I tried to get some Veloflex Paves on those rims, but no dice. Those were my tires of last resort. I thought about substituting some tan sidewall Bontragers, but reading up on them they seemed prone to problems. At least the ones I have on there are durable. I would have changed the tape, but I'm trying to get as much mileage out of those original globe logo hoods as possible. They're crunchy, but OK for riding for the time being.