I have hearing the praises of the Panaracer Pasela for awhile now and always wanted to try them - just didn't have a bike to put them on. Well, that has changed. I bought this Motobecane mixte back in March for $20 and it's just sat in the project pipeline.

Last week I bought the 27 X 1 1/8" Pasela's from Nashbar when they were on sale and put them on today as soon as my wife delivered them from the post office.

I get it - what a great riding tire. Been on the pavement, gravel road (.5 mile to the pavement) and grass and the tires feel great - better than the Bontrager Selects I'm running on another bike.

Oh, and the mixte ain't that bad a bike either - pretty comfortable. I haven't done a thing yet - bearings spin smoothly. I need to remove the tape from the suicide levers (probably be the only bike I leave the levers on), switch to some alloy bars from the steel randonneur bars and remove the reflectors. The Suntour drivetrain works flawlessly.

I love them. Discovered them by accident, actually. When I bought my first bike as an adult several years ago, they were on there. I promptly took them off and put some skinny things on that were always going flat. Fast forward, that bike is long gone, but I had the tires sitting around. Last year I decided to toss them on my bike, and wow, what a difference. I feel like they really stick to the road in the wet, too.

Rumor was Panasonic's founder was a biking fanatic. So it isn't a surprise that bikes and accessories bearing his company name would be very good. Panaracer is one of his brands. I loved the Panaracer Technova clinchers from the 80s. They were great then too.