maddmaxx 

Boy am I slow.

Good weather has finally arrived here and I got in the first major ride of the year. The late spring following an unusually slothful winter has me way behind on the performance curve. Everyday rides should help bring the legs back in a couple of weeks.
On a positive note, the trails don't seem to have broken down too much over the winter, the new Crossride wheels and disk brakes seem to have broken in. (no more chasing away dogs though)


Stapfam: I too was worried about the harshness of the crossrides, but since I run a pretty high pressure in the Kenda Kosmic Lite tires, dropping about 5 lbs seems to have smoothed them out. Now to see how they hold up for a season of riding.

stapfam

The crossrides are stiff and I only really find them a problem on hard baked clay- which normally doesn't happen till july. We have gone for about 4 weeks without rain, but there is just a bit of give in the soil at present. Only thing is we have a lot of chalk trails and they are never soft. Most of my rides are about 40 miles and I can manage those OK. It is only when I get above 50 that I have to start thinking about letting the tyres down. Normally run Panaracers- 1.8 Mudpro's for the winter and 2.1 fire XC's for when it is dryer. I have 50 psi in both and I will let the FireXC's down to 40 or in extreme cases down to 35 if I have to.

Incidentally- The Tandem has Full Downhill wheels crossed x3 and we run the Fire XC's most of the year at 60 PSI. That is why it is fitted with a Thudbuster Suspension post.