maunakea

Vredestein S-Licks PRS 20x1.3 Tire
Street tire for 20” (ISO 406) recumbent or narrow BMX wheels.
part no. YT-VSR
at Nashbar, $11.95 per tire

LittlePixel

That's a bargain. Does anyone have any experience with these at this size? I'm bored with my Grand Prix and Stelvios!

maunakea

The maker is Dutch. My experience with their product has been very good at the 700c size, so I ordered two of the ISO 406 size to try.

yangmusa

I had the Vredestein S.Licks on my Challenge Hurricane recumbent. Felt like a fast tire, and I had no punctures in over 1600 miles.

As to their efficiency, I don't know. The only other 406 tires I have experience with are 20*1.5 Primo Comet kevlars on my Swift - the two bikes are so different I don't think I can sensibly compare the two tires!

Magnus

jasong

I ordered a set of these for my new bike friday tandem. Do they really weigh that much (400+ grams)? That seems to be the downside compared to the other smaller tires.

maunakea

I guess we'll see if the ~130 grams over the 37 x 406 Primos and Stelvios translates to better flat protection.

maunakea

Nashbar reduced the price of the S-Licks to $7.99. A 15% promo drops the price to $6.76.

I am impresed with this tire.... sticks like a Kenda, rolls almost like a P. Comet or S. Stelvio, very good in the wet, but heavier than a skinwall with the pleasant corollary of no punctures (yet) and long tread life.

Fear&Trembling

That's a great deal - over in the UK they are going for £23! I may go back to S-licks or Comets as I am fed-up with the wet-weather handling characteristics of Scorchers.

maunakea

A lesser known, but excellent parts source, esp. of Sunrace components (as in DT RDs and cassettes, including the 11-32 8 speed cassettes and 11-32 and 11/34 9 speed cassettes, and the RDM60 RD (34 T) capacity) is:

www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cgi

To mount a regular rear derailluer to a DT that came with a "claw" mount RD and horizontal dropouts (e.g., DT VIII FS):

SunRace Derailleur Hanger
Price: $2.50
Item #SU-550I: .This hanger will allow a derailleur designed for bikes w/integral frame hanger to be mounted on a bike without a frame mounted hanger. Designed for horizontal dropouts.

To convert a freehub rear wheel to a single speed quickly:

Wheels Mfg Single Speed Shifting Kit
Price: $19.50
Item #WB-SSK1: . For Shimano cassettes. Using one of your cogs, add spacers on either side until chainline is straight and lockring will tighten properly. Kit is spacers only.

maunakea

Meet the SRAM i-Motion 9 internal gear hub.
https://www.sram24.com/newtechdoc/eng...tions_MY07.pdf

A quick disconnect shift cable... page 8. No more flat tire issues WRT a gear hub.

LittlePixel

That sounds nice. After my Spectro S7 clickbox gave out because of exactly this - too many removals/refits something 'quick release' sounds great. (never design something that has metal screwing into a plastic thread. It will break. Quickly. Pfft.

maunakea

I plan to put an i-Motion 9 on my Swift. I almost installed a Red Band 8, but demurred. I'll go without one more gear until I can get 2 more.

jasong

DId anyone else that bought the Vredestein S-Licks have troubles getting the beads to seat? I tried four, on four different wheels, with two different types of tubes, and couldn't get one to properly seat without giving a serious bump on every rotation.

Think I got a bad four, or can I just not seat a tire correctly?

maunakea

jasong, lubricate the entire bead circumference with Windex or a mild detergent diluted in a spray bottle then quickly inflate. You've got to help the bead to seat on small diameter tires on a 406 wheel. 200 psi also helps in the seating process ... BUT once the bead is seated, of course, deflate to running pressure. I wear ear plugs, safety goggles, and leather gloves when doing this trick... it's dangerous. Also, for a decimal tire, the rim MUST be decimal, e.g, a 20x1.35 tire will seat on a 20x1.5 rim, but a 20x1-1/8 tires will NOT seat on a decimal rim.

bangkok

Using i-Motion data from the pdf (and perhaps the 2.4kg weight is for a heavier coaster brake model),
a quick comparison between the i-Motion9 and Nexus8.

This example using a Birdy 18" tire as an example and courtesy of https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/internal.html:

+ i-Motion9: 56t x 18t - 2.3 ~ 7.9m rollout... weight 2.4kg ... proprietary twist shift only
+ Nexus8: 56t x 16t - 2.5~ 7.8m roillout ... weight 1.5kg ... proprietary twist or tap/brake combo only

Looks like there is nothing to think about. Sram created this product it seems for "comfort" bikes, as supported by the limitation of the twist shifter; a deal killer for me even if weights were equal to Nexus.

If I understand correctly, Shimano have a 2007 "Alfine" group stand-alone tap shifter for the Nexus ... supposed to be out in late October.

maunakea

The 2.4 kg mass is for the coaster brake version. Data for the three other versions (including disk brake) won't be available until 2007. The quick disconnect is a major feature for me.