Tires

Date: June 5 Thursday
Mileage: 14 (LHT)
June mileage: 78
Year to date: 660

Yet another 1-hour ride, this time in the company of a work friend, 'Alberto'. He is one of the most unconditioned-yet-seemingly fit people I know. He looks fit, but he huffs and puffs and looks near death almost every pedal stroke he strains to achieve. It's not nice to downplay 'Alberto's' efforts. He recently bought a Marin 'Kentfield', which seems like an awfully preposterous name to me, at least as it goes for a middleoftheroad hybrid/city bike. God, I sounds pissy don't I? Am I am not in a bad mood. I appreciate 'Alberto's' efforts. We rode via Cherokee and the Beargrass Trail down to the water front. On the return trip we stopped by the BikeDepot on Market. He had actually bought his Marin from them, and I've been on a search for tire options. Right now I'm a bit unsettled with my selection on the LHT, but more so I want an option for the Crosscheck. The LHT now is shod with Conti Contact Security tires. This is a hulking tire at 900g, which is heavier than the comparable Schwalbe Marathon Plus or even the Big Apple. I'm no weight weenie, but if I have a claim of "how secure" a tire is, and it's heavy as hell, then I want the tire to back up its reputation, and so far the Contis have not. I had a 2nd flat- and that within 6 months or so, both flats coming from tiny pieces of glass. If they were hulking nails or chunks of metal, then you chalk it up to "those are the breaks", but itsy-bitsy glass should flatten an uber-tire. That said, I'm not changing LHT tires until I get more wear out of these, unless more flat creep in.

The Crosscheck is a different issue. Right now it's completely stripped down and is carrying my Ritchey 'cross towns, I believe the Speedmax. With the LHT set up as the work horse, and the Bleriot the sunny day dandy, the Crosscheck right now isn't getting the miles it deserves, so I've been brooding over tire options. Brands coming to mind are Conti again (a brand I've generally had good luck with until my last 2 commuting tires- a big deal), Panaracer, everybody's new fav Schwalbe, or I guess I could even go with a Rivbike tire. I've been leaning Schwalbe Marathon, for instance, but it seems that availability is a bit tricky. I do like to frequent my LBS, but they mostly have Contis and none of those options are particularly inspiring. B/c the CC can take a wide range of tire, I was thinking something in the 30-37 range. I have a couple other bikes with narrower tires, but I like the heft. Why, b/c I'm hefty and I've had fewer wheel true issues in the past few years. In fact, I have no wheel true issues. Plus, so much of my riding is urban these days that I just have come to appreciate the extra volume. This all brings me back to the BikeDepot. Since we were there just goofing I decided to take a look at their offerings. Most were unacceptable, but out of nowhere he pulls up a pair of Pasela 32cs. I've consistently seen nice things about the Paselas on the various boards, and I could get 2 for the price of 1 Schwalbe or Rivbike tire. An option at my fav LBS could've been a Conti Gatorskin, but the largest is 28C and I wanted to go a bit beefier. We'll see how it works out, but I think it'll be a great option for summer and early fall. If I need to go offroad I can use the C'dale, and if I get the 'cross jones in the fall, I'll just trade out. I've said before on this blog that the CC is a great option- the LHT being a moose, the Bleriot a dandy.