Jack Browns - Tires For The Future?

[jimD]

One of the main streets in my neighborhood has just been repaved.
That's repaved, not the far more common re-surfacing/chip sealing.

It is remarkably refreshing and evokes a certain nostalgia to ride on an excellent road surface.
If this were the usual case I'd start considering 28mm cross-section tires rather than my default
JBs.

Given our continuing economic climate I'm thinking that nice roads surfaces are going to become
even more unusual. I'm thinking the era of the fat road tire is upon us.

Just sayin'
-JimD

[Tim McNamara]

Here in Minnesota that's been the case for a long time. Between the climate and political party intransigence, our roads are awful. We seem to keep building new roads but can't take care of the ones we have. Many cities here have eliminated doing preventive care like chip sealing (which extends the useful life of a road surface by up to 30 years, according to one road engineer I spoke to) to save money on the budget now- at the expense of spending 10 times as much in the future.

The result is that we have six months of it being difficult to get around due to ice and snow, and six months of it being difficult to get around due to major road reconstruction because we didn't do good preventive maintenance.

[Lee Legrand]

I think you are right.  Fat cushy tires may be a requirement to ride deteriorated roads that cannot be repaved at the moment.  Maybe there will be more bicycles out there due to the economics.  I see more bicycle riders in my area than usual. 

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[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

I was exploring the Minneapolis urban jungle last night on my Surly Troll with 26x2.25 Marathon Extremes, and as I was rolling happily over some of the rough roads Tim referred to, I couldn't help but think how useless "road bikes" are in this landscape. Come to think of it, the term "road bike" itself is becoming less useful. After all, I was riding a bike with clearance for 2.8" tires on roads, and I liked it!

(PS: my skinny tire bike has Jack Browns on it)

[Michael Hechmer]

This is true in VT too.  Most roads are in disrepair and the rest are under reconstruction!  Routine maintenance is a bygone memory.  If I have to dodge a lost muffler on Memorial Day I can expect to still be riding around it on Columbus Day.  So I too, keep riding wider tires, and even though my Rambouillet is my all time favorite bike I am realizing my Ebisu, with 38C Avocets,  gets more use, and I just squeezed Jack Browns onto my 84' Trek 620.  I still like to map out routes that I can ride comfortably with 26 or 28  on the Ram.  Still lots of young studs out there hunched over their 23's

Michael

[Joe Bernard]

I work/ride in Novato, CA. Here's the lovely thing they did here: They repaved bumpy roads...with bumpy pavement. Briiliant, eh?

 

Joe Bernard

Fairfield, CA.

[PATRICK MOORE]

We are fortunate here in NM; our roads are quite good with regular
upkeep and improvements like bike lanes.

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[EricP]

Like Jim, I'm in the Twin Cities, and have found that as I age, even
my normal skinny tire (aka 37) is getting a touch too narrow. Am glad
my Sam Hillborne has 40's, but admit to riding my Surly LHT with
26x2.0 wide tires more frequently these days.

At this point, am not even sure I could ride a super skinny tire like
a JB. Too much weight hand hand damage over the years to even really
consider it. Am realizing the next "road" bike I may need is a
Pugsley.

Eric Platt
St. Paul, MN

On Sep 29, 1:02 pm, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Jim Cloud]

Many of the people living in Tucson would puke if I said the roads
were in good condition. Actually the roads where they're adding bike
lanes are in good condition, especially around the county road areas.
The intercity Tucson roads are frequently, however, potholed and very
much in need of routine maintenance. I don't, however, have any real
problems getting around town with 700x28C Panaracer Paselas (although
I've also mounted some 33.333 Rivendell Jack Brown Blue label tires on
my Paramount).

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ

[Forrest]

I like my Schwalbe 38's and 40's for in-town commuting, and for country adventure, but I've also ridden my JB Blues a fair amount on gravel, and that went okay. I mean, they seem like pretty capable tires for rough stuff, all things considered, and while more toward the "roadish" end of the spectrum, I have a hard time thinking of them as super-skinny. Of course it's all relative.  -- Forrest (Iowa City)

[Tim McNamara]

Heh... and even with my grousing about the roads, I still ride 700 x 25s at 115 PSI on two of my bikes and 26 x 1.25 at 100 PSI on my A/R...

[Ryan Watson]

On Sep 29, 2011, at 16:46, PATRICK MOORE <bert...@gmail.com> wrote:

> We are fortunate here in NM; our roads are quite good with regular
> upkeep and improvements like bike lanes.

I'm not sure what alternate universe Patrick rides in, but most of the NM roads I ride are in pretty rough shape.
I ride those fat 650Bs for a reason!

Cheers,
Ryan

[PATRICK MOORE]

You live on the eastside; I live on the westside*. We've got good roads.

Seriously, the roads I ride here in town, all between Tramway and
98th, are quite good. I have no problem with the 23s on my gofast.
What bad ones do you mean?

*The right or wrong side of the Rio Grande, for you non-albuquerquians.

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[jimD]

Here in Northern Calif. the many secondary/tertiary roads that make for great bicycle routes are poorly maintained. Until the Tour of Calif. started using Tunitas Creek Road for one of the stages, the surface reminded me of a bombing range. Now many of the craters have been filled. I read the Sonoma County is considering letting some roads 'revert' to gravel.

Funds to maintain roads here are diminishing and that seems unlikely to improve any time soon.

I'm stocking up on fat/er tires. They work great for the 'roads of the future'.

-JimD

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[Ryan J]

I just recently picked up an older italian bike that has 25s on it after riding the last two years on 32s and 38s, it takes some getting used to but the bike isn't totally uncomfortable.  I prefer the wider tires though, which is the bikes I will be getting in the future.  The 25s are just harsher and I had to physically avoid road conditions that I wouldn't when riding the Sam Hillborne.  The road conditions where I ride are fine for the most part, low traffic and relatively smooth, but every so often I take a road that is better served with fatter tires, especially some of the roads through the forest and game preserves.  I know that the future of my biking is better served with fatter tires...at least 32s.

[Michael_S]

The beauty of the JB's is that if you spot some dirt road going somewhere new, you can  take a chance and see where it goes. To me, that's the best thing about riding fat road tires. Last night I was riding in a new area here in northern LA and ended up taking three different dirt roads, that all ended too quickly, and even some singletrack but it was still worth it just to be out on the bike exploring

 

~mike

[William]

I just did a solo 200k yesterday in Marin (to keep my R12 going), and treated myself to the gravel path through Samual P Taylor Park instead of the uber narrow Sir Francis Drake Blvd through that section.  I was running 650x38B Somas and it was a blast, even 110 miles into a long day.  One of my resolutions for 2012 is going to be to explore more gravel roads. 

[Stephen S]

Um I am going to have to agree with Ryan here.

Rio Rancho doesn't have the best roads. Socorro isn't great, I'd hate to ride in Santa Fe. Granted I hate being in Santa Fe...

I mean the roads are passable but not great.

Stephen

[PATRICK MOORE]

Y'all have much higher standards than I; Rio Rancho's roads in
particular seem to me to be very good and the Albuquerque area in
general is better than say LA or, from what I remember, WDC. Which may
explain my evaluation

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[Stephen S]

No worries. It's been a while since I lived there and they might be better now. Maybe I just remember the horrible driving and the roads on I-25 south of Albuquerque... 

I do know I have never gotten as many goat heads as when I road Chase the Balloons a few years ago down near the bosque. =) 

[James Warren]

More organized Riv rides in the future then!

[Earl Grey]

Hear, hear, that is why my JB Greens have been replaced with 42mm
Kenda Kwickroller E-Z Rides. Horrific name, but a good tire that
doesn't just allow dirt road exploration, but single track
exploration!

Gernot