tire experiment

[Richard Rose]

This might sound outlandish but I have put over 5,000 miles on a set of Simworks Homage tires. They are still good. I think (but do not know) that is unusually high mileage for a set of bicycle tires. Bike is a Clem L and tires are 27.5 x 55 mounted with tubes on Cliffhanger rims. I've been planning to get new ones and have been contemplating 2 things; going to the smaller 43mm tires and second, trying the mint green ones. I won't bore you with the color question.:) I am thinking of trying the smaller tires as the Clem has evolved into being used primarily on pavement and smoothish gravel. As this is a Clem we are talking about weight has never been a concern of mine but this will save me over 13 ounces of rotational weight. I fear it will not be worth the weight savings as the 55's are just so plush. But, I found a relatively inexpensive set so going to give it a try. I've recommended these tires to others but to my knowledge only Kim H. has given them a try. Kim reports he likes the 43's but might give the 55's a go. What I am hoping for is a more snappy feeling bike that does not sacrifice comfort. We shall see.

[Kim H.]

@Richard,

The worst that can happen, if you do not like the SimWorks Homage 43mm tires, I will buy them from you. You can in turn buy a new set of 55mm tires.

The only reason why I bought my 43mm tires is that most of my riding is on asphalt pavement. I wanted a slender tire to give my Clem less contact on pavement with a more of a zippy feeling, than a wider tire knowing that my Clem is a heavy bike.  If I rode more off road, I may consider more riding with the 55mm tires. A couple of months ago, I rode in a group ride that had both hard pack dirt and not too deep gravel. The 43mm tires just did fine.

Don't be shy. Give them a try.

Let us know how your new HOMAGE 43mm tires work out for you.

Kim Hetzel.

[Will Boericke]

Only in the Riv group are we calling a 43mm tire "slender".  :)

Will

[Doug H.]

Indeed 43 mm are generally not slender but I had a set of 42s on my Clem for awhile and they look slender on it. I found them good on pavement and good enough on gravel. Let us know how they work for you Richard!

Doug

[Patrick Moore]

The nominally 48 mm, actually 49+ mm (27 mm IW rims) Oracle Ridges on my Matthews dirt road bike look svelte and slim compared to the 60s they replaced and compared to the 72 mm WTB Rangers on the Monocog I used to own. They almost look lost under the 80 mm Kelpie fenders (designed for 72 X 584 and 60 X 622 tires) In fact, ~50 mm is the narrowest I'll use for an allrounder bike in our sandy soil conditions.

[Ray Varella]

I did a similar tire swap on my platypus. 

I had been running Rene Herse 55mm knobbies in endurance casing.

I recall Jan saying they have similar rolling resistance to the standard casing and I have zero complaints about them. 

I just wanted to try a bit smaller tire. 

I went with the Ultradynamico Cava JFF in 48mm

The bike definitely steers a little quicker, not a lot but it does feel like it rolls smoother. 

I’m still nursing a torn hamstring but I rode for about 3 hours which is at least an hour longer than I have been riding. 

I have another bike that runs 42mm so the 48s were a good choice. 

We are living in good times when it comes to tire choices. 

Ray

[Richard Rose]

This has proved interesting on a couple of fronts. I decided to take a chance with these 43’s as the price was right. When they arrived I was taken aback by the tires appearance. Of course they look a lot smaller than the 55’s but the sidewall color (dark brown) was surprising as was the different graphics & subtle but noticeable tread pattern/design. After a bit of sleuthing I’ve determined these 43mm tires are from one of the original runs of Homage tires from 2016-2018. So, new old stock I presume as tires came in original packaging & obviously never mounted.

But now they are! Test ride soon… They do look skinny though.

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 12, 2024, at 11:03 PM, Ray Varella <rayvar...@gmail.com> wrote:

I did a similar tire swap on my platypus. 

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