Babyshoe Pass vs Rock'n Roads, an unscientific comparison

[mulveyr]

I've been doing some gravel races the last couple of years on my Pelican, using Compass Babyshoe Pass tires. They've worked OK for the most part, but I've never been super pleased with their traction on some of the fire road climbs we have in the Adirondack Mountains, a few of which are 12-15% grades of surface ranging from hardpack dirt to semi-loose; I often found myself spinning out. I generally run them at around 30psi on the front and 35-40 on the rear, with tubes, on those rides.

Just for the heck of it, I did a 38 mile pavement ride last week on the Babyshoes to get a baseline time, which has about 1700 feet of climbing. Since it was all pavement, I was running 40PSI front and 45 rear. This weekend, I did the same ride on a set of 650B Rock 'n Roads. Weather conditions were quite close, including wind direction and speed, temperature, etc. Much to my surprise, I was 2-3MPH faster on the Rock 'n Roads. They were comfortable to ride on, although noticeably much louder on the pavement with a medium pitched hum. If you had asked me what I thought about the performance without letting me look at the GPS, I would have said the RnRs felt slightly more sluggish, but that clearly didn't end up being the case.

Obviously it's not a scientific test, and the real test will be when I get them on to the same fire roads during the upcoming events and see how my times compare to previous years, but so far I'm really quite surprised and happy that they're not holding me back on the pavement.

- Rich

[Justin, Oakland]

In my experience you're probably running the BSP at too high pressure. On Pavement I run 30-35 when I'm hauling a commuting load and err to the lower side when riding unladen. On dirt it's more 30 at the high end.

Drop your pressure and see what happens!

-J

[Rich Mulvey]

I'm curious what your total bike + you weight is; I've found that when I'm on the road, the rear Babyshoe in particular on my A23 rims feels quite squirrely at less than 45psi or so, and squishes down quite a bit. My total weight for me + the Pelican is about 180 pounds.

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ri...@mulveyfamily.com

[Austin ^]

38 miles and only 1700 feet climbing? How long are these "15%" climbs? 

[Rich Mulvey]

As stated in my original message, the 15% climbs are in the races I do in the Adirondacks. The 38 mile test ride was a completely separate thing.

- Rich

On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 2:57 PM, Austin ^ <orangec...@gmail.com> wrote:

38 miles and only 1700 feet climbing? How long are these "15%" climbs? 

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ri...@mulveyfamily.com

[William Lindsay]

This post prodded me to pull the fenders from my commute bike and swap out my Bon Jon Pass 700x35 tires for 700c Rock and Roads.  On my hilly commute, they felt 'the same'.  I'm astonished how quiet Rock and Roads are on pavement.  I think Rock and Roads are spectacular tires in both 700c and 650B.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA