soma grand randonneur blue label tire

[Philip Kim]

Anyone have any experience with the Soma Grand Randonneur Blue label tire in 650bx42? Looking for some fairly durable tires for my daily 20 mile commute. Wearing through my paselas, and just though I'd try something different.

Also wondering if I should just get the Compass Babyshoe Pass EL for commuting, but they would probably wear out pretty quickly.

[Chris Cullum]

Why not use Hetres? My first set had 13k km before I retired them. Set 2 is approaching 10k km and are still going strong. They ride nicely and are quite flat resistant for a supple tire. The price is about the same as the Soma GRs. I don't think the tread on the GR is any thicker than the BSP.

On Nov 4, 2015 8:24 AM, "Philip Kim" <phili...@gmail.com> wrote:

Anyone have any experience with the Soma Grand Randonneur Blue label tire in 650bx42? Looking for some fairly durable tires for my daily 20 mile commute. Wearing through my paselas, and just though I'd try something different.

Also wondering if I should just get the Compass Babyshoe Pass EL for commuting, but they would probably wear out pretty quickly.

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[Tim Gavin]

I've had excellent reliability with the new Pari-Moto tires. 

They're hard to beat at $32 each from Boulder bicycle.  They have a 42 mm size now.  

You could wear out the Pari-Motos 2.5 times as often as the Soma blue labels and come out even.  

The Pari-Motos roll really fast and have survived ~1000 miles of commuting and gravel riding.  I had one flat.  The tread isn't appreciably worn.

I finally understand how folks had such success with Hetres; while my Lierres were getting destroyed (my bike only fits a 38).

THE TREAD!  

The Lierres have a small herringbone tread that seems to be the perfect size to pick up debris, which would eventually puncture the tire (some Pasela users have the same experience).  My Lierres were toast after about 1500 miles.

Smooth tread seems to do a better job of just floating over the debris without disturbing it, yet still grips great for me on gravel and packed dirt trails.

[HillDancer]

On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 10:24:52 AM UTC-6, Philip Kim wrote:

Anyone have any experience with the Soma Grand Randonneur Blue label tire in 650bx42?...

I have a BL on the rear with about 4000 miles, had a BL on the front paired with it for around 2000 miles.  The SOMA BL is a stiff casing with thick crown.  The positives, the stiff sidewall provides very good cornering performance at low air pressure, and the thick crown is near impenetrable.  The negative, the tire becomes hard in cold weather, which results in reduced comfort and higher rolling resistance.  Dry grip is good, wet grip does not suck, but not the best either.  The crown does take a long time to square off compared to other Panaracer tires.

[Philip Kim]

Thanks, I think I'll take the plunge. 4,000 miles is a long time.

I wanted something that is flat prone but doesn't ride like bricks like the Schwalbe marathons.

[HillDancer]

Not what you asked about, but there is a Schwalbe puncture resistant touring tire with very good ride quality;

http://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-almotion.html

 The Almotion has a puncture resistant belt, however, because the plys don't overlap at the crown, the center tread remains supple.  Also, the center tread has a high synthetic compound mix, which provides low rolling resistance, long life, and good wet grip.  The side wall has major cut resistance.  It is my favorite all-around road tire of all time.

[Philip Kim]

Thanks this looks like a good option too. Do you know how wide it measures? Might be a bit too big, I can only fit 42mm true max.

[HillDancer]

On Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at 2:16:10 PM UTC-6, Philip Kim wrote:

...Do you know how wide it measures?...

No, I don't.  My educated guess would be 48mm on a typical rim-brake rim.

Consider this, an Almotion 26X2.15 is only 3mm less in diameter than a BL 27.5X42.  That's an insignificant 1.5mm shorter radius.  If the current fork has less than 54mm width clearance, replace with one that does have room, and put a 26inch wheel up front.

 

[Philip Kim]

That is true. I'm running rim brakes designed for 650b though.

[Ryan Cardneau]

I second the Hetres as a good choice. I recently switched from the Soma Blue labels to the Hetres and they brought a whole new life back into my bike. The Blue labels always felt hard and slow; even though my mind was always at ease when running through glass shards in the bike lane. Also if you're really worried you can pick up some tire savers to attach.

[Jon Doyle]

Tubeless Compass tires seem like the ultimate commuting setup IMO. My commuting woes are usually glass or metal shard punctures. Sealant will plug the holes and not harm the ride quality. You can put the sealant inside a tube, as well.

[Philip Kim]

Thanks all for suggestions. I went ahead and got the Blue Labels.

I used to run Hetres on my old Trek 400 Elance.They were comfortable and great, but didn't they climbed well for me. I played around with different pressures which helped. I flatted these a few times over a couple thousand miles. I switched to Pasela 42s. Not as comfortable, but felt better on climbs. I think I might've gotten a bad batch, the bead blew off both tires after about 300 miles.

Half of my morning commute is continuous climbing. Also last thing I want to do is fix a flat at 5am before going into work. I'll report on how they fare after a couple of weeks.

[Brad Taft]

Philip,
  Any update on how these worked out for you?  How was the ride quality and swiftness compared to your paselas?  Are they as durable as they sound?

[Philip Kim]

Hey Brad, these seemed durable. I actually returned them as they seemed so stiff - I had a lot of trouble getting the tires on and they were heavy, I've switched over to Switchback Hills. They've served me fine. If I needed more protection I would get the WTB Horizons, but I haven't had the chance to try them nor needed to.

[Brad Taft]

Thanks.  I must have tried a half a dozen different compass/ grand bois tires on various bikes with most ending up in the dumpster in less than 500 miles after many punctures or huge cuts that made the tire unusable. My last experience was with the rat trap pass, which I thought for sure would be almost puncture proof running at below 40 PSI. I was wrong.  A friend of mine has the opposite result on compass tires, even when we're riding together, holding the same line.  I think I'm just hard on tires, especially rear tires. 

I don't have clearance for the Horizons.  I may go with the new gravelking 650b near-slick, which has a puncture resistant casing but still comes in just over 300 grams at 38 mm. 

-Brad

[Steve Palincsar]

How different your experience is from mine! I've got around 50,000
miles all told on Grand Boils and Compass tires in 28, 32, 38 and 42mm
widths. I've never had a huge cut, and have only ever had 2 punctures
that made the tire unusable -- one from a chunk of broken bottle glass
the size of a .45 cal. bullet, and the other on a completely worn out
tire that was punctured by a sharp stick. In both cases, I booted the
tire and finished the ride, but ended up discarding the tires afterwards.

[Justin Hughes]

I have a hard time believing that tire is not a Pari Moto with a different label. My 42-584 Pari Motos weighed 325g. They ride great, but are very fragile. Despite what you are reading one of those things can't be true, be it the puncture casing or the 300g. 

[Brad Taft]

   Are those the PariMotos with the gravelking casing, or the original PariMoto?  Yes, I believe the GravelinKing 650b and the PariMoto with gravelking casing are the same tire.  I was under the impression that the gravelking casing offered a bit more puncture resistance.

[Ryan Watson]

Same here! The Grand Bois, especially the Hetre, have been the longest lasting and least flat-prone tires I've ever used.
I once had a Hetre sidewall blow-out, but that one was well past retirement age.

Ryan

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[Philip Kim]

i've had the gravelking version as well. it's not bad, but the puncture layer is mostly on behind the tread, and not the sidewall if i recall. paselas might be a good compromise.

[Brad Taft]

Back on the original topic, is anyone riding the blue label Soma GRs?  If so, how do they ride? 

[satanas]

FWIW, I've only used the Green Label (lightweight) Soma 650B tyre, and don't recommend them. While they're certainly light and reasonably comfortable, they have a nasty tendency to wander about, and *will not* reliably climb onto painted lines on the road. Instead, they tend to deflect from or jump off these, sometimes suddenly. They're also lousy at climbing kerb cuts, etc, at any angle except 90 degrees, to the point that IME they are an accident waiting to happen. I've had not even the slightest hint of any of these issues with Hetres which seem to be dead reliable in all respects. If the Blue Label tyre has the same tread pattern and compound as the GL I'd expect similar problems with them.

Later,

Stephen