Ultradynamico Cavas on the Surly Pacer

[Dan Leahul]

Turns out they fit. Attached to Velocity Quill hoops.

Turns out the Paul Racer brakes fit too. I was convinced they wouldn't, but to my very pleasant surprise they do, and they feel remarkably better than the Tektros I thought I needed to run.

The tires are a beast of their own and ludicrously grippy for my temporary time in a large, dense city with next to no gravel around. However I am moving to more rural quarters in a week where I hope they show their quality.

I purchased them because my bike shop friend insisted, providing a kind discount. Definitely not sold on them yet (figuratively, of course), but time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm very happy and actually pretty thrilled that the Paul brakes worked out. My dumb experiment bore fruit.

This is my go slow, dry-weather have fun bike, and I live in (and will live in) a very flat area, so bad weather/hill bombing rim braking and minimal mud clearance aren't much of a concern.

Dan in Canada

[Pat Smith]

That sure looks like a fast "go slow" bike to me!

Let us know what you think of the Ultradynamico tires after you get some miles on them. Always looking for another Road Plus tire to try!
Pat in DC

[Dan Leahul]

I guess it technically could be a fast bike under a fast rider, but that ain't me!

First impressions of the tires is that they're not very good on pavement, or more specifically they're not like a slick tread high volume tire, so there's a learning curve and it's gonna be a learn to love it or leave it situation I think. The tread squirms a lot and kind of gives the front end a mind of its own, so you really have to keep on top of it. Cornering hard is generally unpleasant, but I'm not sure if this a tire pressure problem or not yet, still trying to find that sweet spot.

The second they hit dirt, grass or gravel, they feel confident, but for the type of riding I'm doing at the moment, which is 90% pavement, they feel just okay, but I guess that's to be expected. If my future riding keeps trending this way I'll probably be switching them out. Again I mainly bought them due to immediate availability + discount + curiosity, and the fact I'm moving to more gravel orientated quarters very soon.

Dan

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[Jeff Bertolet]

There is a Pathlesspedaled interview with crust about these tires. Would be interesting to hear your long term review vs other tires.

[Dan Leahul]

Yeah I'm actually working my through that interview and obviously they seem like awesome guys and I'm happy to support their venture, us all being tire nerds and all. 

But the takeaway I got from the first 2/3s or so is that Patrick thinks you should be running Rose front Cava rear, and not really riding pavement, and in the interview you can hear Benedict backtrack from that comment and say you can run whatever, ride whatever on the tires.

Impossible to give definitive verdict after 50km on pavement but I'll certainly provide an update in the future.

Dan

On Sat., May 16, 2020, 9:24 p.m. Jeff Bertolet, <jbf...@gmail.com> wrote:

There is a Pathlesspedaled interview with crust about these tires. Would be interesting to hear your long term review vs other tires.

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[Mike Evans]

I wouldn't put too much weight on what they say. Most of it is clearly intended as a joke. Like "casings from a Moroccan bazar" or whatever they write on their site. And even where they've got seemingly definitive specs they aren't reliable. For the Cava they list 450 g. When I weighed mine it came out to 480 g. 30 g is more than you can explain with variations in the production process.

Interesting to read your impressions. They are similar to what I found when riding these. I posted about that a while ago here and on our new blog Gravel&Dirt.

On Saturday, May 16, 2020 at 6:52:15 PM UTC-7, Dan Leahul wrote:

Yeah I'm actually working my through that interview and obviously they seem like awesome guys and I'm happy to support their venture, us all being tire nerds and all. 

But the takeaway I got from the first 2/3s or so is that Patrick thinks you should be running Rose front Cava rear, and not really riding pavement, and in the interview you can hear Benedict backtrack from that comment and say you can run whatever, ride whatever on the tires.

Impossible to give definitive verdict after 50km on pavement but I'll certainly provide an update in the future.

Dan

On Sat., May 16, 2020, 9:24 p.m. Jeff Bertolet, <jbf...@gmail.com> wrote:

There is a Pathlesspedaled interview with crust about these tires. Would be interesting to hear your long term review vs other tires.

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[Nate]

‘Optimistic‘ specs seem to be common. I remember when WTB announced their ‘supple’ Horizon with a really low weight. I recall it was roughly the same as the RH Switchback Hill Extralight. We all got excited, but a day later WTB changed the spec by adding 100g to the weight. Of course the ‘error’ had already made it into all the product announcements on cyclingtips.com and all the other big sites.

With the bigger, more established companies, the weights seem to be more honest. Reading independent reviews, the actual weights are just as likely to be under as over, so that’s probably just due to variations from one production run to the next.

Nate

[Justin Hughes]

You know that because you have experience in tire manufacturing? I don't. But, I've weighed a lot of tires and +6.66%* is probably better than most tires. Regardless, it's a sample size of one. 

*Maybe this was intentional and they make sure every tire goes out the door at 480g so tire nerds get an Easter egg mark of the beast inside joke when they weigh them. \m/

[Eli Torgeson]

I posted a couple years back on my two identical 2.8" Nobby Nics. One was 820grams, the other 950grams. I got some quasi logical excuse from Schwalbe that ended in "we expect them to be within 20 percent of each other, which yours are."

Eli
In Albuquerque

[Paul Shin]

Just to be clear, these are 650b wheels/tires? What’s the actual measurement of these tires on those rims? Could you post pictures of what the clearance is like at the chainstays and the fork? Looks great.