SOma Grand Randonneur SL tires or Compass Baby Shoe Pass EL?

[Brent Avery]

 


 Looking into which of these tires,  mostly riding on asphalt roads, would be the the best bet. Surprisingly I did not find any real comparisons between the two, or missed it. It appears the Soma version looks like it has a tread pattern very similar to a Hetre. I kind of like the terra cotta version  ( have Hetres currently on my Stag in that color )  and beyond the tread design on the Baby Shoes there is the weight difference, 367g for the Compass tire whereas Soma puts their SL version at 300g.



         I do not mind the Hetres but want to try the lighter tires, only dilemma is which ones? I am thinking the tread pattern on the Compass will be more sure footed and perhaps the 67 gram difference is not  a real factor when considering  construction details, though both are made by Panaracer I assume.  Any thoughts?








             Brent Avery

             Burnaby, B.C. Canada

[Harald Kliems]

Compass claims that the SOMA's lighter weight is achieved through thinner thread. Of course they're not a disinterested party, but it makes a lot of sense -- not many other ways to shave off weight from a tire that already has a paper-thin casing. I'd only buy the SOMA tires at a steep discount; at retail their price is too close to the Compass tires. Pari-Motos are a different story. Yes, their tread is thin, but they also can be had for $25-30 shipped, which makes it hard to spring for the Compass tires.

 Harald.

[Brent Avery]

         That makes sense and was most likely mentioned somewhere but was not aware, it definitely loks like I should go for the Compass tire, though I will also check out the Pari Motos.



       Brent Avery

       Burnaby, B.C., Canada

[Sukho Goff]

The Soma's weigh 281 grams on my scale (with fat rubber band) for a difference of about 172 grams per pair over the Compass tires.

Sukho in PDX

[satanas]

I had the Soma GL tyres with the red tread (300g) in 2015, and rode PBP on them, unfortunately. They have two good points - they're light and fast. However, IME they handle abysmally, worse than any other road tyre I've ever used (23mm included) and much, much worse than Hetres.

The problems include: they will *not* climb onto any obstacles encountered at an angle much less than 90°, even small ones like reflective road paint at edges, joints/road repairs/kerb cuts/driveways - instead they bounce off almost-parallel ridges; they have noticeably poorer puncture resistance than Hetres, and poorer directional stability too. I also had a very sudden crash on a roundabout just before the end of PBP that probably wouldn't gave happened with another tyre. They're also buggers to fit or remove from PL23s.

IMHO, stay away unless your use is on clean, dry, flawless surfaces only. If Compass are too expensive, Hetres and Paris Motos can be had for less.

Later,
Stephen

[Brent Avery]

 

   Stephen- thank you for you input and experience with the Somas, I suspected they were not going to perform very well, as it is the Hetres can be a bit skittish depending on the surface so I am going to go with the Babyshoe EL version, aware of the thin sidewalls I am on the light side as well. At least after trying them I will be able to find out what all the fuss is about regarding how well the perform. Cheers!

[Stephen Poole]

FWIW, I'm also light and had zero problems of any kind with Hetres, on rough bitumen, on hard dirt, in the rain, loaded, etc; the frame they were on is another story. They felt more secure than the GLs in all conditions, but a little heavier. I'll probably use something like an LLP EL or Paris-Moto 38mm for PBP 2019 unless something better comes along in the meantime.

Whilst the Somas weren't really dangerous they frequently behaved disconcertingly, or surprisingly, which was annoying. Given that everyone likes the Compass tyres and I've seen no negative handling comments, that's the way I'd go if I were you. However, I'm in Oz and Panaracers are much cheaper ex-Germany than Compass are ex-USA, for example:

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8;product=185886;menu=1000,4,22,35

Later,

Stephen