Need 650b Tires

[d2mini]

3000 miles on my nifty swiftys, tread is wearing off and plenty of
little holes/scars.
Any suggestions for the best commuting tire on rough and dirty city
streets, 25 miles round trip?
Or stick with the nifty swifty?

Thanks!

[Steve Palincsar]

I commuted for several thousand miles on Col de la Vie's and found them
perfectly satisfactory for that job. Cheap, long wearing, plush and
sturdy - what's not to like?

[franklyn]

I used Riv Fatty Rumpkins, which you can get for $25 per tire on
various online sources. I used a pair for 4000 miles and they look
good to go for another few thousands. They also are lighter and roll
faster compared to other heavy duty tires such as Schwalbes

Franklyn

[Fai Mao]

I like the Niffty Swifty tires. My only issue with them is the lack of availability in Asia

Thanks!

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[d2mini]

Alright, so one vote for CDLV, one for Fatty Rumpkin and one for Nifty
Swifty. LOL! :D

[Lee]

Okay, I'll try to help but I can't promise anything :) I've used the
NSs and CdlVs extensively for commuting, mixed terrain riding, long-
distance road riding, and camping. IMO, both make fine commuting
tires. One thing I'd like to make a point about is that I think the
bike you are riding and what kind of ride characteristics you enjoy
ought to dictate your choice.

For instance, on my Kogswell P/R, which is low-trail (40mm) and heavy
(34 lbs. in porteur mode), the NSs sucked when I used the bike for
commuting on rough and dirty city streets. I found the ride harsh, and
the PSI window was very narrow at around 5 PSI. I had them at around
50 and once they reached 45, I would definitely feel some
sluggishness.

I swapped out the NSs on the Kogswell for CdlVs and have not looked
back. The ride was nicer both comfort-wise and in handling and
stability, and I felt faster. Note that I found both tires durable as
I've only had one flat with the both of them combined (a construction
staple in one of the CdlVs was the cause).

I also have the CdlVs on my Ebisu, which is also low trail (~45mm?),
and has racks and fenders, etc. (~27 lbs). I ask more performance-wise
out of the Ebisu than I do the Kogswell, and found the CdlVs to be
fine: the bike handles, climbs, descends really nicely. Caveat: I
haven't tried different tires on this bike.

Finally, I have NSs on my Quickbeam (~22 lbs.) and love them. I use
the Quickbeam for commuting and mixed terrain rides. The NSs suffered
a bit from the slickness on gravel. But, on hardpack and on the rough
streets of the Bay Area, they work just fine. I tried some Hetres on
the Quickbeam and they totally killed the nimbless and quickness of
the bike. When I put the NSs back on, the bike returned to being a
joyful, fast ride. And again, I've never had a flat on them.

Oh yeah, I know Franklyn has used the FRs on mixed terrain rides and
long distance rides on his Kogswell P/R, and knowing him, he would
have changed them if they weren't up to the task or fun.

So, I think it'd be interesting to hear what bike you'll be using for
commuting and what kind of ride you want from it. Or you looking to
optimize the ride for a particular feature: Speed? Comfort? Thrills?
Durability? Robustness?

Geez, sorry for going overboard--I can talk about tires all day,
obviously, haha.

Best,
Lee

[d2mini]

Thanks, Lee!
Not overboard at all. ;)

These will be going on my Homer.
I currently have just the rear rack installed with an Arkel Tail Rider
and I switch back and forth between a side pannier and a messenger bag
depending on my mood.
Usually I'm only carrying clothes and other odd/ends for the day, no
touring, strictly commuting.

I'm looking for durability, comfort and speed, probably in that order.
But speed is still important, just the least of the three. In other
words, I don't want something that is *noticeably* sluggish compared
to the NS. But if it's really slight and I'm gaining something
somewhere else, than that's ok.

[Bill M.]

I've commuted on Maxy Fastys, CdlV's, and Schwalbe Marathons, and have
several hundred non-commuting miles on FR's. I had way too many flats
on both the MF's and CdlV's. MF's I can understand, they are not
designed for flat-resistance. At one point I had five flats in six
days on the CdlV's. That was the last straw, so I bought the
Marathons. Mounted them up with the same inner tubes as in the
CdlV's. No more flats. They accelerate more slowly, but my 12 mile
each way commute time is not noticeably slower (consistently 48 - 50
minutes, depending on stoplight delays). The comfort is about on a
par with any other tire of a similar width and pressure (50 - 55 lb in
my case). Since I absolutely, positively want to get to work on time,
I'm sticking with the Schwalbes for commuting.

I have never commuted on the FR's, but have done many 40 mile rides on
the American River bike trail in Sacramento on them, taken them
camping, etc. They can be had cheap, don't seem to flat often, roll
reasonably well though there's a little buzzing from the tread
pattern, weigh about 200 gm less than the Schwalbes, and given the
choice I'd ride them instead of CdlV's any time over any terrain, and
probably instead of the Marathons if I wasn't so prone to flatting on
my commute. They don't suck IMO.

Bill

[rob markwardt]

I've had Marathons on my Bleriot for the past 15 months....zero flats
(and almost no wear). It wore CDL'vs before that for 13 months and
had 6 flats...yes, I keep a spreadsheet (GEEK alert)! I've also had
used Schwalbes (Marathon Racers) on my Rambouillet for over 18 months
and had only one flat.

Rob "becoming a Schwalbe convert" Markwardt

[Steve Palincsar]

On Mon, 2010-08-09 at 20:33 -0700, Bill M. wrote:
> At one point I had five flats in six days on the CdlV's.

Are you sure that wasn't more like one flat repeated five times because
you failed to remove the embedded wire? I'm guessing a wire because
sometimes they're almost impossible to see. I can easily envision
missing a chunk of glass once or even twice, but definitely not four or
five times.

[Bill M.]

Nope, all different. Some front, some rear. Some glass, some thorns,
different places around the tire (I keep the label at the valve stem,
so I could tell if the puncture was at the same spot).

CdlV's did not make me happy.

Bill

[d2mini]

Well, it looks like there is a new tire at Riv!
Soma Xpress 650B X 38.

Might have to give that one a go.

[Patrick in VT]

nice. that seems worthy of homepage "product you should know about"
status. a very promising tire - can't wait to try it!

[d2mini]

Soma Xpress ordered.
Will report back.

[Rob Harrison]

Cool--interested to hear what you think.

Odd, I've never had more than one set of tires at a time for a bike.
Now I've got four pairs of 650B tires for my Saluki! Gran Bois Cypres,
white Hetres (well, half a set), Pari-Motos and Schwalbe Marathons.
Waiting for fall to fit the Marathons. Of the other three I like the
feel of the Pari-Motos best by far. I've been commuting on them for
the last month after my Hetre incident (http://www.flickr.com/photos/robharrison/4817049422/in/set-72157624011191725/
), and tried a bit of easy woods riding with them last weekend: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/robharrison/4878376690/
>.

Rob in Seattle

[Lee]

Hey Rob. Can you compare the Pari-Moto vs. the Cypres vs. the Hetre in
regards to handling, climbing, and acceleration?

Thanks!
Lee

On Aug 12, 11:37 am, Rob Harrison <robha...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cool--interested to hear what you think.
>
> Odd, I've never had more than one set of tires at a time for a bike.  
> Now I've got four pairs of 650B tires for my Saluki! Gran Bois Cypres,  
> white Hetres (well, half a set), Pari-Motos and Schwalbe Marathons.  
> Waiting for fall to fit the Marathons. Of the other three I like the  
> feel of the Pari-Motos best by far. I've been commuting on them for  

> the last month after my Hetre incident (http://www.flickr.com/photos/robharrison/4817049422/in/set-7215762401...

[Rob Harrison]

From the perspective of this unsophisticated rider? Yes. :) I can
share my experience anyway.

I only had the Cypres fitted for a week or so--they came with the
bike, and the Pari-Motos had just come out so I snapped up a pair and
put them on to see what the fuss was about. So not enough time on the
Cypres do give you a fair evaluation. There was so much difference
between my RB-T and the Saluki that I can't isolate the tire
experience from the general newness and greatness of the Saluki.

I will say when I put the Pari-Motos on my Saluki rode the way I had
imagined and hoped a 650B bicycle would ride--like floating on a nice
cushion. Oddly perhaps, despite the plushness of the ride I also feel
the most confident with the handling of the bike with them--even at
slow speeds. And my bike feels fast with them too. I used the Pari-
Motos for a couple months in training for my first big long ride in a
long long time, Seattle-to-Portland in two days. I had one flat on a
training ride, after running over broken glass. After that, feeling a
little gunshy about using the Pari-Motos on the STP, I fitted the
Hetres for the last few training rides and the STP itself--probably
about 350 miles.

Though I liked the *look* of the bike with the Hetres, they did not
exactly sing for me. They slowed the handling of the bike down a bit,
and felt more sluggish. I don't think I'll be able to fit fenders and
have adequate clearance with them on the Saluki. (Estaban has done it,
but the fenders are very close....) As mentioned, because I failed to
adjust the position of the Paul Racer brakes properly when changing
from the Pari-Motos to the Hetres, I wore a hole the sidewall of the
rear Hetre on the STP, and so took them off and put the Pari-Motos
back on after I got back from Portland. And that's what I'm running
now, at least until the rain starts up again in Seattle. Ahhhh, feels
good. :)

Rob in Seattle

[Patrick in VT]

On Aug 12, 3:08 pm, Lee <leec...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Can you compare the Pari-Moto vs. the Cypres vs. the Hetre in
>regards to handling, climbing, and acceleration?

I've ridden a lot of miles on all of these tires. so to add to Rob's
comments, I think the cypres wins hands down in terms of acceleration
and climbing on paved roads. the Hetre and PM are great tires but
they bounce/deflect to much for my tastes when I jump on 'em, even at
higher psi. it's especially noticeable when I'm out of the saddle.
anybody else experience that?

but, really - how much hard accelerating does one do on a casual/non-
competitve ride? and my experience with the bouncy/squishy feeling is
only a minor annoyance. so, not really an issue - if I'm looking to
sprint and accelerate over rollers or on climbs, i'm most likely on
another bike.

regarding handling: I like all three, but would probably give the
edge to the PM on both paved and un-paved/hardpack surfaces. really
grippy and corners great. I lost traction on the cypres a few days
ago . . . don't think it would have happened with the PMs (or
Hetres).

[Lee]

Thanks for the thoughtful replies, Rob and Patrick. I appreciate your
first-hand insights, as experimenting with these tires can get pretty
expensive.

On Aug 12, 12:42 pm, Rob Harrison <robha...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Though I liked the *look* of the bike with the Hetres, they did not
> exactly sing for me. They slowed the handling of the bike down a bit,
> and felt more sluggish.

This happened to me when I used them with my Quickbeam. So, I removed
them and have them set aside to try out with my camping rig.

On Aug 12, 2:24 pm, Patrick in VT <swing4...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I've ridden a lot of miles on all of these tires.  so to add to Rob's
> comments, I think the cypres wins hands down in terms of acceleration
> and climbing on paved roads.  the Hetre and PM are great tires but
> they bounce/deflect to much for my tastes when I jump on 'em, even at
> higher psi.  it's especially noticeable when I'm out of the saddle.
> anybody else experience that?
>
> but, really - how much hard accelerating does one do on a casual/non-
> competitve ride? and my experience with the bouncy/squishy feeling is
> only a minor annoyance.  so, not really an issue - if I'm looking to
> sprint and accelerate over rollers or on climbs, i'm most likely on
> another bike.

I agree. I'm sorting through these tires for several bikes. First, the
Quickbeam, which serves as my commute bike. Here, I like to emphasize
acceleration and nimbleness, since the commute is full of stops and
traffic. But, I'm finding that I'm taking the QB out for long rides,
too, including trails. So, I'm trying to find something that can work
with these types of riding, but with an emphasis on the acceleration
and (for distance) climbing. I'm thinking the Cypres, while realizing
that it'd probably be best to switch tires when I have a trail ride
coming up. Currently, I'm guessing that the PMs would be a good tire
for my distance (70+ miles for me) bike.

And then there's the new Soma tire...

Best,
Lee

[Bill M.]

One more data point - on my commute home Tuesday night, I hard a
ticking noise from the front tire. I did a tire wipe (not easy with a
front rack and fenders), and knocked something like a goathead out of
the tire. I made it home without incident, figured I was fine.
Looked at the tire a few minutes ago - one flat Marathon.

I may have to go to Stan's sealant.

Bill

[d2mini]

I got the new Some Xpress tires yesterday.
I haven't ridden on them but they seem pretty nice. Good looking tires
and real easy to get on the rim with no tools.
They are definitely wider and more plump than my old nifty swifty
tires, to the point that my sks fenders were almost too small. A
little adjusting and they are clear but the tires fill up the whole
width of the fenders.
Will report back once i have a chance to ride them.