50 mm Thunderburts versus 48 mm Oracle Ridges

[Patrick Moore]

Has anyone ridden both tires extensively enough to have relatively clear comparative opinions about each, for bead sealing, pavement rolling, thorn shrugging, sand floating, and pavement cornering? I’d be interest in others’ opinions.

Short message: I gave up on using the ORs tubeless, but I have been thinking of trying them with TPU tubes and OS regular, which combo works fine in my Elk Passes, as perhaps the true uber Goldilocks combination for a sandy trail/pavement allrounder, instead of the current tubeless Thunderburts. Longer version follows.

I just got back from a very pleasant (but short; overdid a fixed gear ride a couple of days ago) ride on a groomed bosque trail (*) on the #1 Matthews with 50 mm Thunderburts (54 mm on Blunt SS rims) after giving up on the Soma Supple Vitesse SLs that kept getting thorn flats despite adding another fl oz of OS every other ride. 

The Thunderburts had earlier replaced the lovely-handling Oracle Ridges (normal casing) that were a metaphorical 9/10 as liable to non-sealing goathead slow leaks as the Somas.

The Thunderburts are lovely tires. The beads seat up against the rim walls and hold air even before you add sealant, and they seal thorn holes even with, apparently, as little as ~1 fl oz of OS Endurance in each.

Tthe ORs, set up tubeless only with a hyperbolic, but not by as much as you’d think, quart of OS Endurance in each — read later than RH recommends regular formula —  before the beads stopped burping, and before they reliably sealed thorn holes. Even after the beads sealed, I had to add more sealant every week to keep the goatheads at bay.

Compared to the ORs, the TBs are plush! Smoother than the ORs at the same pressures from 17 psi (mostly sandy terrain) to a rock-hard 22 psi or so to a rock-hard 22 they, and even, plusher than the gossamer Somas at similar pressures; the Somas weigh 200 grams less per than the TBs or ORs: 360 vs 540.

Finally, the TBs roll very well for knobbies.  I’d gauge their rolling quality as a seat-of-pants 1/2 tooth larger in back compared to the Big Ones that rolled like premium road tires. For the record, the ORs roll just about like the TBs. [The Somas, despite >200 grams lighter, roll like the TBs and ORs, to my perception.]

The TBs also measure 54 mm on said Blunts while the ORs measured 49 mm at the same pressures. [The Somas measure 51 mm.]

Where the ORs truly shine is in their pavement handling. With their round profile, they corner as well on pavement as the Somas, and, like the Somas, make the Matthews handle as I’d commissioned Chauncey to design it to do:  “make it handle like my Rivendell road bikes” (as much as such a different bike can do that), while the TBs, with their squarer profile and side knobs tend to “lurch” a bit in paved corners — behave nicely up to the apex and then “dive” a bit. It’s not horrible, but the ORs were Goldilockses for pavement cornering.

Upshot: I wonder if Oracles with TPU tubes and OS regular formula, which seems to be working very well indeed in my super light Elk Passes, might not be the overall best option for combined pavement handling/sandy soil navigating all-rounder riding.

Others’ thoughts gratefully welcome.

(*) Parks ’n’ Rec put in a very nice, winding, crusher fine recreation trail through the cottonweds, more or less parallel to the long, “main," N/S paved trail, where the thin layer of surface grit over a compacted under layer makes corners dicey if you are not careful. Again, while the TBs corner much more securely than the Somas and slick road tires, I do  think that the ORs did grip slightly better.

Aside: One very much to be expected liability of riding this very pleasant wooded trail on a pleasant weekend afternoon is the other cyclists and walkers The corners are often tight with negligible sight lines, and the continual vigilance required makes the ride far from relaxing; I took the paved trail home. 

But beyond expected obstacles, you sometimes see some weird excesses. Today, young multi-gen extended family (grandparents younger than I) out for pleasant stroll; young mums had spread blanket out across full width of path on which to let a tiny baby play, fortunately, not at one of the low sight-line corners. I was nice to them, especially as a 8 or 9 year old boy very conscientiously waved me down to alert me while mother/s scrambled to yank baby to safety.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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