What 'fast' tires for Rivendell Atlantis?

[Belopsky]

I may be getting rid of my other geared road bike and may just see how I do with the Atlantis as my all-arounder in the mean time.

I currently have the RTP tires on it that are pretty great for dirt and gravel. Something else maybe for a 'racier' set? (yes, i just asked for a racey version of the Atlantis, LOL)

[Dave Johnston]

I took off the RTP's and switched to the compass 26x1.8" (41-42mm actual) and much prefer them for pure road use. I don't know if they are any faster, they may not be, but I like the road feel better. The RTP make you feel sort of disconnected from the road. RTP's are better on the gravel though. I actual have two sets of wheels but the other set has big bens which are sluggish on paved surfaces but give lots of confidence and plushness on gravel surfaces.

[Deacon Patrick]

If RTP = Rat Trap Pass ELs, I'd say you have the quintessential all round set up with surprisingly little compromise (if any) on the road to gain amazing plush off road tires. Jan has put a lot of experience and testing into his tires and their sizes for wheel sizes.

With abandon,

Patrick

[Belopsky]

the Rat Trap Pass but not the EL. Roads here are terrible and I didn't drink all of Jan's Kool-Aid. ;)

[Max S]

Was doing a google search for "go fast Atlantis" just an hour ago. Spooky. Also, maybe we should go for a ride sometime!

- Max in A2

[Philip Kim]

Compass naches pass?

[Garth]

A sense of speed is relative to the perceiver, so it really doesn't matter what tire you'd choose because you can only compare it to your own perceptions of yourself.

So again, just ride brother..... just ride and think not !

[Michael Hechmer]

I would tend to agree with Dave.  I ride a lot of dirt roads and bad pavement and find that 38 - 41 MM tires are very nice for both on the single.  We run 45's on the tandem.  Tires much above that seem more like they are optimized for fire trails.  A little bit of tread doesn't hurt at all.  Compass tires keep getting tweekd and the names changed so I've stopped bothering to keep up with all of that.

Michael

[Patrick Moore]

That's a stupid remark. Might as well say, " Riding a bike is all a matter of imagination, so you might as well stay in bed and daydream"

Garth, you certainly followed your own rule, " Don't think".

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 25, 2017, at 4:32 AM, Garth <gart...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A sense of speed is relative to the perceiver, so it really doesn't matter what tire you'd choose because you can only compare it to your own perceptions of yourself.
>
> So again, just ride brother..... just ride and think not !
>

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[Belopsky]

That's what I was thinking Philip. 

On Sunday, June 25, 2017 at 12:05:06 AM UTC-4, Philip Kim wrote:

Compass naches pass?

[Garth]

Maybe you would say that Patrick, I did not. It's not what I meant and not what I intended by expressing it.

You understood it as you understood it, and so I'm not going to call you stupid for that because I would not understand that.

[Belopsky]

On an unrelated note (other than this photo contains Compass tires) - https://janheine.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/wide_vs_narrow_mr.jpg

What is that bar tape?

[RichS]

26 x 1.75 hits the mark for my mostly road riding Atlantis. Basically a Pasela tread; the first model Compass offered in that size. Superseded by the 1.8 Dave mentions in his reply.

FWIW I've also used 1.5 Paselas. Not bad but prefer the slightly larger size.

Regards,
Richard

[John G.]

Igor,

I'm on the same quest! I'm not trying to turn the Atlantis into a crit bike, but I have limited space and I really want an all-rounder. The Atlantis felt a bit ploddy with Schwalbes on it. I'm now running Compass Snoqualmies on my 61cm Atlantis. Another thing that made me a bit zippier: the taking the bag off the front and trying the pedal cadence techniques some folks on the Bunch shared. The Snoqualmies are definitely zippy, but I'm getting killed with flats in the Hudson County NJ area.  I had four flats on three consecutive rides. I'm considering Soma Shikoros. 

Curious, what do you consider "fast" for your Atlantis? 

[Kellie]

I'm riding Continental's Travel Contact 1.75. Really like and work on dirt too.

[Clayton]

Compass Rat Traps if you have 26" wheels. I have them on my Atlantis and can't say enough good things about them. I run the Extra lights, on my 'car', so they get tons of use. The tread is holding up well, much better than I thought they would. When these wear out, I'll probably run the regular RT's for the slightly thicker sidewall. (I haven't had a problem with sidewall tears, yet). The ride of these tires..... is luxuriously ridiculous. I never should have bought them. It will be hard to go to a lesser tire, so I am wedded to these for life. They are expensive but worth it. So beware....(I am currently saving for a pair of Barlow Pass for my cyclocross bike). Don't buy a pair unless you are willing to buy another set, and another and another....lol...

Clayton Bailey

#dirtdancedesigns

On Saturday, June 24, 2017 at 6:39:16 PM UTC-7, Belopsky wrote:

[Deacon Patrick]

Ha! Well, Jan's "Kool-Aid" says if you have rough trails or roads you may want the standard for the thicker sidewall, so you kind of are drinking the Kool-Aid. Grin. If you haven't seen it, this blog post explores some of the differences in tire sizes and why Jan's sized them the way he has for different wheel sizes (I personally would love a 50-55mm 700c tire).

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2017/06/21/choosing-your-tires/

Also he has a post somewhere about the Rat Trap tires and how he dials in the pressure. It could be you simply want a higher pressure for roads in your Rat Traps and then let out air when you get the to trails, reinstall when back to the roads. That's a LOT easier than swapping tires or wheel sets. I'm always amazed by how long people who drive to trails spend at the trail head getting ready to ride. I have no idea what they are doing. I've had cars carelessly and even dangerously pass me a few miles of climbing from the trail head with bikes on their racks, then see them still getting ready at the trail head. So, three minutes adjusting tire pressure at the trail had in comparison seems like nothing. Grin. 

On my ride yesterday on 25-30 miles of singletrack, 20 miles of dirt and paved roads I definitely experienced the grip of wider supple tires (the 44s had a lot more grip than even the 38mm Barlow Pass on the same trails) and the climbing ease, even over rocks and roots. I climbed up and over things I spun out on with my Thunder Burts. Plus the ease of control and handling is improved with the smaller tire (greater balance/confidence in steering). So from my own experience, I can definitely see where Jan is coming from in keeping larger wheel sizes' tires lower in diameter. But I wonder if there is room for a 50-55mm 29er all rounder tire?

With abandon,

Patrick

[Frank Brose]

I put RTP's on and won't go back. I'm not any faster or slower than when I had 1.50 s on my Atlantis. But fast is beyond my reach now. I figure if I can rde the same route in the same amount of time on RTP's vs 1.50  tires with the same effort and super compfy it's all good..

[William R.]

John G.: Are you riding the EL Snoqualmies? Sorry to hear about your rash of flats. I recently had Rich Lesnick build me a new Atlas rim wheelset for my Appaloosa and I've shod it with the standard Snoqs. No flats yet, but because I'm weary of flats on my limited time weekday rides, I've been using them on the weekends only. During the week I am riding Maxxis Torch tires that measure 53mm on the stock wheelset that came with the Joe. They are fast, grippy and cushy. Really good all rounder tire in my opinion. 600 grams each - not too bad in the weight dept. light supple casing very comparable to Schwalbe Lite Skin. More tread tho, and zero flats so far. Will 53mm fit the Atlantis? If so maybe give them a try.

Bill in Westchester, NY

[John G.]

William--I'm riding the standards, not the ELs. They were great all winter, but now that construction season has hit, the roads are pretty bad.

Thanks for the advice! I will consider all of those options.

[Mark in Beacon]

I have been riding my Trekendell with RTP-EL since March, when I switched over from Thunder Burts. I've ridden this bike almost exclusively since then, and on a variety of rides and surfaces, from single track to a fast club ride (which I rarely do these days). The tires have handled it all, with A+ grades. I consistently outroll my friends on skinnier tires (though that may also have something to do with my Haagen Das training regime and my superior aero tuck skills). Bonus: Totally outpsyched the hammerheads on the club ride. Not sure if it was the 2"+ 26" tires or my Adidas with platforms.

In the past week, I've interspersed a few rides on a Bridgestone RB-T with 35mm tires. At first they give an impression of "faster" but that soon goes away, and in fact I don't outroll my buddies on these (decent tires but not Compass or other high end). Also when then hopping directly to the RTP next ride, the RTPs feel "fat" for a minute or two, then not. I guess you could switch back and forth to keep the fast feeling fresh (I say this un-facetiously--why not if it's what you're after.)

I think you may feel something "different" when first making a switch to whatever, but it will pass. And you may be "giving" up some of the goodness of the fatter supple tire. And is it just a feeling of more speed you want, or will you be doing time trials or trying to crush somebody on Strava? 

These tires are pretty rad.

[Belopsky]

Won't crush many on Strava but certainly slower on the Atlantis and the RTP vs my Bob Jackson Audax.

I am trading my Audax for a fat bike and want to hold off buying anything until I figure out my housing situation (or need, even  - Will be listing my Bob Jackson Vigorelli as well soon..)

[Hugh Smitham]

I'll break from the pack and the compass RTP suggestions and say when I had my Atlantis I ran Schwalbe 26 x 2.1 Thunder Burt's and they were noticeably fast and plush at the same time, I wish Schwalbe made them in 26x2.4 which would be dreamy. I will disclose that they are not a great choice for loaded bikepacking as other's have mentioned in the past. However, for all other purposes I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Fast on asphalt and fast on gravel and rocky single track. I had the snakeskin sidewall variety for extra protection which added some weight. Depending on your terrain you might go with the lighter version. 

~hugh  

On Saturday, June 24, 2017 at 6:39:16 PM UTC-7, Belopsky wrote:

[Mark in Beacon]

If you've timed yourself under similar wind/fitness conditions, and the Atlantis is measurably (as opposed to psychosomatically) slower, I don't think switching out the RTP (except maybe for the EL version) will alter that outcome in any measurable sense worth the effort/expense. But if you have some free bike money after your sales, why not try the next size down? It will almost certainly feel different, since you will be running higher pressure/lower volume. To some extent, we've been trained to interpret road vibrations and buzz as speed, and you may feel that a bit more on some "skinnier" rubber, and that could be just what the doctor ordered!;^)

[Mark in Beacon]

I would agree that Thunder Burts are equally awesome, amazingly fast. Switched because saving them for the muddier days, and tail seasons when I generally do more off road vs. dirt road. Sadly, I heard that Schwalbe discontinued this model in the 26" size.

[Belopsky]

Stock up: https://www.merlincycles.com/schwalbe-thunder-burt-evolution-snakeskin-pacestar-cross-country-folding-mtb-tyre-26-x-210-74056.html?utm_campaign=googlebase-US&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=shopping&utm_term=Mountain+Bike+tyres&gclid=Cj0KEQjw4cLKBRCZmNTvyovvj-4BEiQAl_sgQugNfkL0oMERI4mOoFkqyqtAI3EK589JQA8QiUckEzYaAmb08P8HAQ