The dirt I encounter in Iowa is dark brown and loamy (good farming soil). It packs nearly rock hard when dry, but turns to brownie batter when wet.
For dry, hard dirt, I'm totally comfortable on 584 x 38 mm Pari-Motos with nearly no tread. 559 x 60 mm Super Motos are also excellent. When it's wet and muddy, I'm not comfortable on anything short of the 4.5" tires on my fat bike. Because the conditions may vary between these two extremes on the same ride (shady spots never dry fully), I'm moving toward light-treaded "jack of all trades" tires that are still fast. So far, I'm happy with the Thunder Burt (559 x 55) and Bontrager CX0 (622 x 38) tires; they're still fast and not loud on the road, but give more confidence in questionable terrain. I'd love to find 650 x 35-38 mm tire with similar characteristics (supple casing, light knobs). Tim On Sun, Dec 20, 2015 at 6:37 PM, Patrick Moore <bertin...@gmail.com> wrote: > ... and what sort of dirt? > > Our dirt is old river silt and generally you need a fat, soft tire to make > it worthwhile -- I know experienced riders who have given up riding in the > bosque because of the sand. But 700C X 50s at ~20 psi do quite well, at > least if you have some low gears to grab quickly when you hit a deep patch. > > That said, now, with the cold and damper weather, our acequia/RG > Conservancy District roads and trails are more compacted, and on the last > couple of days I've taken the '03 with 28 mm Elk Passes on these roads: > today, ~10 miles out of 21. I was surprised that the Riv was actually > faster than the Race Lite -- again, packed if choppy (horses and > earthmoving equipment) surfaces; I didn't even have to shift into a bigger > cog; just kept it in the 70" gear. > > The EPs are not as comfortable as the F Freds would have been -- the ride > was pretty jarring at ~60 psi -- but I was able to maintain cadence pretty > well. > > I would guess that, for firm dirt and gravel, a light 35 or 38 would be > very nice (I'm thinking of both 559 and 622 wheels); for sand, 50 is a sort > of minimum and a good compromise between weight and resistance and float. > It's a good thing that the F Freds roll so well on pavement, too. > > You? > > -- > Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. > By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. > Other professional writing services. > http://www.resumespecialties.com/ > www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten > > ************************************* > *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a > circumference on which all conditions, distinctions, and individualities > revolve. *Chuang Tzu > > *Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.* Carthusian motto > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
