> > I'm still searching for the perfect 650b Clem tires. Saw someone call > themselves the Emelda Marcos of bike tires and I could easily go that > direction. I'm back to thinking something in the 38-40 range but nicer than > the stock Kendra's. Compass, Kojack, Pari Moto? Anything you reccomend for > paved trail.
I've tried Soma's New Xpress (38mm) which were my daily tires for 8 or 9 months of paved commuting, and the Compass Switchback Hill standards (48mm) on my Clem. The Somas are fast and cushy enough for sure, and that Hypertex stuff proved really good at flat resistance. The only flat I had the entire time with them was when I hit a submerged pothole and exploded a tube. The tire was just fine. They don't corner the best though. I have one twistier paved trail I ride a lot along a creek that's often damp and covered in small sticks and such, and they're not the most confidence inspiring through some stretches. The Compass tires are excellent. Equally as fast, notably cushier. And the cornering between that tread design and fatness is among the best I've ever felt in my admittedly limited tire experience. Hardy they ain't though, I've already has two flats from small glass shards the Somas apparently ignored, since they were all on the same routes and I promise they don't get swept off often. I was running them with some rhinodillo liners before the snow came, and while I'm sure some are balking at the notion, they didn't ride notably differently with the liners. I've also never had the problems some have with liners though, and back when I switched to full-time commuting they ended up being a real life saver one week when I'd already had 4 flats and couldn't afford the Gatorskins the LBS recommended. So, anyway, I'm the sorta weirdo who put tire liners in Compass tires, but I swear it works pretty well. They still ride better than the Somas, and the Somas were what finally got me to just swear off cheaper block profile tires entirely. They were revelationary for me, and the Compass are that much better. I am curious how some of the new Schwalbe options are though, the Marathon Supreme looks more like my sorta bag than their other tires I've used have been, though, I also have tire liners in Schwalbes with "puncture resistant" strips because I got main tread punctures anyway, so, they might have to have some unexpectedly nice rides before I go back that way just for the durability over other options. -- 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.
