I had an experience recently that may be relevant. As part of a hilly 30-mile loop in the Boston suburbs, intended as a training ride for a gravel ramble in the Vermont hills later in the month, I came to a long segment (maybe 2 miles?) of grooved pavement in a hilly stretch of Concord Ave., Lexington. I was riding my Surly Trucker DeLuxe, a 26" touring bike equipped with RTP ELs (affectionately known as the "Monster Trucker"). After riding to the top of the first of several hills, I plunged without hesitation into what soon became an all-in descent; the tires made this feel like the right thing to do, and that feeling increased through a 35 mph run, and was repeated in two more descents before the pavement reverted to normal. The fact that I dropped a couple of roadies who were gingerly negotiating that stretch on 23 mm tires was, of course, icing on the cake. The fact that the tires were also doing their thing admirably on the smooth pavement, as well, made it sensible for me to be out riding them on what was basically an all-pavement ride in the first place. The Surly frame (which I like well enough, btw, and have run happily with other tires) was incidental: in this case, it was really about the tires, making possible things that didn't feel wise before, in this case a 35 mph descent on grooved pavement. The tires are the thing. Maybe someone will come up with one or more optimal bicycles to match them, but in the meantime, they make any bike that can fit them a whole lot better.
By way of data points, no flats in 600 miles, no traction problems in the rain. I'm running the RTP ELs on Sun Rhyno Lite rims at 30/35 PSI. I've taken them on pavement rough and smooth, city and country, gravel ranging from stone dust to railroad ballast, dirt, roots, rocks, the last three on single track and our local "abandoned carriage roads". I'm not running tubeless. I find they spin up well from a standing start, and that the pneumatic suspension rewards standing on the pedals in those situations, good for when the light changes. They climb happily (they climb, the rider is happy). rod On Thursday, August 18, 2016 at 7:16:59 PM UTC-4, Patch T wrote: > > They've been out for just over a year now, yeah? More? > > Who has been riding them extensively, and can share some solid feedback? > Where and how do you ride them? On what? With whom? And why?!?! > > I'm interested in getting the Standards, but would like to read about the > Extralights, too. > > (If there's already the same thread, apologies, I searched but couldn't > find it) > > Love, > Patch > > > -- 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.
