>From my (narrower, 32mm) experience with the supple Comapss tires, I find them more sensitive to inflation pressure. If I ride on a rough surface with the odd higher rock, or bigger rocks, you have be inflated for those. Even in a recent BQ article Jan wrote about multiple flats in that sort of terrain, possibly facilitated by more speed possible because of the tires...until the big one got under the wheel. I can't account for any flats from cuts by too little pressure or otherwise, I haven't had any.
A single edge or point will deflect the air volume in the Compass casing easier than Armageddon-ready tires and snake bite what feels like an OK pressure. I found that out while riding around in the city on what I came to know as an irresponsibly low pressure that let a wide expansion joint show its far edge to my inner tube . I had the same thing occur on the Schwalbes on my commuter when I was "appreciating" the lower range of their pressure, it just requires a perspective adjustment to account for the much more rigid, slower (although better than most equivalents) deflection and recovery of the carcass over surface extremes. My earlier point about ridding myself of a car that was equipped with run-flat tires was about eventualities, such as having flats of my commuter's Schwalbe Marathon Supremes. You can try to avoid tire and tube problems, if you are willing to accept their performance consequences, but don't lull yourself into thinking you have purchased an exception from flats. Pardon my drift rant but with regard to not preferring flats or coping with them when occurring, a review of the limitations of those run flat tires when replaced left me...well, flat. The total distance and speed (50 mi @50 MPH) they could be driven when flat was not comforting to my travels and required replacement if driven under-inflated or flat. Not an iota better than a space saver spare, except for the privilege of buying a new one because of perhaps a random nail in the tread from which a regular tire could be repaired and returned to serviceability if a spare was mounted and used until the puncture was repaired. Dumb. I am in no way that averse to changing a tire, on a bike or a car. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 4:51:41 PM UTC-4, Mark Reimer wrote: > > I recently did a mixed-surface tour on Vancouver Island on my Atlantis > with 44mm Compass tires. Another guy had 42mm Barlow Pass 650B tires. We > have five compass flats in 1-2 miles. That was on a very rough and rocky > mountain descent. Otherwise we had zero flats for five days. We were riding > bikes with two panniers and a handlebar bag each. I'd say that so long as > you stay off the mountain bike trails, you should be just fine :) > > On Tuesday, May 2, 2017 at 12:52:43 PM UTC-5, Ryan Thompson wrote: >> >> Tim, >> >> An another option may be Soma's C-Line (700x38c) or one of their Shikoro >> tires which are supple but have some flat protection. I have the c-lines >> on my Cheviot and the Shikoros on my Sam. I've used both for commuting and >> a short three day tour on the C&O canal trail (surface like the Katy trail) >> with no flats. >> >> Good luck on your tour. >> >> Ryan >> >> On Monday, May 1, 2017 at 10:21:48 AM UTC-4, Tim wrote: >>> >>> So, I absolutely love my Compass Barlow Pass extra light, 700x38s on my >>> Hilsen. I've been riding them for 2-2 1/2 years. I'm planning on riding >>> from KC to Phoenix in a couple of weeks. I'll be on pavement. I'm around >>> 230-235 lbs (30 lbs too heavy currently) and I'll have some gear since I'll >>> be camping some, with hotels a couple nights per week. No cooking gear. >>> I'll try to keep my load down to 25-30 lbs. I know many people would never >>> tour with such a "fragile" tire, but I don't want to give them up. I would >>> definitely carry an extra tire (along with the usual tubes, patches, etc.) >>> because I had to abandon PBP after 1000K due to a sidewall cut (I found out >>> that tire boots simply will not hold a Compass tire. I used 2 boots and >>> paper money to boot it but still had 7 flats over around 100K), so I >>> wouldn't make that mistake again. I don't plan on any gravel but wouldn't >>> be afraid of some short sections and even an intentional jaunt or two >>> (although I've yet to develop much of an affinity for gravel.) Ok, so, >>> what's the group consensus? Compass for a fat guy on tour or not? Thanks! >> >> -- 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.
