I did a similar swap recently--I'd been riding the light-ish Schwalbes (Kojaks and Marathon Supremes) on my LHT for a couple of years. Earlier this year, I swapped in a pair of 700x42 Soma Supple Vitesse EX's, prior to a long two day ride where a bit of extra speed would come in handy. Honestly, no surprises on the ride front--they have definitely been faster and at least as cushy, if not more, than the Schwalbes. What has been surprising is the flat resistance--so far, no flats (I put them on in late March). I did put ~2oz of Stan's sealant in each tube when installing them, so maybe that helped. Or maybe there is something to Jan's theory that bigger tires at low pressure get fewer flats since they can deform around road debris without puncturing. I definitely haven't changed my riding habits, and commute on this bike a lot. It's definitely ridden through a few patches of broken glass and debris that I haven't been able to avoid.
We'll see how they fare as they wear, but so far I'm enjoying them after being a #supple skeptic for a while. On Wednesday, September 19, 2018 at 5:19:41 PM UTC-7, dougP wrote: > > Those of you who know me know how much I hate flats & like chubby tires. > For many years now, I've been a big proponent of the Schwalbe Marathon > Supreme as a nice balance between heft & performance. The development of > wider, supple tires seemed an interesting option. When Compass began > offering larger sizes, and Jan wrote about numerous off pavement > adventures, it seemed like something worth considering. But the $160 for a > bikesworth put me off a bit. A while back, I got a pair of used Snoqualmie > Pass Extralights from a list member. This allowed me to do a back to back > comparison to see what all the excitement was about. > > Well, the results are in & I'm impressed by the real difference in ride > and performance. For ages, I've run 700 x 40 Marathon Supremes on Mavic > A-719 rims. They measure an actual 40 mm @ 50 psi, and the advertised > weight is 490 grams, at a retail price (non-tubeless) of $76. > > I've been running Marathon Mondials for the last few months. They are > noticeably harsher riding and slower to roll up to speed than the Supremes, > as you might guess from their advertised weight of 650 grams. They measure > 40 mm, same as the Supremes. Current retail on Schwalbe's site is $84. > > Switching from the Mondials to the Snoqualmie Pass Extralight was a > revelation. Smoother, softer ride and much quicker pickup from a stop. > Compass claims 329 grams, and they measure 43 mm @ 50 psi on the A719 > rims. I will need to do some serious thinking when these wear out. > > The big unknown is flat resistance. I don't mind the odd flat from time > to time, but I recall the days of light tires that seemed to constantly > flat that lead to my aversion of the chore of fixing. These days, my > riding is mostly on paved roads that are in good condition so it's a pretty > easy on tires, and it's unlikely I'll do any more major tours. As long as > the flat issue is under control, I'll be looking at Compass for my next > pair. > > dougP > -- 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.
