on 2/10/09 3:16 AM, [email protected] at [email protected] wrote: I certainly agree, Anne, but comparing a Klein (super light) to a Atlantis (heavy) on hills may not be a fair comparison. Having said that, I have pretty much a similar setup on my Rambouillet and Hilsen and climb a lot faster on the skinny tires. Not only do the skinny tires climb better, feel faster, but they descend faster. I haven't done timed comparisons as Jan Heinie in "Bicycle Quarterly" but my top speed on the skinner tires is higher. Our roads, here in Kentucky, are fairly smoothly paved. Jan may have a point on the advantages of wider tires being faster on rough roads and they are certainly more comfortable and, also, Homer would look silly on skinny tires.
Bill - You are recalibrating that computer between runs, right? ;^) A number of years ago, I thought my training was really kicking in because my speeds had notched up, but then recalled that I dropped a tire size withouth recalibrating for the smaller diameter. With tire size, I think there's a lot of perception mixed with the results. If you think your tires are slow and pokey, or if you think you're on the snappy "climbing bike", it's tough to argue that doesn't have an effect upon one's efforts. That's why the roll-down style tire tests which BQ did are interesting. In subsequent issues, Jan also mentioned the perception of "narrow = fast" could have something to do with the vibration of higher pressure tires on the road being passed to the rider, which is in turn interpreted as more speed. In my experience, the 33 1/3 tires I'm running now are hands-down better on any kind of descending. Granted, my local environment has a goodly number of turns on the descents, but with 23's and 25's at high pressures (and I rode those a lot, bitd) the "edge" always felt like it was skipping slightly. The Jack Brown-Greens just keep chuckling and saying, "you could've brought a little more speed into that turn..." - Jim - Jim Edgar [email protected] Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com Current Classics - Cross Bikes Singlespeed - Working Bikes Send In Your Photos! - Here's how: http://www.cyclofiend.com/guidelines "That which is overdesigned, too highly specific, anticipates outcome; the anticipation of outcome guarantees, if not failure, the absence of grace." William Gibson - "All Tomorrow's Parties" --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
